Carlsbad Animal Hospital

Unfortunately we had to put down our Jack Russell because he bit our son in law really badly. This was not the first time he had done something like this so we had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep.
I have been a customer of Carlsbad animal hospital for 20 years. I was told our dog needed a full examination even though he was being put to sleep. I said what is the point of that if he’s being euthanized? They gave me some mumbo jumbo of this being their policy. The total amount that they quoted me to end his life was $ 385.00. Does that sound a bit high to you fellow Unilocalers? Then it turned out since it had been less than a week since he had bit my son in law we had to wait to put him down. I questioned this policy and then they informed me that I could take our dog to North County Animal Rescue (aka, the pound). We drove there from Carlsbad animal hospital and they were able to take us right in.
When it came time to paying them the charge was $ 35.00. You read that right. Not only was this $ 350 cheaper then Carlsbad animal hospital, they also disposed of the body for us. Now, I understand that businesses need to make a profit, but I feel like a $ 350 profit is a bit steep.
This is not the first time that I have felt that the prices at Carlsbad animal hospital have been higher than other veterinarians in the area. When I adopted a new dog a little while ago I thought I would compare prices of a few different veterinarians to Carlsbad animal hospital. I consistently found that Carlsbad animal hospital prices were anywhere from 35% to 45% higher than other veterinarians. As much as I love having an animal hospital close by, I just cannot justify that kind of price difference.

Have taken our fur child to Carlsbad for almost 8 years. They sucked me into a Wellness Plan that had no benefit to my Vet bill at all. Even when I took him in they barely discounted anything. Sounded like it would be a benifit but only for them. They said I could cancel at any time but never told me I would be charged either way if I used it or not. scam. Just money in their pocket not helping a limited income person what so ever. Don’t buy the wellness its a waste of money. Other Vet Hospital do work with you if they care about your fur babies.

Worst vet ever! If you care about your animal at all, avoid this vet! All they care about is the $$$

After moving from the East Coast to California our dog had some skin issues and allergies. After seeking help at Animal Dermatology and finding some relief we needed to find a primary care doctor for our dog. Scanning reviews and websites of many veterinarians in the area I chose Carlsbad Animal Hospital because of the close proximity to our home and because of the reviews. Our first appointment was amazing. The entire staff were friendly and helpful. Our dog was at ease. Dr. Runyon was so very nice. It was clear we found our doctor for our dog Gibbs.

This place is fabulous! The staff are all so friendly. On my first visit it was only $ 1 since it was my first time there. The vet spent 40 min with my Cat and I. She was so thorough, answered all of my questions and was so informative. I can tell she loves what she does and she is passionate about it. They even called the next day to see how my cat was doing! I’ve never had a vet do that before. Very pleased and highly recommend!

I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Nicole Stanclift! She has been caring for my cat and has done an amazing job!
My cat has a urinary tract disease, which required hospitalization once, where he was in for 3 days with a catheter. Since seeing Dr. Stanclift he’s had no more problems with his urinary health.
On a routine exam she noticed a very subtle finding in his mouth and recommended we have X-​rays done. Normally, I don’t like paying for all the extra tests vets order, but she explained the reasons for it, and it really made sense. I’M SO GLAD WE GOT THE X-​RAYS! My cat had severe dental disease, that could really only be seen on X-​rays.
My little kitty had to have some teeth removed, but he actually seems happier without them! Dr. Stanclift explained that cats can hide their pain really well, and that he could have been in pain before we had his teeth removed. So glad I took my cat to see her!
Everyone on the staff that I’ve met is really good too. They’re friendly, and make my cat very comfortable whenever we go in.

Worst experience I have ever had at a veterinarian! I brought my Maltipoo, Bella, in for a dental consultation. I had an appointment but still had to wait 1 hour, which is ridiculous because I had to go to work later that day. The facility was very outdated and not visually appealing. Finally Dr. Stanclift came in with a very obnoxious, unprofessional assistant. They took my dog’s vitals and didn’t use a probe cover to take her temp, EWW! Thats just gross and unsanitary. When I wanted to comfort my dog, the assistant (cant find on the website, hopefully got fired) took her from me and said its best if she hold her. As if i’m some dumb pet owner that doesn’t know how to restrain my dog. That made me mad and the whole time the assistant was dancing and just being super unprofessional and wouldn’t shut up. The doctor didn’t focus on Bella’s teeth, which is why I came in. Instead she nagged at the fact that my dog was a little itchy. (this was during flea season and she was in between flea medications.) Dr. Stanclift then tried to get Bella on a bunch of antibiotics and steroids when I just came in for a dental consultation. I understand she is doing a full exam but she just wouldn’t drop the itchy thing. Then she tried to sell me a $ 65 bottle of shampoo which I later saw on ebay for $ 15. The estimate was almost $ 800 for a dental on my 10lb dog, not including extractions! Thats insane, I know its Carlsbad but this is extremely overpriced. I left there feeling angry and like a bad pet owner. I will never return! I felt that they only wanted my money and were just trying to find stuff wrong with my dog. The only good thing was the $ 1 exam fee. Waste of my time and $ 1. I ended up going to San Marcos and it only costed $ 400 for the entire dental including some extractions. Awful place, don’t recommend whatsoever. Thank you.

