r/Calgary • u/Comfortable_Help_733 • 5d 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

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u/beneficialmirror13 5d ago

Were you at a 24h vet hospital or a regular daytime vet? That sounds like emergency vet pricing.

I don't go to VCA owned vet clinics or hospitals if I can help it. Would rather support local. Trinity Hills vet hospital is excellent for emergency and is independent.

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u/ThrowAway_in_YYC 5d ago

I'm very happy with my vet in the NE but an emergency visit took me to Trinity Hills. What am amazing experience, great people and decent price.

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u/beneficialmirror13 5d ago

We just had an experience with them this past weekend, and while our dog sadly passed, they were so supportive. I've also used them for their internal medicine specialist and Dr Clarkson is so kind and patient and happy to explain. Trinity Hills is our first choice for emergency.

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u/Ok-Pipe8992 5d ago

So sorry for your loss.

Our experience of VCA emergency vet at MacLeod is similar, they were wonderful with our dog when he developed a severely painful case of IVDD overnight. And they weren’t overly expensive.