Animal Urgent Care

Update on my review of Oct 2015:
I brought my 13 year old collie to the Animal Urgent Care of Escondido at 2:30 AM on Sept 26, 2015. She awoke us at 2AM choking with heavy saliva coming from her mouth. I did not want to wait until 8A when her day vet opened up, so contrary to my husband’s warnings about night ERs, I decided to bring her to the Escondido ER. I reassured him I would not let anyone «put her down». I had been carrying their card which had been given to me by our day vet for a year .
We never saw the vet until 4:30 AM (we were communicating with her through a male assistant) when she walked into the exam room and showed us the x rays and said our collie had metastatic lung cancer and could die at any time. She recommended euthanasia immediately. I said no, I wanted to bring her to our day vet and if he concurred, she would be euthanized there. I did not trust the diagnosis.
We took her home. The ER vet had given her a shot of fluids (she was dehydrated) and an injection of hydromorphone for the cancer pain. Three hours later, our collie was dead. We did not realize she was dying until the last 15 minutes when I felt her cold feet.
Two days later the day vet reviewed the ER records and he and two others in his office plus a vet radiologist all concurred that the white spots the ER vet said were cancer were instead benign osteomas, often found in older dogs. Our collie did NOT have cancer.
The day office vets and specialist instead diagnosed a mega esophagus. Not a death sentence.
The hydromorphone itself caused the death (there are warnings on the med NOT to use in elderly or malnourished patients) or it could have been caused by the MDR1 gene mutation found in 80% of collies. Morphine is on the list of meds highly likely to cause problems with MDR1 breeds, but as yet there are no statistics on it. The ER vet gave her the highest end recommended for her weight dose. Did she think she was doing the dog a favor knowing it would kill her without pain? This is a big question we will probably never know.
A month later the ER vet herself wrote us a letter and said we were to contact her ONLY and she would see that our expenses for that night would be refunded. I sent a copy of that letter to the ER manager, and a week after that we received a check in the mail for $ 420.00. Needless to say, this did nothing to ease our pain.
In lieu of Small Claims Court, which has no power to discipline the ER vet, I filed a complaint with the State of CA Veterinary Medical Board and to date I have received no response.
The ER vet already had one citation against her.
I highly recommend that pet owners check out in advance the ER facility they would take their pet to in an emergency. Especially if it is at night.
We must make our vets more accountable for their mistakes. Its starts in the court system. Pets are considered property and the most one can get for medical misdiagnosis via a court action in the State of CAL is a return of their expenses incurred. No pain and suffering, no cost of replacing the pet. And worse, no way of disciplining the offending vet. They go on practicing.
At least I can try to prevent this from happening to someone else. Hopefully the CAL Vet Medical Board will suspend her license.

They were very attentive to my cat when he was mysteriously ill. They are open ²⁴⁄₇ which was so relieving when your loved one is in pain.

The staff (vets and techs) were very knowledgeable, professional, and caring. I was very impressed with the care and attention my dog received, and loved the fact that I could stop in and visit at any time. I would recommend to anyone in need of a small animal hospital.

*****CAT OWNERS, PLEASE READ!!*****
— This place only caters to dogs, NOT cats
— Staff extremely cold & unsympathetic to felines
— Mishandled & mistreated my cat behind closed doors
— Neglected him & his recovery to health, truly did not care
— Left him soaking wet & uncomfortable in his own urine
— Keeps all cats in the same room as barking dogs
— Caused my cat extreme stress & anxiety because of it
MY EXPERIENCE HERE:
Brought my cat in as an emergency. The vet said he had pancreatitis & recommended I leave him over night to get medical treatment going, so I did. HUGE MISTAKE! I went to visit him the next day & they had him in a tiny bunk cage next to a loud 100lb dog barking non stop. (My cat’s 8lbs) I’d be terrified to sleep & be agitated if I was a cat! I asked for his health updates, but they weren’t able to give me any because they had not fed him for hours or checked for his current temp, blood levels, etc. like they were supposed to because «he had become agitated w/​staff» What?! You work in an emergency pet hospital where animals are clearly going to feel frightened & have the possibility to act on their animal protection instincts. You’re in the WRONG business then. So they decided to neglect & deprive his recovery to health instead. The Vet Techs are a JOKE. They told me they cared more about «their OWN well being» rather then giving my cat what he needed. Then why am I paying big $$$ for if you’re afraid to do your job and not giving my cat what he needs?!
CONCLUSION:
This place did nothing for my cat to help his recovery to health. All it did was stress him out to the extreme & give him severe anxiety. We don’t get to see how our pets are being handled behind closed doors when we aren’t around, but your pet will show you & give signs when they’ve been mishandled & mistreated. I trusted my gut feeling & knew I had to get him out of that hell hole environment & away from these ppl. who truly didn’t care about his well being.
******Take your cat to VSH instead******
They have the cats & dogs completely separated in 2 separate rooms so that the cats can respond to treatment by not becoming too stressed out. All pet hospitals should do this. He responded to treatment right away, within a day & I was able to bring him home & he’s been fine ever since!

