VCA Woodstock Veterinary Clinic

"Administered a vaccination without approval or explanation. After checking heart, lumps n joints, Vet pulled out a syringe from their pocket unannounced and injected it with out a word."

"My dog Finn lost his eye sight and his eyes due to the negligence and misdiagnoses I was given. November 11, 2023 my dogs eyes were bright red and he had difficulty seeing. Since VCA was close because it was a Sunday I took him to the near by emergency vet. Given his history with allergies they decided it was best to try some eye drops and follow up with VCA in 5-7 days. The emergency vet said that if his eyes had no progress by then it was possible there was another underlying issue. I followed up with VCA and he saw Dr. Taylor. His eyes looked a lot better but still had some redness. Dr. Taylor said that I just needed to continue the eye drops for another 5 days. After that I transitioned back to his normal eye drops and his eyes fluctuated from red to normal for about the next month. December 19th I noticed his eyes were red again and there was some cloudiness around the iris of his eye. I immediately called and made an appointment for the following day. We got to the vet and I told them what I noticed and also asked them to check his ears for an infection as well. I also asked the tech if we can finally try Cytopoint instead of keeping him on Apoquel because I was taking my dog to the vet constantly because he was having many ear infections and skin issues. Dr. Taylor came in to look at his eyes. She did no tests at all just looked at them with a light and said it was allergies and gave me some eye drops. Two days later I noticed that his eyes looked not much better or no progress at all, so I reached out to the vet and explained my concerns. Dr. Taylor responded saying I needed to give it more time and wait until 12/26 and reach out if there was still no progress. On 12/24 I ended up having to take him to the emergency vet again because at this point the cloudiness spread and he was having trouble seeing. The emergency vet seem confused that with what I describe to them why there was no addition tests done on his eyes at his primary vet (VCA). They took him into the back to do some blood work, an x-ray to rule out a fungal infection, and some eye tests. The vet here informed me that he has glaucoma and the pressure in his eyes was in the high 50s and it should be 10-20. He was kept overnight to bring the pressure down rapidly and preserve what vision he had if he had any. I picked him up on 12/25 and they said I would need to take him to an eye specialist and follow up the next day with my primary vet. I was given glaucoma drops to start in the process. I chose after the neglect he faced at VCA to go to a different vet that my family has taken past dogs too. She also expressed concern that there was no addition tests done when I mentioned the cloudiness. At this point she said that the eye pressure increased since he was taken off the IV at the emergency vet and I needed to make an emergency appointment with an eye specialist. After being treated by the eye specialist from 12/27-current she determined that he was blind and had a retina detachment and gave him more medicine. The eye specialist was also confused that no pressure test or any other tests were done by VCA and that it was a long time of not being treated correctly that the chances of saving his vision and eyes was slim. The eye specialist tested him for many diseases and infections. Yesterday I had to have them removed by the eye specialist because his eyes were not responding to the glaucoma medicine. If more care was taken by Dr. Taylor this could have been caught and treated sooner and my dog could still maybe have his vision or at least his eyes. But it was just always written off as allergies with no further tests."

"I’ve been with VCA for almost 2 years. Gaga is my baby, my best friend, my shadow, my everything. Gaga has the best doctor, Dr Heaver. On July 8th, 2023 my nightmare began when Gaga was sick and we went to see Dr. Ulrich. Dr Heaver was out on leave but they told me that they didn’t know when or if she was coming back! I thought it would be fine since they worked in the same practice. I could not have been more wrong. Dr. Ulrich took x-rays and pointed to the heart telling me it was enlarged and there was fluid building up in her chest and she was in heart failure. I was in complete shock. Seeing my reaction, Dr Ulrich threw his boss under the bus, saying “Did Dr Heaver not tell you she was in heart failure?” He then went on to tell me that Gaga only had about 6 months left to live! After that, Every night I woke up around 2 am and sometimes again at 4am just to check to see if my girl was still alive. I would pray she left me in her sleep so she wouldn't suffer at all. I made sure every night I kissed her and hugged her. I took her for longer walks just to let her know I loved her like my child. Every night I said goodbye to her. I picked the spot I was going to put her when she passed. I had her bin and her favorite blankets washed and ready to wrap her in. I kept her as comfortable as humanly possible thinking, “ok, this is it. She’s acting funny, she is leaving me today.” I neglected my husband and my children because I was so overwhelmed with the thought that I was losing my best friend. As the days went on I kept spending the money to keep her going in hopes that love or a miracle would keep her alive. I didn't care, I put myself into debt just to keep her going. I trusted Dr. Matthew Ulrich and his diagnosis! I begged him to help her. I asked him again and again, why is she ok outside but not inside? No answer. Should I not walk her if her heart is failing? No, says Dr. Ulrich. You can walk her as much as you want! Excuse me, if I was a 90 year old woman in heart failure with fluid all in my lungs, so much that it’s coming out in tears and dripping out of my nose, should I be walking “as much as I want”!?! That‘s right, Dr Ulrich told me that there was so much fluid in the lungs that “it had to come out somewhere”. He put her on heart medication and a diuretic. He recommended that I take her to the ER. Companion Animal Specialty and Emergency. The doctor there told me the same thing. Gaga was in the final stages of heart failure. Dr Ulrich called me and said that Gaga might only have a few days or a week left but he would call and check in on us. They gave Gaga some fluids and put her in an oxygen cage and sent her home the next day. I was so distraught, I cried ever day since July 8th when Dr Ulrich said she was dying of heart failure. I was miserable, I was trying to figure out how was I going to cope without my furry sidekick. My mind was racing. I was thinking to myself how in the world am I going to get through this without losing my mind. Imagine my shock when I brought Gaga back in after her ER visit and Dr Heaver came into the room. She was appalled to hear what was going on with Gaga and went right into action. She sent the X-rays to a specialist and ordered heart tests from a cardiologist. Gaga was NOT in heart failure, and there was no fluid anywhere in her heart or her lungs! I never heard a word from Dr Ulrich, not to check in and see how we were, not to apologize, nothing. The only thing I heard was one of the techs saying that it was the ER that misdiagnosed Gaga! Dr. Ulrich robbed me of 3 months of my life and didn’t even have the decency to even pretend that he cared. Some vets truly care about animals and the people who love them. Other vets just have some sort of power trip and go from patient to patient without caring about how what they say or do can ruin people’s lives! It's 6 months later and my bestfriend is still next to me. She is not on the 2 heart medications and doing well. I honestly had no idea vca is like a fast food restaurant and a franchise. It's not your small town vet"

"We had to put down our diabetic cat today. Our usual vet was closed so we reached out to VCA. In short they handled the entire process with ultimate compassion. They were very gentle with Murphy and allowed us some alone time prior to doing the procedure. We will get another cat down the road...can't right now as losing Murphy hurts. When we do get another cat we will use this vet for all its needs."

"Dr. Hoage is awesome but we didn't get to see her. The one we saw didn't really check my dog. Glanced at her and went with what we said we thought was was wrong."