VCA West Bernardo Animal Hospital

We love everyone at the VCA! They treat our dog so well! We use them to board her when we go out of town. Most recently, our pup got very ill, Dr. Dave and the staff there took such great care of our Maddie! Thank you VCA for taking such great care of our dog!

Called to make an appointment prior to a military move and they were extremely helpful! Making an appointment was smooth and easy. The woman on the phone was very knowledgable, wish I would have started taking my pets here prior to moving. Excellent service and looking forward to my appointment.

Best bet I’ve ever been to. They actually give a crap about your companion and don’t try and upsell you everything under the sun.
The staff was beyond super friendly and loving towards my precious dog.
The vet was very informative and explained everything in great detail. I actually learned quite a few things during my visit.
This will now be my official veterinarian for my dog and cats.

I just recently moved to this area and so had to leave my vet in OC. I have been to this facility once so far. I went in to get my dog his Bordetella vaccination. I was very pleased with the pleasant and professional demeanor of all the staff. Best of all, the waiting room is quite spacious. This is more than an aesthetic concern. It seems like the average visit to the vet often involves sharing the waiting area with some crazed or aggressive other waiting patient. It’s quite nice, and lowers the stress, to have a little space to put between you.
Additionally, the facility was, to my nose, completely odor free. There were, literally, five different types of dog treats available in little containers. My dog particularly appreciated this detail. It helped him to get over his usual vet visit nerves.

I’ve never had a bad experience here. I’m always in and out pretty fast, they’ve got my cat’s records in order and know what’s to be done, and they’ve never turned me away when I come in at the last minute with some emergency. (Only happened twice, but great to know they won’t tell you they can’t see you when your cat is visibly injured.) Each time I see a different Dr. so I can’t really recommend anyone by name. The standout thing they do which makes me choose them over other places is no chit-​chat, all business. For cats this is stressful so the faster they can do the exam, determine the issue and move onto treatment, the better. That is much appreciated!

At first, I was really nervous since our girl has been seeing the same vet at another location for over 9 years. I wasn’t sure if the staffs and the dr would show the same care.
I am extremely happy with just about everything from start to end. Everyone of their staffs leading to Dr. Robbins have been a superb experiences. They really took care of my dog. You can tell they are compassionate about what they do. It shows.
Basically, my dog was feeling really ill. She refused to eat, constant shaking, and barely can opened her eyes. Dr. Robbins took x-​ray and it showed my dog had an enlarged uterus. They immediately gave me options and explained everything.
Finally, after giving her antibiotic for several days. My dog showed signs of improvements. I got her spayed right away and Dr. Robbins called me the moment he came out of the operation room and informed me everything went well.
I would highly encouraged you to bring your pets here and ask for Dr. Robbins.

I am very upset with this particular Vet or it could be a VCA money grubbing policy. My 12 year old dog was very sick and could barely walk. It was nearly closing, but he had time (40 minutes) to run $ 900 of tests and couldn’t find what could cause the problem. In retrospect, I’m not sure he had time to run all of the tests listed. Anyhow, my dog had cancer throughtout most of his organs and had to be put down.
If this hospital knew they couldn’t keep him overnight (they didn’t tell me that on the phone) what did they think they could do in 40 minutes? Something magical or just run up $ 900 for their pockets? Poor judgement or unethical, either way is a reason to avoid this place.

I was actually surprised by reading the other comments that were so negative. I had a wonderful experience with all of the staff at this location. My pets and I were treated with great care and kindness and I would not go anywhere else. It is expensive, but I believe that is the going rate for veterinary care. Thank you again to VCA West Bernardo Animal Hospital.

I’m not sure if there is new management or what but I had quite the pleasurable experience and received very kind customer service. Even after the poor receptionist got yelled at by another gentlemen by something that wasn’t even her fault she treated me with the upmost respect and kindness. They were understaffed because someone had called out last minute, but I felt in no way did this hinder the experience. The Dr. was very patient and answered all of our questions and spent a good amount of time getting to know us and our dog. We didn’t feel rushed or pushed out. I genuinely feel as though they cared about us and our dog. I don’t feel they were overpriced as most GOOD vets are going to cost money. It’s apart of getting good healthcare. I know there are cheaper options but it’s not worth the risk for my dogs health. I enjoy having them as our vet!

