Sunset Cliffs Animal Hospital

I own a local doggie daycare and every once in awhile I take a clients dog in to Sunset Cliffs. They are by far one of the best veterinarians in business. It’s obvious how much they love animals and care about them being healthy first and foremost. I usually work with Dr. Berg who is amazing, but today had a chance to meet Dr. T. He was such a nice man! He was juggling a lobby full of customers, took time to answer everyone’s questions and made sure he talked to everyone in a timely manner. I don’t even know how he did it. Thank you for taking such great care of all the animals you see. It’s truly appreciated!

Waited over 30 mins to get the doc to see us even though I showed up 20 mins before my appointment. Terrible terrible what’s the point of making an appointment?

We love this practice!
We have been here for a number of years and could not be happier with Dr Traversi. He is so down to earth, easy to talk to, very knowledgable and has always given our vizsla the best possible care. We would follow him anywhere! The best vet we’ve ever had. The staff and techs are great too, friendly and professional

Never going back here!
Been going here on and off for 8 years…
Latest visit was sent home with meds (a visit that lasted @3 mins with the doctor. it’s all about that turnover… visit lasted longer than how late the doctor was in the first place).
I come home and realize I was shorted on the prescription.
Called them, they apologized and told me to pick up the rest.
Went to pick up the rest, and they said I owe them for the pills I was shorted, and that I was only charged for what I got.
They tried to sound like they were doing me a favor by waiving the 8 dollar fill charge. wtf?
They continued to repeat this and the fact that they charge 8 dollars for filling orders. I can’t imagine how on earth you would even justify charging someone for something you screwed up on in the first place.
Then the highly bright person behind the counter kept trying to explain to me the math behind what i paid for and how it was only for a certain amount of pills, etc… This was beyond annoying given that I was the person who told them they shorted me in the first place.
Anyways, they’re all about money!
This was extremely evident by my 3 min visit with the doctor, and how she was already pitching me different meds instead for the future, instead of concentrating on the now and telling me why this happened to my dog…
They really need to reconsider their customer service model.
They just lost an 8 year long customer over 9 dollars for a mistake that was theirs in the first place.
Think about that Sunset Cliffs Animal Hospital…
You don’t inconvenience someone and make them pay for your mistakes!
I couldn’t care less about the $ 9 (was happy to pay it to see your cards revealed), but the manner in which I was treated throughout this ordeal is pathetic from a customer service perspective.

My partner and I took in our brand-​new mini-​dachshund puppy (Mimosa) for her first check-​up and had an AMAZING experience! From the first phone call I made to make the appointment, to the moment we walked out of the office, everyone was very friendly and attentive. Our puppy was seen by Dr. Berg, who was so gentle with her. Mimosa didn’t even flinch one bit when she was getting her shots! Dr. Berg was very informative and talked us through what to expect as first-​time puppy parents. Also, the beautiful animal paintings on the walls are her work!
What was especially sweet was receiving a thank you/​welcome card in the mail, a few days after the visit. I truly appreciate small gestures like this. I am confident that our little Mimosa is in good hands!

Took my bulldog here for an ear infection. The staff was very friendly, and didn’t have any issue making an appointment. I chose it based on online recommendations that said they were experts at taking care of English Bulldogs. The waiting room is a little small (my dog can be a jerk), but it really wasn’t an issue. Normally he is very afraid of the vet, but the veterinarian got down on the floor and gave him some extra love. He was a little weary, but was much calmer than normal. The only thing I disliked (and not really) was that she frowned upon how I clean his ears/​wrinkles. I always get compliments on how clean and well taken care of he looks (he’s 7, so I’ve been at it for a while). I work in healthcare, and have knowledge on what is safe and wouldn’t do anything that would cause potential harm to my dog. They called to check on him, and make sure he was doing well. That was a nice personal touch. I also got a welcome card that was really cute. I know education is a very important part of any type of healthcare, so I did understand her rational for providing teaching.

Always an amazing experience. I am so glad that I found them. You can feel the care and the love that they give their patients. I can’t imagine trusting anyone else with my puppy! They have my vote for best vet in SD!

This is the best veterinarian in San Diego! They take such good care of my dogs Boogie + Nola, and Boogie feels like a superstar whenever he walks in since all of the staff will stop to give him belly rubs! We’ve been going to Sunset Cliffs Animal Hospital for about 6 years now and could not be happier with their service, professionalism and knowledge as well as the affordability! At one point, we were living about 1.5 hours north in Orange County, and we would still make the drive down to see Dr. Berg since we couldn’t find anything comparable or a vet that our dogs loved as much. Dr. Berg is outstanding — we’ve been through some tough times with Boogie but she always makes sure that we’re all okay in the end! Thanks Sunset Cliffs for all that you do!