Could not ask for anything more! Dr. Scott DiLorenzo and staff are professional, caring and knowledgeable. I brought my dog in twice: Once for a rattlesnake bite and the other for stitching a deep wound. Both times the entire staff was as caring for my dog as I am, and what impressed me most was Dr. DiLorenzos honesty. He could have easily told me that my dog needed rattlesnake antiviral and charged me a considerable amount of money for the injection (s). Instead, he said told me that he would watch over her for a few hours and would only administer the antiviral if needed. What could have easily cost me over $ 1000 ended up being less then $ 150!
Honesty, integrity, caring and reasonably priced… You can’t ask for anything more– I am a client for life!

Of course it’s 3 am on Saturday morning. My silky terrier got into it with a lab and got the short end of the stick. Her head is swelling and laceration on top. Visiting from LA… where to go?
Thank goodness for this clinic. 24 hours open. Friendly staff. Honest vet. No price gouging. Minor hematoma under skin. Minor laceration. No need for xrays, drains, etc. pain meds, antibiotics. Cold compresses. We are good to go!

I brought my 3.5 year old pomeranian (also my ESA) to this Urgent Care at 5:30am because he had eaten about more than 10 chocolate covered macadamia nuts & possibly a few garlic flavored regular macadamia nuts in addition just about 12 hours before he showed signs of intoxication from the poisoning. At home I tried giving my dog activated charcoal and I saw he pooped out a few nuts & even the black charcoal but my dog was still very fragile, weak, limping on one leg, and becoming more lethargic into the early morning.
When I brought my dog into this clinic to get checked up, the Vet said that dogs of his small size normally will have a patella subluxation. causing him to to have dislocation of joints… what a coincidence that it happens on the exact same day he gets poisoned?
Then he says the only cure for that will probably be surgery. Then I was sent home with an office visit bill of $ 68 and was told to just watch him limp and pay close attention.
I was not satisfied with vet checkup at all. He did not offer to see if he could possibly try to get the nuts out by making my dog vomit or see if there were any nuts left in just system. .but just told me to watch. … uuuuugh watch my dog die I guess?
IF YOU LOVE YOUR PET, & WANT IT TO STAY ALIVE, TAKE IT ELSEWHERE, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, STAY AWAY FROM THIS CLINIC!
Later in the afternoon, I didn’t feel right and didn’t want to continue watching my dog lying around and not playing like he used to do, I took him in for a second opinion and low and behold I came out with a $ 422 vet bill but I was highly satisfied and had a piece of mind that my ESA is going to be fine in the next five days and many more years because I have the right medications & treatment.
He had an ex-​ray of his intestines & stomach & blood work of his organs. So we found out that his liver got affected and ask other organs were still good and he still had so many macadamia nuts still left inside his intestines which showed up in the ex-​rays.
So I was so happy to be sent home with medications to administer to my EMOTIONAL Support Animal for the next five days which will help him poop out and flush those nuts out of his system& help his system balance back to normal state. Thank god I had my own Vet I normally go to.
I wish I could go back to this Urgent Care and j just get a refund because you truly almost did no justice for me but you almost killed my dog not save it.
How dare you call your clinic an urgent Care!

Team at Animal Urgent Care were ready, willing & able to help in our dog’s emergency, when our vet’s office was closed. We’ve used their services several times, and highly recommend them to anyone in need of emergency animal care.

