VCA Foothill Veterinary Hospital Pasadena, California

VCA Foothill is an outstanding high quality vet. The staff is friendly, helpful, and professional with a great compassionate attitude and care. VCA Foothill cared for my three dogs in the early 2000s, and now my current beloved German Shepherd. In lieu of the very challenging covid conditions every vet is faced with nowadays the staff at VCA always do their best to accomodate their patients.

DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT take your pet here. VCA Foothill Veterinary Clinic is a shell of its former self and has gone from good to WORST veterinary clinic in Pasadena. For Foothill Veterinary Clinic, VCA stands for Vanishing Customer Accountability, Veterinary Care Avoidance, or possibly Veterinary Callous Apathy. Whatever the acronym, there is NO customer service from VCA Foothill Veterinary Clinic and VCA certainly does not stand for Veterinary Care for Animals. DO NOT sign up for puppy care or any other program they offer. Once you do, they know you are trapped in a payment plan and I believe they use this to reduce a miserable level of customer service to a non-existent level. VCA Foothill Veterinary Clinic advised me to wait until our dog was 7 months old before spaying her. When I called at 6 months to schedule the appointment, they initially said I would talk to the vet and schedule the surgery at the dog’s scheduled vaccine appointment the following week. At that appointment I was told it was a technician appointment and someone would call me to schedule the spaying. There was no call and no response to my weekly calls for over 3 weeks. When I finally spoke with them in late July, the “first available appointment” was September 13th. At the end of August, my dog developed an eye infection. The “first available appointment” for this condition was more than two weeks after I called. Really? The person who told me this asked if I wanted to book the appointment. I told her that if my dog had an eye infection after two weeks there were likely to be more significant issues. I was then told that I had the option to call in daily and see if there was an open slot that day. Given the lack of timely appointments, I decided this would be unsuccessful and a waste of time. Unfortunately, my dog went into heat four days before her scheduled spaying. VCA Foothill Veterinary Clinic strongly recommended delaying the spaying for 4 to 6 weeks due to potential complications. No surprise, the spaying was rescheduled for just under six weeks from the initial date. So 6 or 7 months is now 10 months. More importantly, the dog is enduring discomfort that could have been avoided if VCA Foothill Veterinary Clinic provided any level of customer service in June/July. My advice to you is DO NOT TAKE YOUR PET HERE. Something very bad has happened and VCA Foothill Veterinary Clinic has completely lost their way in terms of customer service – and no, the COVID-19 excuse doesn’t fly. Since they are unable to provide service, perhaps they should not be accepting new patients (even from families like us that have been coming for 25 years) and instead recommend veterinary clinics that are able to provide timely care and customer service (preferably not VCA facilities).

I have been coming here for 25+ years, it was beautiful before Covid, you walked in with your pet, you waited but we’re eventually seen, it was a first come first served. It worked great! Then Covid hit, and they have sign ups which is completely understandable. Now, they only do appointments which is ridiculous, how is one supposed to plan when a dog gets sick, or if it gets hit by a car, etc. . They need to have walkins like it was before covid for the past 40 years, when they opened. I talked to a staff member there, and she said we can’t do that anymore because we don’t have enough doctors. Well I guess a lot of doctors don’t want to work there anymore. Hmmm And I don’t wanna ever go back, I want to go where they care about my pet, not have to wait a week or month to get an appointment for my dog who has an infection! My dog will be dead by then….. I’m so angry and sad, that this place is like this NOW, they have NO organization or empathy for our pets!

For all of Covid they have had the worst walk in only policy. My dog has an injured paw and they made us wait in the hot sun, no shade, no water, 93 degrees outside. how is making a dog wait on hot pavement caring for animals? I’ve been going here for 8 years, the very least they could do is put some chairs and some shade in the parking lot for those of us that can’t afford cars.

5/25/2021 Care procedure: 07:00 Morning “walk in” sign up opens. 07:30 Phone lines open. 11:30 Afternoon “walk in” sign up opens.

I'm not quite sure what has happened to change their procedures, because we took our dog during the height of Covid, but now they only take reservations at 7:30am, with lineup 2 hours before! Then they're done, and that's all for the day. We even called and they just laughed at us, and hung up the phone. What's going on? I guess we'll be changing vets after 10 years! ????

