VCA Newark Animal Hospital

The staff is good, but they seem shorthanded lately; over the last couple of years I never see the same vet twice; and their hour used to be 24 for emergencies, found out they're only there till 8PM now.

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initial visit met my expectations as far as result and cost. What happened two weeks later will prevent me from ever taking one of my animals to this establishement in the future. My letter to VCA below describes my experience...

Providing world class service as detailed in your Pledge often requires you to take a step away from the business aspect of what you do. I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with your staff in the late evening hours of August 27th.

My wife and dachshund had been in two weeks prior when she suddenly slipped a disc in her vertebrae resulting in immediate paralysis. After a quick diagnosis, a dose of pain killers, and a bill pain in full we were instructed to transfer Reesie to Penn Emergency care. Reesie underwent a highly invasive and risky spinal surgery to repair the damaged disc in an effort to relieve pressure on her spinal cord and hopefully regain her ability to walk.

The surgery shows early signs of success, but needless to say the recovery has been very stressful and challenging for Reesie, as well as my wife and I.

Late last night, the bandage that Reesie left Penn with finally lost enough adhesive that it naturally fell off, exposing her wound.

With a post op appointment at Penn not scheduled for another couple days, I felt it important to attempt to keep the site as clean as possible by applying a fresh bandage. Unfortunately, trips to multiple pharmacies and grocery stores proved unsuccessful in my search for a suitable replacement bandage that would be as resilient as the first.

After several frustrating attempts to remedy the situation with ace bandages, gauze and tape and creatively repurposed t-shirts, I decided to pay a visit to VCA to simply obtain a similar bandage to what had fallen off, given that it had proven durable, effective, and most importantly had not appeared to have given Reesie and undue discomfort over the last two weeks.

After arriving at VCA and explaining my situation, I was told that no such bandage could be provided to me, even after I offered to pay. I was told that there was not a and quot;price in the systemand quot; for bandages. I then offered to make a purchase of dog food, treats or the like if they would just throw a new bandage in. This offer was met with similar rejection, but followed up with the suggestion that I purchase one of their cones to prevent Reesie from agitating the area. Given that Penn didn’t feel it necessary to send her home with a cone days after the surgery and the fact that the wound is essentially out of reach, I felt that a cone would only create more discomfort. When I again proposed the purchase of unneeded goods in the hopes that a bandage would find its way into the deal I was met with the response and quot;You're willing to buy dog food, but not willing to buy a cone. Well we don’t have bandagesand quot;. Funny how an emergency vet suddenly doesn’t have bandages.

I assure you that I would have bought the moon if it meant one night of comfort for my dog after what she's has been through.

Thankfully, there are other Emergency vets in the area which are capable of seeing past their corporate loyalties and provided me with what I needed to hold me over.

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Everything went as explained by the vet

I brought my dog, a 2 year old yellow lab in because she was regurgitating her food often. The doctor examined her, asked lots of questions and told me it was probably an irration to the esophagus. She was prescribed soft food, (dividing her food into 3 or more meals a day), Prevacid 1x daily, and another med that coated her throat to protect it before she ate. I was able to get both meds at the regular drugstore which saved me a little money. I was told to call in two weeks to report her progress or earlier if she got worse.
The meds really helped and she didn't have another issue with the regurgitating.
I love my vet, Dr. Carothers, because she takes the time to explain everything so that you can understand it. She is reasonable about trying different options for treatment. She doesn't try to push the most expensive one on you unless she really feels its the best option.
The staff is very friendly and welcoming as well as knowledgeable about pets.
There is always someone there as it is a 24hours emergency animal hospital. The fees for emergency (especially on the weekends) are high, but knowing that they are there for you is priceless. A good way to offset the cost of any vet is to invest in pet insurance. Its the best thing I ever did for my pets..
I have been a customer at Newark Animal Hospital for 25 years and highly recommend them to anyone looking for quality care for their pets.

They were pretty good but they are way overpriced. Their prices are just unbelievable and I would never recommend them to others.

The first thing the staff at VCA wanted to know was how my son was going to pay. They required a minimum deposit of 80% of their estimated cost (724.00 - 905.00). They didn't seem to care about his cat's welfare, only the money. My son was told he had to put $575.00 on his credit card before they would treat his cat. My son was quite upset and wanted his pet to be taken care of so he paid the amount. They took a few x-rays and some blood work. This totaled $723.99! It was discovered that the cat had swallowed a small plastic part from an Emery Cat scratching board. They told him that he could take the cat home and see if it would pass it or if the cat's condition worsened he would have to bring it back.

