VCA Animal Medical Center of El Cajon

I’m not one to leave reviews but this is well deserved. I brought my 7 month old lab in because he was VERY sick… Turns out he ate something that was stuck in his intestines and needed emergency surgery. Dr. Clark was the one who worked with us the entire time. It was the scariest moment thinking we might loose our Winston. What made me appreciate Dr. Clark was how proactive she was with giving me updates on Winston, she called me 2 – 3 times a day. He stayed at the hospital for 4 days 3 nights. His recovery was crucial, and thanks to Dr. Clark and everyone else there that was apart in helping my pup he’s now home and alive. Thank you VCA taking care of my pup. It means everything to me to have him home and well.

If you have a minor pet emergency this is NOT the place to go! I had to wait in the lobby for 3 hours. It like going in to a Kaiser ER. The did take good care of my Mom’s cat.

This vet hospital is the only one I go to for my fur babies and I really like how it is designed! Its very comfortable and my dogs always get good service. The only thing bad I would say is that some of the doctors don’t really do a full exam but then charge you for it. This has happened a couple times. Another this is that when I got to the exam room there was pee in the corners of the room and lastly there is a mean old grinch working at the front desk that always has something bitchy to say yikes! Other than that I like it! I have my favorite doctors there though. I think one of them is named Dr. Chang or something close to that and also Dr. Seville which is probably not her last name but I think its close!

I am very disappointed with the lack of communication from the staff at this hospital. I came in to have my dog’s foot checked on a Friday evening before emergency hours. I was told that I had to come back the following day or wait 3 hours (possibly more depending if emergencies that were bigger than my dogs’). I came back the following day at 4:15pm. Their emergency hours change on the weekends, which was not communicated to me when they recommended I come back on Friday. I waited another 1.5 hours and I still got no where. I finally left. I found another clinic on Sunday. My poor dog’s paw could have gotten infected with all of this waiting. I mean the poor thing is already in pain. I am so disappointed in the lack of communication and lack of attendance my dog and I received.

My experience with the grooming department was not great as mentioned in the original review, however the vets and clinic management are wonderful. I went in today to have them look at my dogs ear. They took excellent care of him! The customer service was exactly what I would hope to find from a vet facility of this caliber.
I applaud the way they handled my situation and I feel confident making this our vet while we are in San Diego.
(4 stars rather than 5, are due to the grooming mishap)

I called here Saturday morning to make an appt for my 8 week old puppy. The person who answered the phone wasn’t all that peppy but she got the job done and got me an appt at 11:20. I showed up to the appt on time. Check in was a little weird bc as a first time patient I didn’t know you had to sign in and they only had one girl working in the front (who by the way was SUPER friendly and really sweet) I just felt bad that she was working all alone as they were busy. I only waited about 10 minutes after my appt time and was seen and the dr came in right away. I used the coupon on their website for the first free visit (such a deal right). My dog was prescribed antibiotics and we were on our way within 20 minutes after being seen.
I read a lot of reviews about people have to wait– yes people were waiting but they were walk ins… I mean thats a given to wait for that. I would say the main issue here was just the front seemed unorganized. Besides of the course the girl who helped me check in/​check out. A couple other members were back up to the front towards the end. They seemed angry and unapproachable. When the vet tech brought me to the front I wasn’t directed to take a seat or just stand at checkout… so that was both awkward and confusing. There was one lady who seemed to be just watching them work. maybe she was training them or something but if thats management she should take a step back and help out the drowning team in the front between the phones ringing and the patients waiting.
All and all I was please with the visit and will be back in a week for a follow up.

I will not board my baby here again, I was able to review his stay through the web cam and it was sad. When I dropped him off in the morning with his food I placed two of his toys that he plays with. I had to ask them to put them in the room, they had kept them in the bag with his food. I also do not think he had any interaction for the 3 ½ days other than maybe walking him. I understand you may be busy but come on you can at least give these babies some attention and sit and pet and play with them-wouldn’t you want someone to do that with your babies. So again will not use them for boarding.
02/​24/​2016
I just want to say that Lisa from the VCA Animal Medical Center contacted me and even though I will not board my pet here anymore I do want to say «Thank you Lisa for listening and understanding. I do believe that hopefully someone else will not have the same experience I had and for that again I thank you for listening and trying to make things better.