I am torn writing this review. For one of my dogs, they were really helpful and amazing. When he died, they were very kind to me during the most difficult time in my life. On the other hand, with my current dog, they’ve been pretty bad. I had her tested for a number of problems and it took days to get a return phone call with the test results. Then I had her tested for additional problems and I never once got a call with the results, just a bill in the mail. Nice customer service.

they’re quick to give you quotes on everything. they’re more about sales than actually helping your pet. i hate this place.

Contrary to some of the reviews posted, we went here and had a great experience with our dog, Gracie. The entrance is a little tucked away, although friendly and inviting the way a, «doctor’s office,» should be. The reason we chose to go to this particular facility is because it was the next closest VCA location to our house in Mira Mesa, after the closest one in Scripps closed for business. We love VCA’s from experiences back home in CT, and although generally more pricey — we find the services and knowledge of the staff to be worth it. Additionally, they offer a free, «first time patient,» type coupon where you can bring your new family member in for a free examination! That’s something like a $ 50 value. The cool part is they even honored the free exam coupon since we had never been to THAT particular location before, in lieu of the fact that we had been to the Scripps location already.
Although we did wait about a half-​hour after our scheduled appointment time, we are all too familiar with how doctor’s offices work. Patients needs cause you to get behind, and sometimes, «you gotta do, what you gotta do,» in order to benefit the patient, even if that means delaying other scheduled appointments. A positive about the time spent waiting for our appointment was that Gracie got to socialize and meet other animals. She’s just a puppy (Rottsky) so it was a good opportunity to expose her to other animals in a safe environment.
When we got into our appointment Dr. Williams was very thorough in her background history examination of Gracie, as well as her actual physical one. We took her recommendations for treatment and are happy with the results. She was very knowledgeable, and her confidence was comforting as I’m sure you can imagine, having a new puppy comes with tremendous responsibility — and of course consequently, worry!
I would recommend this place to anyone based upon my first initial impression and experience. First impressions are always lasting, as they say :)

I want to start this review by saying that I am very hard to please when it comes to care for my dogs. I expect a lot from my vet. I have been having a lot of trouble finding a vet since I moved to this area. Dr. Robbins is very good and I suggest everyone to request him as your vet. He spent a good amount of time with my Lily today and explained my options to me in regards to her skin issues. I did not feel pressured at all to pick an option for my dog. He gave Lily an RX so that her itching would go away so I can have time to decide what treatment plan I would like to do. I am very surprised to see that they have such low reviews because this place is great. I’m not completely sold on the prices but will def come back again.
Your first visit is free, so why not give them a shot?

I took my two dogs there this a.m. because I had a coupon for a free initial exam and my mom and my friend go there and love the place.
I have to say I was really disappointed with the experience. The receptionist was not friendly .and when I asked to use the bathroom, she told me they don’t have one for the public and that I should use the one at Taco Bell! I waited a half hour past our appt time and then finally saw the doctor. She seemed really nice and she let me use their bathroom, However, I decided this wasn’t the place for me, so I just left after that
I have heard great things about the vets there, so this review is strictly to warn people to use the bathroom BEFORE they get there.
We will stick with Poway Animal Hospital where we have been going for a couple of years.

Terrible. Rip off. Terrible rip off. We only went there because it was close to our house. The people weren’t friendly. We were there because we found a tumor on my dog after we groomed him. They tried using scare tactics to increase the bill. They wanted $ 750 to run tests… to find out if they needed to run more tests. The Dr wouldn’t even give us an estimate that included the surgery for the removal. My dog was shaking uncontrollably the entire time he was being examined.
So we went to the Helen Woodward Animal Hospital, which just opened last month. They made my dog feel at ease – he loved being there. The entire estimate, including the surgery, was under $ 800. They were able to do xrays and blood work immediately and we were able to schedule the surgery immediately.
If you live in RB, go to the Helen Woodward Animal Clinic 858−756−4469 – THEY ARE AMAZING!

I brought my cat in to this vet because I was finding blood spotting in the house. Dr. Savage insisted she have a pure urine test and a thorough anal and vaginal exam which of course included anesthesia. Nearly $ 400 later she informs me she found a tumor on her toe AFTER she did the other exams. She ordered another test at nearly $ 200and said it was a second opinion. She then pressured me to amputate her toe. When I told her I couldn’t afford it she turned to my cat and smugly apologized to her-​twice! The arrogance and condescending nature of this woman was shocking. At any rate my cat is fine and has no tumor after all. I would have amputated for nothing if I listened to Dr. Savage. If you insist on trying this vet I would suggest Dr. Robbins out of the three there.

