VCA Veterinary Emergency Service & Veterinary Specialty Center 4902 East Broadway, Madison, WI 53716

"I do not typically give reviews, but I feel with how impactful of a role these veterinarians play in our pets lives I must. I brought in my 3 year old frenchie because she was having difficulty walking and breathing (more so than she usually does). The vet tech took her in the back and checked her vitals, she was perfectly fine internally aside from a fever. Shortly after Dr. Gunn came in to examine and speak to us about her. After just feeling around her body the doctor diagnosed her with a herniated hip, and suggested it was in the severe stages. Our dog had shown no issues with her health until less than 48 hours prior. So, this seemed odd to us but nonetheless. Dr. Gunn suggested we take her to a specialist and pay 10 grand for a 60-40 surgery that would require up front payment. We obviously asked if there were any other options until we could find the money. She said the condition was not life threatening. She told us we could nurse the dog back to health at home and we’d have a 1/5 chance of getting her to walk again. But, if we didn’t do the surgery that night she wouldn’t be able to. Some pretty flawed logic. She was extremely pushy about if we do not do the surgery we should euthanize, despite claiming our dog was in 0 pain and not on the verge of death. We opted to get a second opinion because of these suspicious behaviors. But unfortunately we didn’t get to get that second opinion. After we got home that night our dog passed in our arms. They never mentioned her fever after the first time and assured us she wasn’t life threatening. I think this facility needs to ensure their staff is properly trained and competent. I think had we gone to some with these skills we wouldn’t have lost our little girl. I hope none of you choose this place. Value the lives out your animals. Do not support these practices. I’m sorry for anyone else’s loses who experienced it."

"We had to unexpectedly take our senior Husky Fiona here on New Year’s Day after she had several seizures overnight. Dr. Tistan was very compassionate and explained Fiona’s condition in an easy to understand and honest manner. We ultimately had to make the excruciating decision to put Fiona down and Dr. Tristan and the rest of the staff could not have been any better with us. They made the process as painless as possible for us and Fiona and I will forever be grateful for them and their treatment of us."

"We brought our 6 month old GSD puppy here in the middle of the night when he developed acute pneumonia. He's not our first GSD, and we are well aware of the stigmas they have. However everyone who has interacted with him always comments on how sweet he is. Multiple employees at his daycare have said "he doesn't have a mean bone in his body". The techs at our normal vet have made similar comments. After staying there until the next morning we transfered him out because we got a bad feeling from the vet who was rude to us. In her notes and to us when we picked him up she said he was aggressive towards her and the staff. What did they do to make him agressive? Their prices were double compared to other emergency vets in the are, the vet was rude, and how were they treating my dog to make him be aggressive? I would only go here if it is your only choice. I would rate them zero stars if I could."

"You don’t want to go here. Everyone was nice but the medicine isn’t good. I brought my animal in for hypothermia based on an event which I described. The vet said my animal's issue was likely blood clots. They did no tests to substantiate that theory. They recommended euthanasia. I said I didn’t want to euthanize my pet, to which the vet pushed back and told me my animal was going to starve to death if I didn’t. They’re the professionals, right? Turns out not. It was only after I requested records that I learned that my animal was responding to treatment for hypothermia after just 12 minutes and that no testing was done to support the blood clot theory. Blood pressure, CBC, glucose were all normal. The discharge notes were embellished and were not offered to me until I requested them later, they were only sent to my regular vet the next day. Their vet scared me into euthanizing my pet based on a hunch that cost me $750. Even the discharge notes said I didn’t want to euthanize. Take my advice: when a vet clinic has ready made coffins in stock (they do) run out the door with your animal. I keep wishing I could wake up from this nightmare but what’s done is done. I’m going to guess that their euthanasia rate is much higher than other ER clinics in the area."

"We called ahead to let them know the circumstances of our kitten, they were ready and waiting to triage him as soon as we got there. We weren't there long as they diagnosed our little guy with feline parvo and we opted to have him euthanized. The staff were kind and compassionate, and gave my daughter and I plenty of time to get our goodbyes in. We stayed with him until the very end and they put him in his own little casket that we could bury him in. Thank you to the staff that showed us lots of love and understanding today. We appreciate you."