OK, so today I finally got some of the security video footage from my dog’s stay at the VCA Animal Medical Center of El Cajon. Basically i got a half dozen short clips showing the hall way outside where they board the pets and a worker walking my dog out to do her business or back in afterward. This is hardly what I asked for or expected.
They mentioned to me the night we boarded our pets that my pets would have some play time every day. If so it was behind closed doors. One pair of the videos showed that my dog got a 3-​minute potty break one morning and another pair of videos showed a five-​minute break another day. The person leading my pet out for her 3 minute break was busy with her cell phone rather than paying any attention to my dog. This was true on both the trip out and the trip back in. Hey, if taking care of pets bores you that much maybe you should look for another line of work.
The rest of the videos do not the date, just the time. At least those staff members were actually aware of the pet they were leading out or in.

Hands down the best vet out there. Thank you so much for taking care of my Great Dane Dash. Love the staff. Always so caring. :)

I wish I didn’t have to give them a single star since it is not deserved at all. While walking my pitbull last night, he had his toy in his mouth. A dog roaming the street attacked him over that toy and bit him pretty badly. I brought him in to this place, bleeding. I didn’t have any money. They refused to help him. Over $ 70 they refused to help my bestfriend. They told me to go borrow money or get money and come back. Horrible horrible service. The lady gave no f**ks about my dog. Didn’t even offer to get him a paper towel to soak up the blood that was still spilling. I brought my dog back home, and did what I could to stop the bleeding. We stayed up with him all night, and thankfully he is doing better today. No thanks to this sorry ass place.

On top of the lovely care and attention we were given when our pet had to put to sleep at this location, they followed up by sending us a lovely condolences card. It is now a welcome part of a collage I made with keepsakes of our past pets. Thank you for your great customer service!

Well rio back if it wasn’t for Dr. Johnson we wouldn’t have Rio so thankful for this amazing hospital rio have to go on seizure medicine

The exam room dirty. The person that helped me kinda had a attitude issue. I was told on phone that they nueter between 2and 4 mo but she was acting as if she didn’t know. the staff need to n

My dog passed out and I did dog CPR, yes it’s easy and every pet owner should learn it, you breathe into their nostrils… YouTube it… it could safe your pups life…
ANYWAYS… This is my go to spot for my after hours dog emergencies (I have an English Bulldog so this is common) they have an O2 cage which most vets are not equipped with.
If you get in before 8 pm on the weekdays, you won’t be charged the Emergency Rate which is substantially much higher…
A good rule of thumb is to give them a call on your way, press # on the prompt, and you will be patched in right away… this will give them a heads up you are gonna need help…
They got me in right away, totally concerned, triaged my friend (dog)…
My dog was evaluated, and discussed a plan. We quickly and transparently discussed costs so I wasn’t kicked in the gut with pricing after all was said and done…
I was helped by Dr. DVM Michelle DeAngelo, whom felt my sadness, worry and pain herself about my treasured fur family member. She gave hope and honesty in my situation. It is nice to be hugged by a complete stranger when you are upset and worried yourself. I never once felt pressure for any ER service from her. She even let me take photos of my dog’s x-​rays without me having to ask. Anyways use your voice in any medical situation whether your own, family member or pet and you won’t be left wondering or questioning. My dog’s lungs were full of fluid and heart disease diagnosed… now with the proper treatment and medication, my friend will live a much more comfortable rest of his long life… and we may get to celebrate another birthday together…
This pet hospital is still as nice as it always has been, AC, nice and cool, the waiting room lobby is clean and comfortable, as I was there for four hours. This ER pet hospital has kept my bulldog up and running for the last seven years, since 2009.

