United Veterinary Specialty and Emergency

I have very mixed experience with the emergency room. I have been here 3 times and while I have absolutely no complaints against the doctors (even in the late evening they are very helpful, very professional and they seem to care about the pet), the front staff’s attitude really stinks.
Last time I came with my dog and it was really an emergency — the poor guy was shaking, I had no idea what’s wrong, and the lady at the front desk had a lot of attitude to go around, it seemed like I was bothering her and she made sure that I felt that she will make this go as slowly as possible.
Anyway, since I don’t know of another option, I guess I will come again if need be.

Our Labradoodle, Buster had an accident and broke his Hip at 5 months old. We took him to the Emergency Clinic and Dr Dean operated that Evening. Buster is now almost 1 ½ yrs old and shows no problems from the hip surgery. Me, my husband and Buster says Dr Dean is the best. Buster now Runs, Jumps and walks on his hind legs! We did not think Buster would be normal again. Dr Dean and his wonderful Staff, we can not thank you enough for all you’ve done!
Thank You, we Will never hesitate to bring Buster back!

Went here at 3:30am this morning with my dog. She had a very inflamed irritated ear. Everyone there was so kind and helpful. And got my dog on treatment right away. It’s so reassuring to know that there’s a great vet to go to in an emergency. My dog is resting comfortably next to me now.

I was in an absolute panic when I took my puppy Charlie into the clinic. The front office assistant was so welcoming and warm, she made me feel at ease instantly. The intake process was short and easy, we waited about 5 minutes to get into the room.
They explained the tests that would be run and discussed the charges before they ran anything, so no surprises at check-​out.
Dr. Adams was very friendly and handled my dog with great care. She was fantastic about letting us know what she was doing and why. She went over what to do with Charlie when he got home and gave us a detailed print-​out to bring home with us.
Upon check-​out the very nice assistant repeated the Dr.‘s orders and even suggested a great pet insurance.
The entire staff was so kind and calming in a very stressful situation.

Nancy was awesome with my cat Pepper who hates anything to do with the vet. Dr. Adams was also very patient with me and my very grumpy cat.
Thank you so much,
Kathy Shea

Dr. Jade Huynh is awesome. She totally took care of my dog who came on an emergency visit for swollen eyes. Dr. Huynh is knowledgable and friendly. They were short handed on techs tonight but they still gave 5 star service. First time here but I know we would come again if we had a pet emergency. They were organized, clean, and friendly.

First rate service. I had a good vet who explained to me after exam. It was easy to get in and out.
Nice people here including the vet tech jen who greeted us and did the first discovery of the dogs syptoms. I will return back. Good experience.
Buster is doing okay.

We had to bring our Westie in due to her eating more than half a bar of dark chocolate. We came here in the middle of the night and someone came in to greet us right after walking through the doors. They asked us what happened and took our dog into the backroom while we filled out a fairly short form.
We waited for probably 20 minutes and was informed that our dog was given [forgot name] something to induce vomitting since she had eaten a lot of chocolate and was twitching. Another 20 minutes go by and the doctor comes out to let us know the situation. He was polite and asked if we had any questions and then let us know she would have to stay overnight to make sure she recovers from the overdose.
A few minutes later, we were given a quote/​deposit we would have to provide to keep our dog at the hospital. Our deposit was over $ 1,200 with $ 125 for the exam, a little over $ 200 for being hospitalized (per night), costs for IV fluid, injection to bind toxins, etc. Considering this is an emergency vet opened 24/​7, the pricing is what I expect when you need someone to immediately take care of your furry loved one.
We got two calls the next day; one in the morning and another one in the evening letting us know of our dog’s status. I called during the afternoon to check up since I was nervous about how our dog was doing. She was discharged and ready to go home later that night which was a relief. We ended up paying $ 800, so the difference was refunded to our card we used for the deposit. I recommend bringing your animals here in case of an emergency.

Not sure how to rate this hospital. It was our only option at 2am and I was completely satisfied with the way they treated my dog’s broken leg, however it is completely unaffordable for me. They stabilized him after breaking his leg from being hit by a car and made sure there was no other trauma and put a splint on him. So just that visit was about $ 2000. Lucky for me though, original quote was $ 2400 – 2700. So it’s good to know they don’t go for unnecessary add-​ons, everything is just still priced extremely high. After that $ 2000 initial visit, again just exam, splint, blood work, xray, and meds, they said it would cost $ 3500 – 4500 for the surgery to fix his leg. Yikes. I’m sure their prices reflect that they are an emergency clinic but it’s too bad I can’t bring them here regularly.
Dr. Stephanie La Plume and the receptionist at the time were wonderful and kept us updated on what was happening. Thank you for taking care of my dog.

