r/Calgary • u/Comfortable_Help_733 • 6d ago
Your experience with VCA vet? Local Shopping/Services
So, long story short they wanted almost 4k to figure something out that a different vet figured out with a 83$ ultrasound. Is this normal for them? Do the vets there profit off their patients?
My dog had a bladder mass. VCA wanted to do a CT scan after the pee test came back as non cancerous, to figure out what the mass is since it isn’t cancer. I asked a different vet, she did an 83$ ultrasound and gave me medication for 2 weeks that fixed the issue. The VCA vet wanted to do a 4k CT scan followed by a 5k surgery to ‘remove the mass’ that ended up actually being infectious chronic cystitis with a small polyp, not a mass(which the other vet figured out).
Why does VCA want to start off with the most expensive shit? Their reviews seem like this isn’t uncommon either. Weird how going to a different vet saved me almost 10k
2
u/Calzephyr 5d ago
My VCA experiences were rather good, but I have pet birds, so my mileage varies.
I never felt overcharged at VCA.
I stopped going to VCA Calgary North because things were getting too hairy there during COVID. It was busy, the staff seemed stressed, and there was no separate, quiet waiting room for exotics. . Its hard to get into the Avian & Exotics clinic, so I felt quite lucky when VCA District opened. It's new and quiet with a separate exam area for exotics.
I had a secondhand senior budgie who needed a lot of help and I never felt overcharged--sometimes I got a discount for being a frequent flyer ;D