Came in for the first time in June 2015 to see why my new adopted kitten had a swollen belly. I was worried since my kitten was so tiny but had a big belly.
I made an appointment at 6pm for my kitten. Needless to say I still had to wait at least an hour for us to be seen by the vet.
Horrible customer service. Definitely appears as if they value money over happy customers.
The vet seemed so out of it. She did not look genuinely interested in my kitten’s health.
And to top it all off they bombarded us with all this additional treatments that just weren’t necessary.
I will never go back!

Any place that doesn’t let a calm and collected parent in the room with their dog while they’re getting blood drawn has something to hide. Despicable.
I was on the phone verifying things with a lady named Randy for 45 minutes only for her to tell me at the last second at my appointment that NO, I wouldn’t be able to go back with my dog while he was being seen.
…with the sounds of agonized dogs SCREAMING in the background telling me to run for the hills. Nope. Fuck these people.

I am a first time cat owner to two kittens who were adopted from an Animal Shelter. My younger kitten had been spayed on 8 – 12 and yesterday notice that she had stitches, and as kittens do has been messing with them a bit. I know from reading online that kittens can pull their stitches out or can get an infection due to playing with the sight. So I came to this location with my 9 week old kitten to buy an E-​collar, I brought her with me to make sure she would fit into it. The animal techs that I spoke to listened to my concerns, made sure to keep me on topic (which is a feet of ingenuity) and one of them took a 5 second look at my kittens stitches, which were fine.
I highly recommend this facility and do plan on coming here for my animals’ needs. Thank you for all your help!

We used to take both of our dogs here and recently relocated to North County. We called up the other day to have my lab’s records sent to the local Vet office up North. Stephanie at the front desk was the one I had the pleasure of speaking with. She was able to access my dog’s records and even went as far as calling the previous Vet that we had to get the remainder from them.
Kudos to Stephanie for going above and beyond. She had a great attitude, was very communicative, and wanted to do everything to please us. AMAZING!
If we didn’t live so far away, we would definitely be still utilizing their services.

Today was my second time at the VCA Animal Medical Center of El Cajon, the first was two weeks ago and both visits were awful.
I am fostering a dog for a dog rescue organization, and had never been to a Veterinarian before. My first time there the front desk staff were all good and the wait time was nothing terrible. However, once I got into the exam room everything went downhill. Dr. Laurel Bowman was very abrupt and harsh toward me. When she came in I started to explain what was going on with the dog, when she cut me off and said «Can you let me do my job?!» After that I remained quiet and let her check him over herself. She told me that he had fleas and then took him into the back room to check his ears.
When she came back she didn’t explain anything to me about what was wrong with his ears, or how to administer the medication. I was still flustered by how rude she had been but I asked her to show me on the flea comb what fleas looked like so that I would know what to check for in the future. She flat out REFUSED and said just to give him a bath and I would see the fleas in the water.
Then she walked out, still without explaining to me any of what I was supposed to do next. I then went back into the waiting room and waited to be checked out. The front desk staff gave me medication for his ears and for the fleas, and I asked them what it was and how to administer it, and they said it was a cream that i had to apply to his ears. When I got home and checked, it was drops that had to be administered into his ear canal — which I have never done and ended up being very difficult.
When I came back today for his follow up appointment with Dr. Johnson, I waited almost an hour after my appointment time before I went up to the front desk. Apparently someone had «checked me in» as having been seen already, but never called us up. When I finally got in, they had placed me with Dr. Bowman instead because she had given his initial visit. And unsurprisingly, she was still very abrasive and rude, heavily implying that I was incompetent and told me that I should give the dog back to the dog rescue.
I am appalled by the way that Dr. Bowman treats people. As a first-​time foster, basically a first time dog-​owner, I was expecting to have my questions answered and for the doctor and the staff to be much more helpful and accommodating.
Additionally, what should have been a 30 minute appointment ended up taking almost two hours due to the lack of organization by the front desk staff.
Maybe I would have had a better experience with a different Vet. But I am so frustrated with my experience here that I would rather not return.

Dog killers!!!
If I had read some of the reviews I would never had brought my dog here, I took him here because they have the xray technology, and they were the closest to my house, Dr Savides gave my dog medication that killed him overnight, the next morning she said the dog must have choked on the pill, do not ever go here if you love your animal