Center Veterinary Clinic and Urgent Care - San Diego, California

Braden

My sweet sugar bear has about every issue you can possibly imagine and we have bounced around a few vets. Dr.boitnott is out of this world! The vet techs and staff like Monet, truly do an amazing job making you feel welcome and assured that you’re in the right spot to make sure your best friend is taken care of.

Ji Shin

I have been taking both my dogs Luna and Leo to Center Vet for quite some time and I am so happy with the care my dog Luna received for her dental cleaning. I was very worried about having her dental procedure done because she had to go under anesthesia but center vet updated me multiple times and kept me in the loop the whole time. There were no surprise charges and the doctor who performed the cleaning did so well. Luna’s teeth has never looked this good and I am so thankful to everyone at center vet.

Kristen Ando

I brought my dog in last year as an urgent care patient, because he had labored breathing and very pale gums. The team was SO nice and completed bloodwork and a chest X-ray. After bloodwork, it became clear that something was wrong and then the vet confirmed that he had internal bleeding. X-rays confirmed several tumors in his chest cavity. I was told that we should “consider euthanasia within the week”, and was given steroids for him. The vet said “this should make him feel really good for a few days until you can make a plan for him”. I ended up being there after close, so maybe that’s why, but the vet NEVER even mentioned that it could be a possibility for him to die that night. The way she said everything made it sound like he had some time. I know that vets can’t know when a dog will die, but as he continued to get worse throughout the night, I ended up calling around other ER’s and 4 vet techs that I talked to said that once labored breathing and internal bleeding start, the dog is dying. Once we were told this, we tried to bring him in to be euthanized, but he ended up dying on our bedroom floor. He died in extreme pain, coughing up blood 4 hours after we left urgent care. We were so heartbroken. If the vet had just told me “he could last a few days, but at this stage he could also go tonight”, I would have taken him right to the ER to be put to sleep peacefully. I was and am still LIVID with the prognosis from the vet. I truly feel like I was just pushed out since the clinic was closed and they didn’t want me to stick around to ask too many questions. I would never return here. Please consider giving the animals family the realistic possibilities when talking about next steps with them. Like I said I know she could not have known 100%, but she never even mentioned that death that night was POSSIBLE, and every other professional that I talked to was baffled. My own vet called me after the weekend to check in and she was appalled to hear what happened. She even said that with those symptoms she would have talked about euthanasia that night when I asked for her input.

Amanda Goold

Great people. Great staff. Just wish management would take better care of them. Its, evidently, okay to pay an assistant with no experience more just because they have a degree (in an unrelated field). But okay to underpay someone with 10+ years of experience, who also has a degree (in a related field).
Meaning, new people get paid more even with no experience, but others just have to accept this.
Great hospital and doctors, but maybe they should have an open conversation about wage. I guarantee an assistant with no experience is possibly earning as much as an RVT.

Heidi Greenlee

I was grateful to be to referred to this urgent care for a late night minor emergency with my dog. The staff was professional, friendly, and answered all my questions. They took great care of my small dog and were able to quickly stitch up a laceration. The clinic was incredibly clean as well. Pricing was all agreed upon up front, and they removed some medication from the “treatment plan” that I didn’t feel was totally necessary for my pet. Overall I had a great experience, and I would recommend to my friends!

Aubrey Grisham

Everyone I have encountered at this clinic and over the phone are so knowledgeable and kind. They very obviously do their absolute best to make sure your pets are taken care of and loved on throughout the visit under whatever circumstance brings you in. I was able to bring in my 11 week old Aussiedoodle puppy, Mr Otto, to be seen through their urgent care within half an hour after I called. The staff was super caring and came to me with updates, more frequently than I could’ve asked for, and I appreciated that SO much considering how stressed I was worrying that something was wrong with my little guy. He hadn’t been eating or drinking very much for a couple days and definitely wasn’t feeling well, but from the exam room they’d brought me back to, I could hear everyone in the back get so excited when they were able to get him to finally eat something! It brought me so much peace of mind to know how seriously they take any concern you might have, and I never once had ANY doubt that Otto was in good hands and being taken care of.

Wais Yosufi

I think I might be done with this place. Got a notice in the mail from the humane society that said that my dog’s legally required license was expiring and she needed an updated rabies vaccine, so I made an appointment here which automatically got canceled a few days later because they need a physical annual exam done (around $80). Annoying, but it’s their policy and a good thing to get done since I haven’t had one done on my dog in a while, so I rescheduled. That’s all taken care of and good, then the day of the appointment I take my dog in and she has bad anxiety in veterinary hospitals (which is usual).

I had remembered that the last time I took her that she urinated out of stress, so I told the doctor and then a few minutes later she actually did. He then condescendingly tells me that when dogs have anxiety they are supposed to be given anxiety medications before they go to the vet. I’m sorry Mr. PHD in Veterinary Sciences, but I legit didn’t know that anti-anxiety medications for dogs were a thing or that I was required to give them to my dog before a veterinary visit. Later he tells me that he recommends getting some labs and fecal tests and other vaccines done since they haven’t seen my dog in a while and want a better picture of my dog’s health. He said that my dog’s past vaccines (which I had done at a different veterinary hospital) were expired and not in their records and that they had to be done again which I didn’t know about.

The doctor leaves and then a few minutes later a staff member comes in to discuss pricing. She says everything about getting fecal tests, labs, and all these other vaccines in addition to the Rabies vaccine and annual physical exam I came for and then quotes me $600+ and makes some sarcastic remark about how people that care about their dog’s health will choose this option (Implying that I don’t) or I can just pay for the two things I came in for (around $100-$150 which I was expecting). I tell her that I need to just do the things I came in for and that I would just get the other vaccines done another time. I did this since I wasn’t expecting all of the other information and can’t just unexpectedly drop over half a grand on the fly like the doctor and a lot of his customers can on a non-emergency. Instead of just respecting my decision, she asks me if I take my dog to dog parks and beaches. I don’t, but my friend picks my dog up and takes her about 2-3 times a month with his dogs. The staff member’s tone then changes and she starts to have an attitude with me and say that I’m putting my dog and other dogs at risk, etc. I’m sorry my bad, but again until a few minutes earlier I didn’t know that some of these vaccines were annual or supposed to be done every three years. No need to treat me like I’m the devil, you could have just told me it’s a good idea to keep her away from those places until I get the vaccines done. I thought all of those vaccines were only done once or twice in a dog’s lifetime with the exception of the Rabies vaccine. I thought I had already gotten everything done. I’m not against vaccinating my dog or anything, I just was not educated enough on the matter. I’m probably going to get the 3 or 4 other vaccines they mentioned done for her within the next few months, but I just can’t do it right now (for financial reasons). I definitely won’t get them done here, I don’t appreciate being talked to like that. I have enough of that from some people at my work, I don’t need it from the veterinary center too.

Allie Pletta

Thank you Dr. Smallcomb for taking such good care of Scout during our time of need. The staff were able to get him in right away after the dog attack and once we got there I knew he was in good hands. Professional and kind staff who know how important Acout is to my family! Not only our vet for regular checkups but great emergency care too! Thank you again