Awesome vet alert! :)
Dr. Runyan is an absolute godsend. After moving out here from NYC, it was hard finding a vet I’d trust with my dog Momo… this was maybe the third or fourth place we tried, but once we met Dr. Runyon we knew we made the right choice.
The front office staff is very kind, and everything’s clean and modern up front. Dr. Runyan does an excellent job of listening to you (even when you’re a slightly neurotic dog owner like me) and is absolutely excellent with animals. I’d gladly recommend this place to anyone who cares about their pets!

took our pack mates, the new pound puppy, MAX, an AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG, and the old pound puppy (we’ve had her almost 11 years), GYPSY, an orange, HUSKY-​looking mutt, for their check ups.
except that he’s the TASMANIAN DEVIL with a $ 500 a day STARBUCK’s habit and she’s EEYORE on QUAALUDES, they’re fine.
conveniently close in the village. very nice staff.
everybody’s engaging. highly recommended.
******** WARNING ********
however, don’t made the same mistake i did. save yourself a ridiculous amount of money per year on dog meds ($ 117 for NEXGARD and HEARTGARD PLUS CHEWABLES for a 40 — 60 pound dog) if you order online (free shipping and no sales tax from 1−800PETMEDS) instead of picking ‘em up at the vet.
i learned the hard way. since i have two dogs, and the second is 61 — 100 pounds and the savings are even a bit more, that adds up to a whole lotta dog food.

I absolutely love Dr. Runyan! She is so sweet and great with all of our animals. I always have a great experience when I come here. All of the staff is always so friendly. Highly recommend this vet.

Great staff. Took my my fur baby in one night when she was sick and they were wonderful with her. She was better within a couple days and they were very affordable. Highly recommend this vet hospital.

So I was a bit apprehensive reading some of the reviews to go here but figured for a one dollar office visit it was worth a try. The staff was all really friendly and immediately took me in. There was several people helping me and educating me on my new kitten they were all so great. I ended up getting a kitten that was told it was a boy that ended up being a girl. Needless to say I was upset and in shock ha ha. I had called back just to make sure the Dr was positive it was a girl and the girl confirmed for me that it was. Then on top of that the Doctor also called me to make sure I did not have anymore questions. They were all so great, they were not pushy at all, and I explained I like the more holistic approach for my kitten and they did not make me feel bad about that or pressure me for vaccinations and only suggested which ones and explained why but said of course it was up to me. I will be going back in two weeks and will post again but definitely worth a try and I was very satisfied.

The staff is awesome and truly love animals. I currently don’t even live nearby anymore but will still bring in my pup whenever we’re in town since CAH was so amazing with my last dog.

We brought our bunny in for an exam and had a great experience! All of the staff were friendly, courteous and helpful. Dr. Bauer was very knowledgeable about rabbits and she thoroughly examined our bunny and ensured all of our questions were answered. The day after the exam they called to check in. If all of the doctors at Carlsbad Animal Hospital are like Dr. Bauer, I highly recommend!

It has been 6 months since my initial review, and my dog has had to go to CAH multiple times, mostly as we are doing an international move.
I cannot say enough good things about the staff or Dr Massey. They are always prepared for our visit, with instructions printed and ready to go, pre-​screened and understood. International moves are complicated at best, and Australia is the worst of the bunch, but CAH has made it as stress free as possible.
My dog is my baby and I expect him to get the care I think he deserves! Dr Massey has gone above and beyond every time.
I would not hesitate to recommend CAH to anyone who loves their pet!

We took our cat here when he was losing weight. Our regular vet was not in that day and our cat was seen by another vet. He diagnosed our cat with diabetes. We endured many tests (poor scared kitty) all very expensive. He was put on insulin and DM cat food, also very expensive. They continued to monitor him with further tests. Within 2 weeks he was taken off insulin. We were told he was in remission but that it was unheard of for a cat to remain in remission beyond 18 months. Here we are almost 2 years later and he is still symptom free. He eats regular Fancy Feast and is perfectly fine.
So, that misdiagnosis cost us over $ 1500 and put our cat and us through a tough and worrisome time.
This clinic is very expensive and wants to run lots of tests. Friends of ours have also stopped going there when they were constantly told they needed to run «senior panels» on their older dog before pulling some teeth. After spending hundreds of dollars on these procedures they went to another vet. There they were told her remaining teeth were fine and that another test was not needed.
A golfing buddy of my husband told him he stopped taking his dog to Carlsbad Animal Hospital because he felt all the tests they wanted to do were, in his words
«a money grab.» Sadly, in our opinion this clinic seems more interested in revenue than common sense care for our pets.