ANIMAL URGENT CARE GAVE US JUST THAT, GREAT CARE!
On Sunday, March 22, 2015 I brought my beloved, 16 year old Pomeranian named Nike to be put to sleep. It was obvious he was in the last stages of death. I had just been to Veterinary Specialty Hospital and was treated so badly I walked out. They let my Nike suffer for 45 min so they could figure out how much to gouge me! The charges would have been well over $ 200.00 but they quoted me $ 168.00 over the ph.
I left that facility and went to the ANIMAL URGENT CARE ON S. ESCONDIDO BLVD IN ESCONDIDO.
The Vet was so empathetic and angry for how I and my pet were mistreated.
I RECOMMEND THIS FACILITY. THEY WERE QUICK AND KIND. THEY CHARGED ME HALF OF WHAT THE OTHER PLACED CHARGED!
THANK YOU, ANIMAL URGENT CARE!

What can I say? It’s 11:30 pm on Easter, a holiday and these loving, compassionate people are open, ready, and eager to care for my pet. Abbey is THE MOST important thing in the world to me and I would be forever devastated if something happened to her where she would not recover.
Price, I feel, is completely reasonable!!!
I am so grateful!!! Thank you to the wonderful staff!!!

This facility is as good as it gets. The docs and staff are professional, caring, attentive and effective. I have taken several dogs there over the years and they saved the lives of two. Not only do they take exceptional care of my dogs, but they could not be more kind and compassionate to me during what is always a very scary time. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

I brought my cat in to this clinic last year because he stopped eating. They had him a few days and when I went to check on him to see how he was doing I saw that they had put a neck collar on him (they said he «bites» but had no history in 17 years of his life of this!). He looked distraught, scared out of his mind and was lying in his own filth. They told me he still wasn’t eating, so I took out a can of cat food I had brought for him and placed it in front of him… he ate it right up. Makes me think they never tried to feed him anyway, so how could they tell if he was hungry?! They weren’t even sure of a diagnosis, but they were sure to charge me large amounts of money while acting annoyed when I asked questions about his «diagnosis» and their dismissive attitude was extremely hurtful. I had this cat for 17 years, raised him from a kitten when I adopted him at the humane society. He was like a family member to me and they had zero compassion for me or him. Needless to say, I took the cat home at once and brought him back to my veternarian in Rancho Bernardo. Unfortunately, my cat passed of kidney disease a month later and it was devastating to me. But what is especially devastating is the memory I have of what my cat looked like when I went to bring him home at Animal Urgent care… they neglected him and it broke my heart the conditions they kept my beloved pet in. Will never use this monstrous clinic again.

We had an evening emergency and rushed our dog to this practice while she was in anaphylactic shock. Even though we’re not in their system, we were immediately admitted and she was treated while we filled out the simple, one-​page medical history form. The staff was courteous and considerate, and our doctor patiently and thoroughly explained the treatment and preventative care information. Yes, Ginger probably would have lived this time, but it was very good to know that we can count on these folks next time something happens.
Also, their pricing was very reasonable for emergency services. Some practices will take advantage of your vulnerability in emergency situations, I felt like their cost was more than fair.

I have used these guys several times for different pets over the years. Just recently they were able to bring my dog’s focal seizures under control at 2AM, for which I am very appreciative. The service here as been consistently good over the years and many times they have shown themselves more knowledgeable than most local vets. Of course as an emergency room, they do charge more than regular vets but with costs coming up drastically now with many regular vets, sometimes it not even that much more. Unfortunately, owning pets is expensive these days.

