VCA Canada Downtown Animal Hospital

After over a year of our 2 yr old bulldog struggling with allergies, and living in discomfort.. we finally can say we see light at the end of the tunnel & the feeling of defeat is no longer. We went to countless appointments with our previous vet where we were basically shrugged off, and made to feel that the only way to help our dog is to get him on life long antihistamines and immunotherapy. Within ONE appointment at the downtown VCA we left with a plan of action & most importantly.. just 2 days later my dog (Jax) no longer in pain. Dr.Emily was absolutely amazing, explained thoroughly how allergies work, what we can do short and long term to help him, and to maintain them.. rather than to just mask the symptoms with medication, rather how to live with them and make Jax comfortable. My fiance and I left that appointment with hope for our baby. Not to mention the next day Dr.Emily personally phoned me to check in and see how Jax is doing. Hands down best vet we’ve seen.

posted: 12/30/2024

The vets and the staff here are beyond wonderful. My cat needs monthly shots and they took the time and effort to teach me how to do it on my own. It’s no exaggeration that they are my favourite vet clinic ever.

posted: 12/14/2024

Great service. They were very good with our two rescue cats who are still very frightened in new surroundings. Got health check results quickly and walked out with needed medications. Highly recommend

posted: 02/05/2024

I’ve been a client here for about a year and couldn’t be more pleased with their service. The vets, techs, and admin staff are all pretty great! It’s not a cheap clinic, but that’s to be expected for a downtown clinic (particularly with their expansive opening hours). Dr Emily goes out of her way to make my dog feel comfortable and to help me through my concerns as a first time dog mom. My little rescue doggie loves her and so do I!

posted: 08/27/2023

For context, our puppy had diaherra that had consisted throughout the day and due to him being a puppy, me and my partner decided to get him checked up to make sure everything was okay. As soon as we arrived in the examination room, one of the receptionist's walked in and asked us to sign off on two tests, one of them being Parvovirus, without explaning why the tests were needed but that they would cost $300. This was within 5 minutes of entering the room and at that point, no one had seen our dog or even knew what his symptoms were. We refused and waited to see what the doctor had to say, in response the receptionist left the forms on the side and left the room. Me and my partner instantly got the feeling that our dogs health was not a priority. Once the Doctor entered the room, they didn't really introduce themselves or look at us directly, rather they started to ask us questions whilst facing the computer. At this point, this was the third time I had given them the information they were requesting and the manner in-which the Doctor was gathering information from us came across extremely rude. Finally, the Doctor examined our puppy and said initially our dog had some gas but he didn't have a fever. She then listened to the dogs heart and lungs, but said in an undertone that things were "fine" or something to that effect. After this, she said that she would send in someone with a quote of what to do next. At no point was anything explained to us, about the dangers of Parvovirus and why in puppies testing is needed, why he needed bloodwork done, why he needed painkillers, why he needed fluids, why he needed anything. She simpy left the room, and someone came in with a quote for around $1,000 worth of treatment. This is when my fears of my pets health not being a priority was confirmed, that is when me and my partner decided to go to another vets to receive better treatment. I said to the assistant that had brought in the quote that we didn't want the treatment and that we wanted to go. As soon as we entered the lobby, the Doctor who had seen our pet instantly came over and we felt started to berate us. The Doctor, I felt, was trying to play on our emotions to perform the tests or taking the treatment. As mentioned, we had already decided to go to another vet, so I simply told her I thought this was all overkill so that we could leave as soon as possible, but the Doctor persisted in trying to get us to at least buy a meal what was essentially boiled chicken and rice. All this time, my partner noted the receiptionist was shaking her head and when we signed papers to discharge, just like the Doctor the manner she talked to us came across extremely condersending and patronising. The whole experience from start to finish was extremely uncomfortable for us. I feel one of the most important things for a vet is to build trust with the owner of the pet, the whole time we simply felt so put off by their approach. We thought it couldn't get any worse, but it did. We went to a another vet close by, as soon as we arrived the new vet instantly explained why this could be a Pavovirus case and the importance of getting testing. The new vet examined our dog and found that he did actually have a fever and his respotory rate was high, which the previous Doctor said were both fine. We were recommended to take our dog to the emergency room straight away. Once we got to the ER, the Doctors tested our dog for the Parvovirus and fortunately, he did not have it. All he simply needed was some fluids and an anti-narsea injection, that was it. Throwing back to earlier, the Doctor and receptionist at DownTown made comments about us not at least giving our dog a painkiller. Both the second vet we went too and the ER Doctor's said our dog was not actually in pain, he has discomfort which was explained to us is not the same thing as being in pain and a painkiller was not needed. Fair to say, we won't be going back.

posted: 08/15/2024