My lab Riley who is almost 11 now (and a eataholic) was struggling for two days on releasing bowels to undercover that she got to a lamb bone at my folks house and demolished it in about 2 bites. so I knew it was related to her issue. After watching her closely and seeing her struggle, I brought her into United 2 evenings ago. I have been coming here for years and receive the same treatment every single time.
The facility is super clean and the front desk staff wonderful. They put us in a exam room and always tell us if there will be a wait and checked on us while waiting. The nurse had come in and took a report and said the dr is with another patient and will get to us next. When the dr came in he went directly to Riley and started asking me questions while he was examining her. He needed to take X-​rays and I said of course, however the front desk gal did come in with the costs and treatment plan which has always been my experience. It is clear that want to make sure we are fully aware ahead of time. Post X-​ray it was evident that her colon was impacted. I decided to let her stay as I knew she would be in good care. I have never left her overnight in any hospital other than this one (one other time) and Riley has never been crated (don’t really believe in crating. just my 2 cents lol). Anyway, they kept her out of a crate and on a comfy bed. They were attentive and loving (if they weren’t then this review would be VERY different). I don’t remember the Drs name that helped us (moorehouse or something like that) but he definitely knew his stuff! Being from the medical industry, I always question and research and make the final decision on my girl. Treat at home or take vet advice. I felt there was no question I was leaving her in good hands. If you have a animal emergency, you shouldn’t go anywhere but here.honestly.

Clean and friendly but how can you stick me in a waiting room for 40 min and counting without an update?
Wifi password didn’t work. Come on guys. Drink more coffee or something. This is silicon valley. Didn’t know there were pockets where life could move this slow.

I don’t even have the patience to write all the frustrating points for our visit here. The ONLY decent thing was clean and the client care girl who talks to you about costs was patient and seemed to care while she listened to me vent my frustrations about the crappy service we got once in the exam room. The «nurse» who came in first to «check» our dog as well as the Dr were SO cold with no bedside manner. They didn’t even take any time to try to ease our worry or comfort the dog just tossed us a muzzle and said put this on he’s trying to bite (10 lb chihuahua mix with a possible broken leg) of course he’s going to be on edge! I could go on and on. Bottom line we paid the $ 105 «exam fee» and all we did was wait for 4+ hours to get a thermometer liked up his butt and say they wanted to sedate him drug him up to get x rays.
Additionally they didn’t even tell us ANYTHING didn’t inform us what they think or what we can do for him nothing. They just wanted to add all these costly things without telling us why. Maybe if they were more kind and said hey we can give him this BECAUSE… and then we want to x Ray to determine ??? After we our options are ??? I prob would have been more keen to it.
Took him to our new vet and got him comforted and seen with answers! Will NEVER RETURN TO THIS PLACE AGAIN.
To too t off my license and debit card weren’t given back. They left them in the photo copier (and I wasn’t ever asked or informed to copy it when applying for the pet care card to cover costs) suxks the girls up front seem nice but it’s beyond that.
All this place cares about is money not you or your animals.
Only gave it one star because I had to and the couple female staff up front were nice.

My newly adopted kitten scratched his own eye and it became extremely infected in a matter of hours (while I was at work). This was my first emergency experience, yet it went well. I was seen quickly and they were very loveable with Tucker. He was very calm and relaxed and didn’t seem to mind at all –them handling him. And the bill, very reasonable… in fact I was shocked it wasn’t much higher as i was bracing for impact! :). Thank you so much