Even though my girl is never happy to be at the vet, I’m always confident that she’s in good hands. Dr. Traversi is great, always spends a few minutes on the floor letting Andie get comfortable with him before checking her. The support staff is great. Everyone always takes my concerns seriously and recognizes that our pets aren’t just animals, they are our babies. I’m grateful to have such a great vet right here in OB :)

A friend recommended this vet when visiting SD and my little chihuahua was on Day 3 of a serious case of diarrhea. They took me right in and gave her a thorough exam, gave her some medication, recommended a diet, and clipped her nails. The vet and her staff were very friendly and accommodating. And all this for under $ 100 ~ I can’t remember when, if ever, I’ve been to the vet for under $ 100!
And best of all she was back to normal by the end of the day… Great veterinary service.

I LOVE Sunset Cliffs Animal Hospital!
I have an English Bulldog and they are known for having lots of health issues, so having a vet you can trust is really important. Dr. Berg specializes in working with Bulldogs and knows what’s normal, what’s not and what’s serious and what’s not. I learned the hard way just how important that is when I had a vet in CO who did not specialize in treating Bulldogs under-​diagnose my poor baby’s eye condition. I am thankful that he is now in good hands! Dr. Berg is the best!
I love that there isn’t a high pressure, guilt-​trip sales pitch for extra services or products, either. I have experienced this at other vet offices but Sunset Cliffs keeps it strictly professional and even provides quotes for larger operations so you have time to plan ahead financially. They do free re-​check appointments so even though you have to come back for a follow-​up, they don’t make you pay another exam fee (yet another thing that separates them from most vet offices!). I also really like that they always give you a follow up call the next day to see how your pet is doing. If that isn’t going the extra mile, I don’t know what is!
Even though the office is blocks away from the beach in Ocean Beach, I have only ever had trouble finding parking once when I happened to arrive during the Farmer’s Market. Usually there is plenty of free parking right out front and they even have a couple of spots behind the building that you can access through the alley. It’s pretty tight though, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a truck or a larger vehicle.
I have recommended Sunset Cliffs Animal Hospital to several people since coming here because, as far as I’m concerned, it’s the best vet hospital in town!

I have an english bulldog and taking him to Vets has always been a challenge. I have been to dozens of Vets and I have never experienced the care and sincerity that I received when coming here. It was very clean and neat. Doctor John Traversi was our Vet. He not only saved my bully, but it shows that he really cares about animals. The staff was also friendly and attentive. Hands down, this will officially be my go to Vet clinic when I’m in San Diego.

I really really like this spot. They have some doctors that are less desirable to deal with than others. But, overall the experience here has been great and they do FREE rechecks after your initial visit for your pet. My cat just could not kick a bad respiratory infection and they were so helpful more than once in rechecking him to make sure he was doing A-​OK.
Service– The front desk can be hit or miss. Sometimes I feel they could use more of a personality up there but, I’ve never felt they were downright rude or anything at any time. They are always easy to make an appointment with and very with it when dealing with more than one pet and their separate appointments.
Vets– I didn’t care for Dr. Behrman she seemed cold and like she had no bedside manor. I’m a pretty calm pet owner who likes to hear straight talk but, I felt at times she was downright condescending with her facial expressions and answers to my questions. I don’t like to give my cat his flea meds any more than I have to because he seems to act odd on them and it affects his health itself. She looked at me like I was the worst person on the planet. I felt the entire time like she thought I was a bad pet owner and she scared me with all kinds of things about my cat possibly having cancer, diabetes, kidney problems, thyroid… the list went on. She claimed he had lost 2 Lb in a little over a year and she was concerned. Althought during his recheck his weight was back to only having lost a pound. It was very odd and off putting of her for someone who was bringing their cat in on a Monday after a day and a half of coughing over the weekend. I’m a prompt and caring animal owner and didn’t appreciate the vibe I left the appointment with after her at all.
On the other Hand Dr. Traversi is excellent. I always love my interactions with him and how he deals with my animals. He is always up beat and positive but, honest. He also mentioned getting a senior blood panel and the possibilities in a older cat but, not in a scary condescending way that I had experienced before. He was friendly with my pets and complimented me on what beautiful excellent kitties they were and if that’s true or not he sure knows how to charm a pet owner and I appreciate his special attention to detail. He also went the extra mile and dealt with some leftover spay issues from the rescue vet that left my kitten with a wire protruding from her belly. He quickly took her back snipped it off and refasten her belly into what looks like a little belly button now. So much cutter than the hack job they left that poor baby with. He charged nothing for that favor in the bill and only took an extra 5 mins. I came to this place based on reviews like the experience I had with Dr. Traversi and I will keep coming back for him as well. He is the only Dr. I will see even if I have to inconvience myself in the middle of a work day to accommodate to his schedule. When you are good people will do that and he is great!
Cleanliness– Very clean. Even have been in there when they have a sick animal come in and watched them mop the floor well after that animal has finished his stay in the room. They are very concerned with keeping a healthy and happy environment for the animals.
Price– I feel they aren’t cheap but, they aren’t crazy priced. I would rather come here and pay a couple bucks more with FREE rechecks and the feeling they are not recommending anything more than I need than go somewhere I can’t trust or that have no recheck policy and possibly will recommend un needed tests. I saw those types of reviews on the vet around the corner from this one and I want nothing to do with it.
Overall, I’m so satisfied with this place and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a vet around the OB/​Point Loma area.