When I moved here from Canada two years ago, I went to this vet clinic, since it was close and I didn’t know anything about other clinics here. I brought both my dogs in for an intro check up just to establish a new vet here; they had both undergone complete exams and up to date vaccinations in Canada before I left. I ended up spending an inordinate amount of time there waiting and paying about $ 450 for unnecessary tests and exams.
I found the staff very curt and the vet, Dr. Savage, was outright arrogant. I know a lot about dogs and their health and nutrition, but was treated like my opinion or knowledge was irrelevant.
The worst part about this visit was their insistence on bringing my little dog to the back just to perform a routine exam. They then left him tied up back there for almost 45 minutes while he cried and my other dog became more and more anxious. I asked several times if he could be brought into the room and the staff member would leave to go check and never came back with an answer. They then took my large dog to the back and after another 30 minutes they finally brought my dogs back into the room and they wanted nothing to do with this vet. She then tried to up sell me on various other unnecessary tests and products.
Worst experience at a vet clinic I have ever had and needless to say; I never went back.

I went in and got a first exam for my puppy. Prices are a bit high, and they upsell alot. Dr. Robbins sponsors Hill’s Science Diet food and tried to get me to switch over from Solid Gold claiming Hill’s has been around for a while and is good, complete food. (Not the case. Solid Gold is Holistic and does not contain any by-​products. Hills has a two star rating. Ground whole grain corn, chicken by-​product meal, and animal fat are the first three ingredients to their food. Corn is filler and not very good for dogs.)
This place does not make me feel very comfortable. The environment is not very welcoming; and cold. Vet techs and veterinarian was not that great.
I don’t trust places that try to upsell you and heavily push products that are not healthy for pets. I have since transferred over to Rancho Mesa Animal Hospital in Miramar and love it there.

We’ve been clients since 2001. About four years ago, when «VCA» purchased the hospital and our favorite vet (David Zanders/​owner) there retired, I wasn’t sure about continuing w/​them. We stuck with them, though, and have had our 6-​year-​old shepherd mix and 8-​year-​old Heinz 57 cat treated by Drs. Savage and Robbins there. Both are very nice and thorough professionals. They always call a day or two after an appointment to see how the pet they saw is doing. Aero and Linus are very comfortable there. This is credited to the veterinarians AND their friendly and attentive veterinary technicians.
Along with routine exams and vaccinations, Aero and Linus have been treated for digestive and/​or allergy issues. Aero has also had a benign lump removed from his paw.
Additionally, a friend of mine took her 3-​year-​old Boxer mix there to have a twig removed from one of his paw pads and she really liked how it all went. (Her regular vet at another clinic wasn’t available.)
My friend and I are VERY particular about our pets’ care, too! So this recommendation is not given lightly. VCA West Bernardo deserve our «kids’» wags and purrs!

To save you from reading what will no doubt be a less than raving review. I wouldn’t condemn all the vets that work there, Dr. Hackett is capable and compassionate and shouldn’t be lumped in with the rest of them.
I did have another vet there perform, what I thought, was a routine neuter of my pit. I knew something was wrong when what used to be his scrotum inflated with blood to the size of a softball! Three hours after I got him back from the vet I found myself at the E.R. (the one in Escondido off the 15 are really great) getting him checked in because he was in so much pain and his stitches were starting to come apart. He was there all night of course and I didn’t get any sleep that night. I returned in the morning to have them address the issue. The surgery was free but the meds/​anesthesia was not! The vet didn’t cauterize all the vessels that led to excessive bleeding the first go around. What would have been a four hundred dollar affair, and significant to my finances turned into a thousand dollar bank blaster that I’ve still not recovered from.
Moments of incompetence aside I’ve always felt that they weren’t up front with me about what practices are best for my dog in the way that I’d like my dog to be treated (fancy talk for «do I really need this»). An air of elitism I has been thick at some encounters which is to say there exists a lack of compassion about how much they’re making you spend there. I don’t want to make this about money… but I’d like a vet to say «you don’t need all this, just use this.» I don’t want a list of what they’d like to charge me and make me feel bad if I can’t afford all of it! Most people default to paying for all of it, but I have to wonder; if a vet has been doing this for so many years can’t you look at a rash or something and tell what it is by now?
In short, avoid the clinic if you can; get Dr. Hackett if you must.