We took our dog here last week and it was our first time ever going to an emergency vet/​pet hospital so we didn’t really know what to expect. I did call ahead of time and the receptionist at night (can’t remember her name) answered questions I needed to know in terms of financial responsibilities. Knowing ahead of what the initial exam will cost alone and options of payment made me feel a little at ease prior to coming here.
The facility is well kept and organized. We filled out 1 form, checked in and within 5 – 10 minutes, we were brought in to one of their exam rooms. I love how the exam rooms open to the waiting area. It makes it much more convenient vs having to go inside to the hall and then into the room. A woman staff took our dog’s vitals. She was really gentle with her especially when having to take our dog’s temperature through the rectum. Surprisingly, our minpin who usually gets all protective when touched by strangers did not flinch at all. She was calm throughout the whole process. They made her feel somewhat calm and comfortable.
Less than 5 minutes after vitals were taken, the doctor came in, Dave I think was his name. He checked her out and asked us a few quetions about her symptoms. He too, was also gentle. Our dog just kept looking at him and didn’t even try to nip or squirm around. He explained to us what could be making our dog sick and gave us recommendations for how to treat this. He strongly advised for our dog to get an x-​ray and have labs drawn for assurance and to rule out any other major causes like blockage or infection. He mentioned that its not absolutely necassary but these tests will give a more definite answer in addition to giving our dog some fluids and medications to help with her vomiting and diarrhea.
He had the receptionist come in to meet with us to go over costs before making a decision. Unfortunately, with our budget and gut feeling of how our dog is behaving, we had to sadly decline the diagnostic and lab testing knowing that these tests will give us a more definite answer and to rule out anything major going on. The receptionist was very polite and showed that she understood our decision. What I love about the whole situation is she made us feel comfortable about declining a few of the doctor’s orders and did not hassle us one bit to move forward with it. They still proceeded with our agreement of giving our dog the fluids and prescribed medication.
Shortly after going over the costs, another staff came in to bring our dog back for the fluids. He seemed to handle her very gently. A few minutes later, he returned her back to us in the waiting area. We noticed a big lump on her back/​neck which he explained to us where the fluid and medication was inserted and to expect the lump to subside in about 30 minutes. I liked how he explained it to us because we would have been worried all night.
Upon discharge, instructions were given to us by the receptionist as to how to give and prepare the medication, what to look out for and special diet to give our dog for the meantime.
Kudos for the follow up phone call the next day to see how our doggie is doing. That’s what really WOW’d us! Fortunately, our dog started to feel and look much better that same evening and luckily didn’t have to go back for the x-​rays and labs. I always hear stories about vets giving unnecessary recommendations just to for out more money from the patients. I do wonder though if this is what they recommend to everyone. Regardless, they didn’t make us feel pressured to doing the tests. Overall, the staff was really nice and especially conformating to our dog. They explain the process. I will definitely take my dog here again if ever I need her to seek emergency attention.

I really and truly cannot say enough good things about Dr. Dean Filipowicz and his team at United. If I could give 10 stars, I would. Last weekend, my dog Riley either jumped or fell out the window of my 3^rd floor apartment while I was at work. Thank goodness my neighbors were home and able to get her rushed to North Peninsula emergency clinic. The bad news is, she had two severely fractured legs and the emergency hospital vet wasn’t sure surgery would even be an option.
Dr. Filipowicz reviewed the X-​rays and agreed to do two separate surgeries on my beloved dog. From the moment my boyfriend and I walked into the clinic, we knew Riley was in the best of hands. The receptionists and vet techs were reassuring, empathetic, and sincere. Dr. Filipowicz spent nearly an hour with us, explaining exactly what he was planning to do, what he was concerned about and why, and what the journey to recovery would look like, if all went well. He was positive yet realistic at the same – it was incredibly reassuring to know I was working with a talented surgeon; the icing on the cake was how down-​to-​earth, funny, and friendly he was.
The bedside manner at this place is absolutely incredible. In the two days after surgery, while Riley was still hospitalized, Dr. Filipowicz encouraged us to visit her as much as possible. Every time I visited, I was given a detailed update on Riley’s status, either by an informed tech (Claire), surgery assistant (Helena) or Dr. Filipowicz himself, usually sitting with me on the linoleum floor by Riley’s kennel. I never had to ask for an update. They’re very patient, very friendly people. When it came time to bring Riley home, we were given all the information and resources we needed to provide the best care possible for her.
Now, the nitty-​gritty part…
Was it cheap? Of course not! Were there a couple of expenses incurred that weren’t included in the original estimate? Yes, but if my dog hadn’t received that blood transfusion, all the surgical repair wouldn’t have mattered anyway. During our initial consultation, Dr. Filipowicz shared with us the many, many things that could go wrong during surgery, and what the various costs of fixing those things might be. Overall, I feel that the clinic was very conscious of the expense and definitely didn’t nickel-​and-​dime us.
If you want to eliminate the possibility of exorbitant vet bills from your future, DON’T GET A PET. No one wants to pay these bills, but I don’t think many realize what it costs to run a veterinary practice. I’d rather pay awesome people like the staff here to treat my pet than get mediocre (at best) care elsewhere. I’m not opposed to bargain shopping, but limit that to stuff like clothing and electronics. Not orthopedic surgeons.
Bottom line: Do I feel that my dog received the best care possible? Absolutely!

