Berkeley Dog & Cat Hospital

I went here last spring when my rescue dog appeared poisoned. They took her in immediately as they are both a regular vet and an emergency vet. They induced vomiting which I felt was the right way to go. They kept her for hours to watch her and make sure she was okay. When I got her back she was doing better and the rest was non eventful. They were extremely compassionate and kind and understanding to me. These guys have been around forever. It has a real atmosphere of love there. I read the history of the place and felt it was right for me as I just moved. Also I didn’t get ripped off. The fee was completely reasonable and I was grateful as vets can charge an arm and a leg and they know most of us will pay for our beloved pets. I am happy to call then my new vet as I just moved.

posted: 09/18/2023

Do not come here. They are only interested in making money. Go to pets referral instead. I brought my cat here and they did nothing for her and tried to charge me $2000 for a variety of painkillers etc. That she didn’t need. They didn’t even diagnose her properly. I took her to pets referral the next day and they diagnosed her with a permanent paralysis and I had to put her to sleep. These people do not care about animals; just money. The vet was horrible and had the worst bedside manner. I regret ever taking her here

posted: 09/15/2023

I've taken my doberman here twice, and both visits were awful. I don't write reviews often, but I am going out of my way for this.This clinic's rating is 4.5, but it's actually a 3.0. I came twice because I though, well they're so well reviewed, maybe I need to give them a second chance. They lost my business today. The bottom line is that this clinic is unprofessional. The vets who work here are apathetic, inexperienced, and the office staff is rude. I suspect there's some bad office culture here? Not sure what's happening. The first vet was an older lady, who never owned dogs. I should have immediately requested a different vet, but we already waited for a while to see her. We brought our pup there for a string of issues we were experiencing after getting our pup from the shelter. It was her first vet visit! It felt strange getting advice from someone who never owned a dog before, and had a general air of indifference towards both us as clients, and our dog. She stated she was a cat person (!!). We were advised to give her more baths and feed her omega 3 oils, which they tried selling to me for $14 more than market cost. A few months later, the omega3s gave my dog sebaceous cysts. We discontinued use. It turns out, for dobermans (if this woman knew anything about dogs!) dosage is key — for oils it must be low, because short haired dogs are prone to developing pimples from oil excretions. That visit cost us $250 out of pocket (because our insurance has a $500 deductible). The second visit was for a wound on the end of her tail. For this visit, I learned that after they charge you for the consultation, you have to sit in their waiting room until it's your turn. Even if there's a 2.5 hour wait, you must stay in their waiting room. I decided to come again early in the morning at 7am to avoid the wait. I think it's unprofessional that this clinic takes your money before providing any service, and then doesn't have the courtesy to give you a call if you have a long wait. During this visit, which lasted 10 minutes — I was serviced by a junior assistant vet to the main vet. This was at 7am when it wasn't super busy (why didn't we receive the main vet??). She looked at the wound and basically said it wasn't anything to worry about. I had touched her tail and could feel her bone. Still, she looked again, and insisted it was minor. Nothing about how it happened, what to avoid to minimize future wounding, other avenues for treatment. Simply, to keep it clean and give her an antibiotic. She also tried to sell me some pain killer meds and an injection, which seemed unnecessary and costly, so I declined. The women at the front desk for this visit were just *so mean and rude*. They didn't bat an eye at me, charged me and didn't smile or say thank you. Zero kindness or warmth. I want to add that, I am a nice person and value kindness. What got me to say "never again" was how rude and apathetic everyone was. Rude, condescending, and apathetic. Do not take your beloved pet here. One star, not worth it.

posted: 09/16/2023

Took my dog here because she had a number of issues… One, she wouldn’t let the vets at east bay SPCA examine her anymore ever since I took her there to have her spayed a few years ago so we’ve been looking for a vet who could successfully examine her without needing heavy sedation drugs every visit. Two, she had itchy paws and inflammation causing her to lick it constantly. Three, Advantix flea and tick medication I applied on her made her very sick and lethargic causing her to vomit, have bloody stool, urinate inside the house, loss of appetite and she was visibly trembling. Her gums were also visibly pale. During our visit at Berkeley Dog & Cat, we were seen by Dr. Thomas Minturn and spent at least 5 minutes discussing her issues and what I’ve tried with other vets. She previously got a cytopoint injection at the small clinic at pet food express a couple weeks ago, however Dr. Minturn kept trying to sell me on another shot which I had to refuse multiple times because it won’t treat the root cause of her itchy paws and inflammation, it would only inhibit her urge to lick. The vet was quite persistent in his effort which I really did not like… My dog would not let the vet examine her in front of me however she allowed them to take her into another room away from me in hopes that she would allow them to examine her then. Vet said she allowed them to examine her successfully and that she was fine and she would get better over time. He then suggested we apply a topical steroid to help with the inflammation on her paws which I agreed to purchase. 10 days later after that vet visit my sweetest and most loyal 11 year old pooch passed away in my arms one early morning after a night of vomiting and urinating inside the house again. My dog was clearly dying from the Advantix flea and tick medication I applied on her and the vet didn’t even acknowledge the fact that I had mentioned it so he didn’t even bother addressing it. I ended up calling them back a few days later to ask for some antibiotics but it was already too late as my dogs body was starting to shut down from organ failure. I feel like I failed to react a lot sooner and have been in complete regret, heart broken and devastated. It’s been a few months now without my sweet and loyal pooch but the void in my heart still remains the same every day… We used to come here a few years ago whenever we couldn’t book an appointment with east bay SPCA and we always had good experiences before but this place has changed a lot over the past few years, especially after Covid. Extremely pricey and just feels like they want to sell you on whatever they can now. After refusing another cytopoint injection, the vet even suggested we give her a monthly injection to help with the paw licking…umm no thanks!! I eventually learned that my dogs paw issues were diet related and the kibble that I had been feeding her was the main culprit which was causing the allergic reaction on her paws. If you truly care about your dog / cat don’t feed them kibble. That’s like feeding yourself potato chips every single day for the rest of your life. No wonder why dogs and cats get cancer and die a lot sooner than they should!!! Do yourself and your pets a favor and take them elsewhere. They’re only concerned about making money here!

posted: 09/24/2023

Everyone we interacted with was great. They took care of Penny and really tried hard to keep us updated. These folks are BUSY and the wait times can sometimes be long, but from what I understand there’s a massive vet shortage in the Bay area, so it’s slim pickings. The last time our pup had to see an emergency vet, we went somewhere else and we waited 6+ hrs. Going to the emergency vet is never fun nor wanted, the folks here were kind and understanding.

posted: 08/20/2023