Awful ! Would never go back. This was the worst experience ever. First off I had an ultra emergency & had called ahead to let them know I would be there in 10 mins. When I got there, we had to wait at the back door & it felt like everyone was in slow motion. My dogs had gotten into a serious fight & spent the next few days there. I did not feel that their wounds were being treated correctly as they looked dirty & were not being regularly hot compressed & gently cleansed, as perhaps they should have been. One drain that was put in my dog — the sutures were sewn right thru’ the drain so there was no way to take out the drain without taking out the sutures and having to re-​suture the wound. On the third day, that one of my dogs was there & I had gone to visit him — I was helping by syringe feeding him some wet food. I noticed that one of his upper canines was completely LOOSE, almost just hanging. How had an Emergency Vet Hospital missed this when they had done surgery on him and he was under anesthesia ?? — one of the first things you do is check the mouth area after a dog fight, yet me as a lay person found it in 2 seconds flat when I was feeding him. I was very upset so I pulled him out of there and took him to my regular vet, which I should have done sooner and I greatly regret. We later learned that the food the vet techs at this hospital had been feeding him via syringe was going straight up into his upper nasal cavity via this loose tooth that they carelessly missed. I discussed my utter frustration and disappointment with the lack of care I would expect from a professional hospital & just got resistance. They could not own up to their huge mistake and honor some integrity. My vet had to go in and remove this avulsed tooth that was probably causing him pain and he died that night coming out of anesthesia. I was heartbroken. Had this been done correctly the first time he was under anesthesia, he may never had died. Their reply was that ” … we were busy that day…” I asked the owner to split her bill with me, considering the crappy service I received and she would not budge. I highly recommend anyone needing emergency vet care to go to Veterinary Specialty Hospital in San Marcos near the 15 & the 78 intersect. I learned the hard way you get what you pay for… even if they are more expensive. I regret ever going there and will forever blame myself for not having pulled them out of there sooner. I have spoken to a few local vets in the area and no one recommends using this hospital, so that should say something within itself.

Doctors and staff are loving and kind. My pet is well cared for as he recovers from his illness. Highly recommend this facility.

I was greeted promptly, and the vet took her time with my dog. I also appreciated her honesty, & trusted that she wasn’t recommending anything he didn’t need.

After being transferred by my regular vet, my dog Gizmo was transferred over for something called IMHA and needed a blood transfusion. Upon checking in, the staff was very friendly and quick to address Gizmo’s issue. Although we are still working on his progress and condition, I do have to say that Escondido Animal Urgent Care took amazing care of my little man. From the techs (I forgot everyone’s names) to the Dr. s (Dr. DiLorenzo Dr. Seibold and Dr. Hanzlik) everyone was so friendly, thorough and professional. All my questions were answered and they made sure to give me phone calls with any updates throughout the day. I feel they recommend only what is needed and the prices are affordable. Highly recommend this facility for emergency quality care! Thank you to everyone at Escondido Animal Urgent Care!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
My husband and I were outside working in the yard when our dog came over, suddenly started looking ill, swaying back and forth, throwing up, and then fell over. We rushed him to a nearby hospital (NOT Animal Urgent Care) and had an absolutely horrible experience where the vet there kept insisting that he probably had a heart condition, regardless of what we said. We didn’t know where else to go, but we knew we didn’t have a lot of time– so we found the next closest hospital, Animal Urgent Care.
They got him in immediately, checked his blood, coagulation, and some other items, and took care of him. It looks like he got into some poison– perhaps from a neighbor, and we didn’t know if he was going to make it. They kept him throughout the night, and the next day. They kept us posted. We got to visit him when he was starting to feel better, and as excited as he was to see us, it was clear he was doing better and had made some human «friends» there, and was not at all nervous for us to leave him.
I don’t know that he would have survived had we not taken him out of the first hospital and to this place. I can’t thank these guys enough.
(As for the charges, I think the cost was very reasonable for an emergency hospital. They took a deposit before the overnight visit and when we checked him out, we didn’t have any extra to pay– they actually gave us some of our deposit back. Really, I would have paid a lot more just to know that he was going to live and be okay!)

Our experience with them was great. We had a very sick pup and after multiple tests, no diagnosis. They kept her to observe and kept us posted through the night. Because they had such trouble diagnosing her, they did not charge us for several of the tests.
She ended up having to go back in (it took nearly 2 months for this whole ordeal with our pup) and again they did not charge us for a lot of their services. They kept a close watch over her and we worried less knowing she was with people who seemed to genuinely care for our pup. They have followed up with us 2 – 3 times since just to ask how she is doing. We brought her in one morning so they could see for themselves and they all lit up at seeing her.
Was it cheap, even w/​the «discounts»? Not really. I think people need to be aware that pets are expensive. Vet care is expensive, and anytime you label something as «ER» or «Urgent Care», you need to understand that the expense is going to increase. If you can’t afford to care for your animals, including in the event of an emergency, maybe you should rethink committing to owning a pet.