Well, near 600 dollars later and no clear answer, I can’t say I’m very impressed. We came here a week or so ago when our older cat presented with an inability to urinate and was making frequent visits to the box without success. Our neighbor visited this location regarding her sick feral kittens and had a positive experience, so on a whim I gave them a try when our usual vet could not accommodate a visit until Tuesday over memorial weekend.
We brought our cat in and the initial impression was positive. The waiting room is clean and spacious, with coffee and creamer readily available for patients. We called ahead of time and they handed us some forms to fill out before they brought us in.
When we entered the room the vet tech was sweet. She gently handled our cat, performing the usual work up, and then said she had to grab a urine sample from her and left, bringing her back shortly thereafter. It wasn’t until the doctor came in did my impression begin to change.
The doctor came in and said they were able to collect the urine sample and we will talk about how you want to handle things. My husband, already a nervous wreck, initially went with the worst case scenarios. Working in the medicine field, I told him to wait until we got the facts. The doctor recommended an X-​ray, urine analysis, sonogram, and fluids. He said I’ll run the numbers and you can tell us what you want to do. Like other Unilocalers have commented, he seems to be only motivated by the money. We opted to have everything done, paying the sum mentioned above.
Thankfully she had no blockages and they sent us home thinking it might be a UTI, prescribing antibiotics. Informing us they would call regarding the results of the urinalysis.
This is the portion which was the most upsetting for me personally. When the doctor called to go over the results, she said our cat needed to be on a prescription based diet for the rest of her life. Further informing us she would write the first prescription but my husband said he needed to talk to me first. When we called back for the names of the food, and a sign off for the first prescription, since we were in the process of getting a regular vet– they said it would be done but it had been over a week and they still never signed off on the rx food.
Since then, I did some research and found Purina One offers a non prescription diet for urinary problems, a much more affordable option compared to the Royal Canine Urinary SO diet food which is by prescription only. Our cat has since then resolved her urinary issues.
I am glad we brought her in, in the off chance she had a blockage which could have ruptured, however, I can’t in good faith recommend this vet. The doctor we encountered had poor bedside service (essential to working in the medicine field these days), they seem only interested in the money (overpriced tests and not offering up other alternative treatments), and they are not good at following up on their word (neglecting on signing off on the prescription after having said they would).
I am certain there are more qualified and cheaper emergency vets in the area worth providing my business to, if the need ever arises again.

I had to bring my dog in here one Saturday, convinced he had something stuck that he couldn’t throw up (sorry, gross). They got us in relatively quickly and asked lots of questions. Turned out he had kennel cough from his doggie daycare. Joy. But I was glad it wasn’t something stuck… that would have cost a LOT more.
The place is super clean and nice. Staff is moderately friendly (but moderately not… thus only 4 stars). Some of the desk ladies could use a mood boost. some get kind of snippy. The vet was super nice, as was the assistant.
Costs are high, but it’s emergency, so that’s to be expected I guess. Exam and cough meds was just over $ 200.

On my way home the other night, I found a kitten and called United Veterinary immediately to make sure it was healthy.
I arrived around 10 p.m. and the receptionist immediately got the kitten some milk and checked it out. Luckily, the kitten is healthy! Yay!
Although there were a few walk-​ins (of much more serious issues), kitten and I ended up leaving around 11 p.m. with a bottle, kitten formula, a blanket, a water bottle heater, and a box… ALL FOR FREE!
Thanks for teaching me how to take care of the kitten and giving me a few supplies to get started with!

Three weeks ago, our dog wasn’t able to get up to move around. Call the vet, completely booked, so we were referred to this place. We arrived at 7:30pm. Immediately they took our pooch to the back. I asked if I can go and be w/​my dog. I was told no I can’t. I need to wait for a room to be available. While waiting, my husband filled out all the paperwork and be as details as he can. We even verbally told the doctor the symptoms when we finally saw the doctor at 9:30pm. Our little pooch weren’t with us. I was told he is resting in the back.
We had to agree, sign some paperwork and make a payment about $ 1K for the vet to do testing and hopefully give us an answer what is wrong w/​our pooch. We were told it will take at least 3 hours, so go home or go grab dinner. We called the Vet at 12:00AM asking for update and if we can come pick up our pooch.
We came back and still not able to see our dog. The Vet wasn’t able to tell us exactly what is wrong with our dog but he has low red blood cell anemia and to schedule w/​the regular vet to get this treated. More paperwork, purchased high doses of 2 drugs, and took our pooch home.
Our little guy went straight to bed when we got home. He didn’t move or change position all night. Next morning, he wasn’t moving. He tried but then start whimpering. Every time he get up, he fall back down. I never see him in so much pain. My sister spoke to friends and described the symptoms to them & Internet research, what drugs were prescribed, and the diagnosis… look at the test result report & said I think your dog has lyme disease.
Basically United Emergency has misdiagnosis and provided the wrong drugs and it cost us $ 1K.
The reason for one star, the place is clean and not smell like other vet places.

Thank God for this place… a young stray tomcat had been poisoned in our neighborhood and my attention was brought to it… b/​c it’s Labor Day weekend no one from Animal Control was able to respond in time and I rushed the poor kitty down here. I couldn’t just let it suffer and die in the street!!!
So I got an empty box and a couple of old towels… hubby helped me put it in the box –poor thing was throwing up and having convulsions. I was thinking it was going to die on the way there but it hung on. Such a beautiful cat, it was white with tabby marks and had big green eyes.
The staff was so compassionate and kind… I’m choking up just thinking about it –the cat was too far gone and was having seizures and she said that the best thing to do was to put it down. I totally agreed.
WHY do people poison animals!!! :-(