During COVID, their opaque system forcing patients to stand outside their building in line at 6am to sign up for appointments is simply unmanageable and unprofessional. As is the fact that this system is not described neither on their telephone message nor on their website. Previously, we did not have a problem, and we had appreciated good service. But the current system is unworkable.

They did a great job. Tytyty

We have used VCA before they were VCA for about 30 years, and last month our 14 year old English Shepherd was coming to the end of her life and we called for an appointment and we were told get in line, the earlier the better and put our names on a list and maybe we would get an appointment. I am done and looking for a new vet!

Lindsey and Dr Sarah Rickard are the best. They always take care of my Diesel and make sure he is cared for with the most gentleness. Diesel is my kid and doesn't know he is a dog yet, they help me keep the secret.

With out even seeing my cat that was dieing they asked 4 $800 before even seeing him . sadly he past hrs later.

Dr. Hsu is very thorough and I am glad! I love my pets like family. Good service from start to finish!

VCA has been caring for my dogs for over 20 years. Very caring and loving.

Very nice Doctor Sun. She actually took her time and explained everything she did and gave me some wonderful tips on how to care for my pet . She didn’t try and give me anything extra just to charge me . I will definitely be going back.

They were awesome, I felt so welcomed. I just rescued a 4 week old puppy and was concerned they took her right away and said I was doing a great job, instead of charging me double they said to bring her back for the appropriate shots when she was 8 weeks. Going to them first for my dog's!

I rescued a senior cat from ASPCA and they provided a free checkup at a VCA hospital. The doctor wanted to do blood work and imaging and dental all over a couple grand. When I told her that I do not make that kind of money she tried to make feel bad and was like "well you DID adopt a senior cat". This cat had regular checkups and blood work. I felt pressured to get more services and guilty that I can't spend a few grand on a cat during a pandemic. Take your pet somewhere else.

Verry caring people get there by 6AM to get your baby's name on the list or else they will not be seen.

Why is it the Vet ask if every one in your home is healthy. When we should ask them the same questions. Animals don't give people COVD-19 people do. Really not happy to wait at the end of the ramp for 40 minutes. Maybe they should say it's going to take 40 minutes ???? BWritht

Extremely unprofessional. They will lie to you and hang up on you when you inquire further. Avoid at all costs! Even this response contains a lie... how could a business that prides itself on being professional hang up on a paying customer over over 12 years? The answer... they don't! This place has been going downhill ever since they became a VCA! They try to reply to reviews as "professional" but the reality is that if they spent this time training their staff on the basics of customer service, they would not have to reply to each review.

Dr. Howes has been the vet for my babies for many years. She is wonderful. Her compassionate care has extended my dogs life and provided him with an amazing quality of life for a 14 year old golden retriever. Sam actually enjoys going to see his doctor. Recently he has been having acupuncture treatments from Dr. Smiley with whom he bonded immediately. Linsey at the front desk is also a great asset to the office. She is always patient and kind and informs the people who are waiting about any delays. All of the technicians and office staff go out of their way to be helpful.

Dr Wong helped me a lot with my sick pet. She was so kind and willing to help me with my pet's incurable ailment. Thank you for being a light in the dark

Awesome staff that really cares!

I was just trying to find some information of the dog I rescued and adopted and this receptionist was so rude to me And belittled me and made me lose my temper I can’t believe there’s people like that

I love the heroes of the Foothill V.C.A. My first visit was a somber one, saying goodbye to a very young kitten. They were so kind to me and my poor girl. My boy kitten is happy and healthy thanks, in part, to they're compassionate, thoughtful and expert staff.

Dr kwan is the best

Great place, clean and they are great with my dog.

This hospital is becoming increasingly popular recently. Bad side of this is you have to wait much longer. Good side of this is there are more dogs to pet while you wait. The service is very good and my family has never had any trouble here other than again, wait times.

By far the nicest staff and vets I have ever been too. They know we don't have a lot of money and work with us on prices (which is so nice) and when it's necessary to euthanize your pet they don't charge for it. They are an amazing place; yes you wait, but it's worth it.

It has been brought to our attention that a public post was made by your vet who says she works there and found a dog and then in two days re homed the dog without letting owners find their pup it’s sad you would employ vets at your facility who don’t use due diligence in looking for owners.

They take such excellent care of our dog, Gidgit. Very friendly staff