Pro: Nice location in downtown Carlsbad, complete with Carlsbad prices.
Con: Expensive and let my dog bleed all over the place without any offer of assistance.
I took my dog here for a surgical consult on a tumor. With the veterinarian squeezing the tumor, of course it bled… a lot. Neither he nor the assistant did anything to stop the bleeding or at least offer to bandage it up even for a fee which I would have gladly paid to stop the bleeding. It was rather embarrassing having to wipe up all the blood splatters by hand with some paper towel I had to ask them for. Where’s the service, ethics and compassion? Would a human hospital allow you to just sit there bleeding? I decided not to have my dog’s surgery there for the $ 3,000 they were expecting me to just shell out. I paid the $ 76 consult fee and left with my bleeding cancer stricken dog.
I would urge people to really think about the motives of high priced vets. I’m all for capitalism, but you must also question who are these vets catering to and are they relying on our emotions as loving pet owners to simply comply? If you feel pressured, rushed and are made to feel guilty for questioning a care plan, then you’re in the wrong place and you need to take your pet elsewhere.

CHARGED FOR UNNECESSARY TEST SENT OUT ON DOG AFTER HE WAS ALREADY DEAD
For years, we went there to get routine vaccinations, however when we brought in our ill German Shepherd, the vet ran a number of tests and could not diagnose our dog’s illness. Luckily, he referred us to VCA hospital where they immediately diagnosed our dog with disseminating aspergillosis. This was on a Sunday after we paid for the tests run on Saturday. Due to our dog’s advanced state and trajectory of his illness, we had no other choice but to put our dog humanely down while I pet him as he sat comfortably in my lap. VCA was wonderful and did not run any unnecessary tests or suggest futile treatments. They also did not rush us out the door and allowed us time to mourn.
Carlsbad Animal Hospital however sent a urine culture out to be processed a day after our dog was dead. Then they sent us a bill for this unnecessary test, never once discussing the results of the test. We thought we worked out this erroroneous test during our last visit (for my other dog) over a month later, when they took the cost of the culture off our bill at the front desk. However, they sent the urine culture bill to a collection agency.
When I called Carlsbad Animal Hospital to dispute this charge, the office manager stated I was still liable for a test they conducted after not only my dog was dead, but after they had transferred our dog’s care to another facility. The office manager also admitted that VCA informed Carlsbad Animal Hospital about our dog’s death on Monday (the day afterward), yet Carlsbad Animal Hospital still ran the test. I truly wonder what the purpose of running a test on a dead dog is other than generating money. After all, Carlsbad Animal Hospital at no time informed us of the results of this test.
We are now left with a horrible taste after this experience. When in a distressed state, we feel we were taken advantage of, especially when the test was not only performed after the dog was dead and they knew the dog was dead, they were also informed that the dog died of a fungal, not bacterial disease.
In addition, they know we will be moving to Hawaii. We believe they are showing their true colors and probably would be refunding this charge if they knew they would be getting further business from us. We are very disappointed. After several years of loyalty, we feel like only a number to them.

I have been to several Vets over the last 10 years (always for dogs). CAH defintnley is a wag ahead of the pack.
Up until last weekend, we have only ever been there for routine checkups and vaccines. This last weekend, we had our first pupmergency. Our baby girl beagle was in for her latest round of vaccines, Rabies and Parvo. After about 15 minutes of being home (in which she managed to eat a roll of toilet paper and poop ON my mop), she started acting funny. «Funny» turned into full blown panic when before our eyes she started to swell up and vomit. We rushed her back to CAH where they had a warm blanket waiting to rush her back for treatment. They did a good job of calming us pet parents down. The front desk talked to us about worst case scenario charges and then put us in a room for the vet to come see us. After discussing what happened and explaining how we could avoid this in the future, we were able to see our baby before handing her off again to be monitored for the day.
Everyone (front office, vet, technician) did a wonderful job in keeping us informed. They also called the next day to check in. They also have a great website that gives you reminders and allows you to order speciality food online for pickup at their location.
5 paws up!
Also, for those in reviews complaining about price, pets are expensive. Vets are like any other healthcare business. You can buy insurance if you choose. If not, expect to pony up some dough, just like you would if you got ill.

Can’t comment on actual service here, because I haven’t yet visited a vet. But wanted to check the place out, so Joey and I sauntered on over after breakfast down the street.
Very nice place, very friendly people, like everyone in Carlsbad. Am glad to read the positive reviews about this place because it’s right in my hood.
Will definitely be back. And they’re open Sunday!