VCA Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center

I’d like to thank the entire team of doctors, techs and support staff at the VCA Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Norwalk. Late last Friday afternoon, my 10 year-old Labrador retriever, Ollie, was suddenly struck down in our home with what first appeared to be a stroke. We found him on the floor, paralyzed, unable to control his breathing, his eyes darting around and vomiting. Highly unusual behavior from an otherwise healthy, typically bouncy and energetic Lab! We wrapped him up like a hundred pound burrito and transported him to VCA, to save his life. And that’s exactly what they did. Through the first 72 hours of intensive care and another 72 hours of an abundance of hands-on affection and support…literally and figuratively since he could not walk on his own…the entire VCA team rallied to help Ollie and, as importantly, to help me sustain the hope I had nearly lost in him ever recovering enough to bring home. Along with state of the art veterinary care, what is most impressive at VCA is the uniformly high quality of personnel they’ve been able to recruit and retain. Any emergency department, human or veterinary, is at most times, an unrelentingly stressful environment and all I saw this past week was an incredible emotional commitment by VCA’s entire staff to help their patients and their owners during intensely difficult times, and consistently going above and beyond. Needless to say, with Ollie now recovering at home, I gratefully endorse and recommend VCA VREC in Norwalk, for when your pet needs the best care possible.

posted: 03/23/2024

I visited VCA VREC today for an internal medicine consult/ultrasound with my dog, Remy. Everyone was so warm and welcoming and I cannot say enough great things about Dr. Whitney and the entire internal medicine team. I am so appreciative for the kindness and compassion they showed both myself and my dog. Many thanks!

posted: 08/05/2024

Dr Palmisano and the team over there did a great job with my dog’s leg amputation. It was sad to hear the news at first but he was confident in his recommendation and was honest about his uncertainty in other approaches. When we decided to go through with it, everyone who worked with us made the process easy and they checked in with us to make sure she was okay. She had an amazing recovery no complications, and she runs and plays like any other normal 4 legged dog!

posted: 02/15/2024

We ended up at VCA suddenly because of our family dog. The facility is clean and we were helped immediately. Words cannot fully express how wonderful the staff members were to us. Their kindness and compassion was shown for the moment we stepped through the doors. The doctor was patient, friendly and very thorough. Highly recommended!!

posted: 06/20/2024

I’ve been taking my dog to VCA Norwalk since 2014, and I’m genuinely surprised by how much their service has declined. Recently, I brought my dog in for a second opinion on his health issues. The internal medicine vet advised us to stop one of his meds due to a possible bad reaction and promised to follow up the next day after reviewing some test results we sent from another vet. We sent the records around 12:30 PM the next day as discussed. By 5 PM, I hadn’t heard anything, so I called for an update. The receptionist put me on hold multiple times, claiming they were reviewing the notes with another doctor, but then said there was nothing in the notes about medications. This was clearly inaccurate because when I got the notes, it clearly said to stop the current medication and start another one. To top it off, we were told that the internal medicine vet who was supposed to call us had already left for the day. They didn’t give any advice on which med to start and provided no other medical direction or assurance about my dog’s wellbeing. I kept trying to get information but was told to wait for the internal medicine vet to come back. This left me really worried for my dog’s health as he was in the middle of a bad flare-up that could get worse quickly. Overall, the lack of follow-up and concern for my pet’s wellbeing was really disappointing. The staff didn’t provide timely or appropriate care. I expected much better from a vet clinic I’ve trusted for years, and I’m deeply let down.

posted: 07/19/2024