I just mention Dr. Berg’ name to Kaylee and she cant sit still. She loves seeing her vet. I’m a little jealous. I have been bringing her here for most of her life. She is an English Bulldog and if you know Dr. Berg you know she has 3 of them herself and loves bulldogs.
As you know bulldogs require a bit more attention then normal. It’s really nice to have someone who understands the breed. I find it best to get into see here when an issue is developing. I have learned there are different actions at different stages. It really reduces the recovery time.
Very straight forward with her recommendations and have always been right on with the treatment. Deserves a 5 star!!!

I will be back to see them again. Great customer service and they made my dog fill comfortable. Thank You!!!

With the caveat that it 100% depends on the vet you get here (I had a mediocre experience or two when we first moved to OB seeing some of the fill-​in vets), once we established care with Dr. Meuller and Dr. Berg for our dog Rosie (and now our puppy Jinx too!) the experience has been excellent.
Perhaps I’ve been to a number of vets in the past that have upsold me, but the docs at Sunset Cliffs always seemed like they were trying to get Rosie off of as many meds as possible. She has a history of chronic ear infections, and my old vet had prescribed steroid drops once a week. Dr. Mueller expressed concern that she would develop tolerance to it so now we clean her ears once a week instead and she’s been in great shape ever since. All recheck appointments are free, as was our initial appointment with Jinx — it’s happened more than once that we’ve walked out of there and not paid for a thing. Dr. Mueller is no longer there, but Dr. Berg is awesome — super friendly and helpful, loving with the pups and straightforward with us. The front desk staff has always been great, and they always call the next day to check up on the pups to see how they fared after the visit.
It’s a bummer others haven’t had as good an experience; I would surely recommend Sunset Cliffs.

I love this place, and I am surprised by the negative reviews. I brought my dog in for 4 teeth extractions. I was pretty nervous putting my dog under because he is about 6lbs. The staff here are so friendly and helped me get through my babies surgery. Dr. Berg and Lara were extremely helpful and patient with me. I cant thank this Vet office enough. My dog is 100% now thanks to them. I found them honest price wise and they handled my dog with extreme care. They even called the next day to make sure he was recovering fine!
Thank you guys I will be in soon for his next cleaning!

I had been a customer here since they were at the old location on Point Loma. The past few times here I really felt worked over & now know the med prices can run almost 30% more than other Veterinary practices in San Diego. The new vets & staff here here are very cold and I’ve never been a big Dr. Berg fan.
Now I’ve got a dying cat on my hands, one they’ve seen since she was a kitten & is now nine years old. You’d think being a customer since 2005, they could find me an appointment within a 48 hour window for this cat they’ve seen repeatedly for this same problem. And I buy this «prescription» bag of kibble from them every couple of months for the issue. So we’ve been loyal regulars with a recurring cat health issue. (OK, this cat cannot crap, pulls her own hair out and gnaws on her skin in frustration. I’ve shared it.). Nope. I called around 3:30PM on a Thursday and the soonest they could see me was 10:30 on Saturday. I explained the problem, history, etc. It really didn’t matter.
We’ve spent a few thousand dollars on our two cats over the years, from the routine check-​ups, vaccinations, to this cat’s problem plus over $ 900.00 in dental surgery on the healthy second cat. Yes, I am one of those people helping finance the new building. No more. DONE! Yes, I am planning to leave OB & drive 30 miles round trip to Lake Murray for the care we used to receive.

We’re switching vet offices. The technicians are telling us that it is illegal for them to fax prescriptions to a pharmacy and that I would have to do it. Which, in actuality, is backwards. As an unlicensed individual, it is illegal for me to scan or fax a prescription of any kind. An original document from an unlicensed person is they only acceptable form of validation. From one licensed veterinary hospital to a pharmacy, it is perfectly legal to send prescriptions via fax. They can fax, they just refuse to because they want to charge you more for their prescriptions (we pay, currently, about 50 $ less than what they charge because we chose not to go through them).
That being said, its been a total nightmare dealing with this vet office with the run around that we were given to get a prescription written out. We were told to go into the office to pick up the prescription. We did and they wrote the wrong one. So then the tech says you need to bring your dog in for an update on her weight. So we do. Then they tell us, oh well you actually have to have an exam for us to rewrite the prescription. We had to do a formal exam, again, for the same prescription she’s been on since she was a puppy. And now, after all that, we are left with still nothing.
I’m done with this place and also this rant.

Bring my dog in for her eye (which was red and irritated) and here’s what my $ 109 got me.
(4) minutes of Vet attention
(3) failed attempts and pinning my puppy down to take her temperature only to give up
(2) rude interactions with the girl in the front
(1) iodine/​saline drop
(0) resolution to the cause of the red irritated eye.