Braylon's condition did not improve so my son brought him back to VCA on Sunday. They told my son that Braylon would require surgery. My son wanted to save his cat so he agreed. Braylon stayed at VCA on 6/27 and 6/28. The next bill totaled $2,806.01! Total given to VCA = $3530.00

My husband and I were shocked at the outrageous amount of the bill. My son got an itemized bill of the services performed with charges such as $415.80 for a 1/2 hr. of anesthesia, $191.00 for nursing injections,$114.90 boarding for a day and a half at VCA, $95.00 for fluid set up during surgery!

I would not recommend this business to anyone! They take advantage of people when they are desperate to save their pet. My cat had almost the same type of surgery and stayed at my vet for 4 days and the bill was less than $1,500.00.

We toook the dog to the emergency hospital at 6:00 AM on a Sunday morning. He had been vomiting and having diarrhea all night. They examined the dog, and suggested that he be admitted to the hospital. The vet suggested that the dog be placed on IV liquids and medications to calm his stomach. They wanted to perform x-rays to look for a blockage in his intestines, and to perform diagnostic blood work. They estimated the cost for treatment and hospital stay for 24 hours to be $1700.00 of which 80% had to be paid immediately.

We waited while the x-ray and blood work was performed. The attending doctor was very clinical and wordy, and did not have a good bedside manner. We left the dog there for further treatment, since the tests did not provide any diagnosis. A radiologist viewed the x-rays later in the day, and found no sign of a blockage. A second set of x-rays were taken later that evening and confirmed the radiologists findings.

We continued to call throughout the day to check on the dog. We were continually updated that he was not improving. The next morning, he condition was still the same. He was refusing food, and they reported that he had bloody stool leaking from him. Around 10 AM, the hospital suggested leaving him in the hospital another 24 hours. During this time, they were going to try giving the dog frozen plasma, perform more bloodwork, and continue the medication and IV. This additional treatment would cost an additional $3700.00.

At this point, we were also consulting with our regular vet (Dr Fagreaus at Animal Haven Vet Center...great place!!) about the situation. The vet was unsure of why the plasma would be considered for treatment. At noon, we decided to transfer the dog to our regular vet. We had to wait until 4PM for our vet to be available. We picked the dog up, and found him in very bad condition. He had blood, liquid stool dripping from him with each step. Again, the hospital staff was very clinical. They were reading us a discharge paper that basically said what they did and that there was no diagnosis. I wanted to be sure that all paper work was faxed to our vet, and could not get a straight answer from them. They replied several times that it 'should be' faxed. The most important consideration at this time, was that we would be paying the remaining balance that brought the total to $2700.00.

When we took the dog outside, he had to relive himself. The urinated for a very very long time. It was apparent that he had not been taken outside during his 36 hours there. He had diarrhea, and after that, the leaking stopped. He just needed to go outside and go to the bathroom (the dog is house trained, and was killing himself by holding it. The hospital should have tried letting him outside before continuing to perform costly tests.

Once we had the dog at our vet's office, he was able to eat, and showed improvement within 2 hours. The vet reviewed the charts, and performed additional bloodwork. We took the dog home with some medications and cared for him throughout the week. He continued to improve during the course of the week with continued doctor care. The dog has recovered. We believe if we left him at VCA, he would have died and our bill would have been many thousands more. We wonder how many pets have been euthanized, because VCA has financially drained the owners?

The people in the office were very nice and professional - but with 3 cats I spent over $500 and they offered no discount. They did actually give me 2 shots free because of an issue when I brought my first 2 cats in in Oct. It is difficult to provide adequate care for your animals when the costs are so high

Our nephew was dog sitting while we were on vacation. The dog ate almost a whole bag of pill pockets and became very sick. Since things were not improving and the dog was continuing to be nauseous, he decided to get some help to be sure there was no blockage and to prevent dehydration. He took the dog to VCA at about 3 AM. They checked things out and rehydrated him. They also were open about pricing and necessity of an X-Ray, given the details and time of day. Together they decided to wait and to keep an eye on things. It all worked out fine. I appreciated that they were caring, professional, available, and not trying to run up a bill to take advantage.

My dog was just diagnosed with diabetes. They have gone above on beyond. They call me at home and make sure the insulin is fine. They talk to me on the phone. I don't have to constantly take him in for an appointment. They ordered a glucometer for me so I can do the testing at home and it would be cheaper for me. They taught me how to do the insulin shots for him.

This is a five star animal hospital. I was so happy that they had an emergency staff ready for my dog. They were so caring and had very helpful advice for me. I credit them for saving my dog's life.