Dermatology Center for Animals Seattle, Washington

My first visit With Dr. Mel was Perfect and informative. They listened to my concerns and told me the plan to take for my Dog. I wanted to like this specialized clinic, but things went south after seven weeks On their Food restrictions diet. About 5-6 weeks in, I emailed the clinic and explained my dog is not the same dog I brought in. He is Lethargic, lost some weight, and had no improvement. They Encouraged me to continue on the food-restricted diet approved by Them, I continued. In the seventh week on the program my dog developed a Secondary skin and needed immediate Treatment with My regular Veterinarian, this is why I brought My dog into the Dermatology Center is for Secondary skin infections. I called Dermatology Center for Animals and left a voice mail message explaining the current Condition my dog. To this day, they have never returned my phone call or reached out to say omg 8 weeks are up let’s bring him in for a follow up. After your money is deposited this place could careless if your fur baby is better. This was my experience no phone call back during a what to do situation.

New to town, took my dog in to continue her allergy treatments as was started back home. Dr. Mel brought us in a room, looked at her for one second, talked in pointless circles for an hour, then charged us $200. Only to tell us to wait a year and come back. Meanwhile, my poor dog's fur is falling out. This guy's a quack, and reminded me of one of the cardinal rules of medicine: never trust a doctor who refers to themselves by their first name. Looking, now, for a qualified veterinary dermatologist, and wondering why I paid that $200 charge.

Dr. Mel was very knowledgeable and competent in the treatment of my dog. I feel very good about working with him. He spent plenty of time with us in the exam and made sure all our questions were answered. The cost of exam and treatment is very reasonable. My dog has a difficult case with a lot of specialists, and his prognosis is not great. Dr. Mel did an excellent job of balancing hope/optimism with reality. In other news, I have been to a number of vet offices recently and they are usually kind of run-down (not in a bad way, just in a lived-in kind of way). His office is very new and clean and bright.

Dr. Mel is amazing. Like others, we were unable to find a long term treatment through my primary vet so they recommended a dermatologist specific for animals (I never knew there was such a thing.) Dr. Mel's consultation was very informative and laid out all of the options for us. He explained to us that from the symptoms that our dog was showing we were safest and CHEAPEST to go the food allergy testing route. He then suggested other routes if this one failed (so he could've offered the more expensive route but it didn't make ethical an practical sense to do so.) Is it still expensive yes, is it worth it ABSOLUTELY. The trickiest part is getting your pet scheduled due to the effects of covid so call around if your vet recommends you to see one. But I highly recommend Dr. Mel if he's available as him and his team are professional and really care about your animal. Good luck!

I can’t say enough about Dr Mel. He is an exceptional dermatology vet. He listened to my concerns and answered my questions and explained the treatment options very clearly. We were allowed to go in with our German Shepherd, and that meant so much to us during this pandemic. I feel completely satisfied and it didn’t even break the bank. Thank you, Dr Mel.

Any negative reviews here focus on money and time. Finding an animal allergy takes time, and money. If you expect that, your animal will continue to suffer and you'll keep spending for the life of the animal. Coming here saved me both money AND time. The vets I went to kept giving me short term medications that were bad for my animal and expensive and didn't fix the problem long term (2 weeks relief was the longest solution), and sold me foods that were likely still contributing to the problems. We are now on the right food elimination food, and working through finding his allergies. This doctor could have had me spend SO much more since I was willing to do anything, but instead is having me start with the smartest thing first since those are the symptoms my dog is showing. He's ethical, cares about the dog, and saved me time and money. I wish I'd gone sooner, but I'm going to get to the bottom of this and feel good that I've got someone with great training in our corner when we need him.

My dog has had allergies the majority of her life. She's had an ear ablation because of that. When I made the appt. with Dr. Mel the reason was her very inflamed paws. While in the exam room, and they do see you face to face which is wonderful during Covid, Dr. Mel threw some kibble on the floor. I thought to my self, 'if this man thinks she's going to eat kibble he has no idea of who she is.' Noel only eats freeze dried raw rabbit. So Dr. Mel is drawing on a white board going over the different types of allergies, time frames, treatment options while answering questions. He smiles at me and states, "she likes the food". I look down and Noel is scarfing up the kibble! I was shocked. So we started on a food trial with this prescription diet that I've never heard of. It's over a week after her first appointment and she is loving the food! I have already notices a decrease in the size of her paw pads. People, if you've tried everything and your regular Vet. is telling you, "It's not the food". make an appt. with Dr. Mel!!! Believe me, he doesn't charge enough! I am so happy I took Noel to see him.

Had I given a review after my pups appointment here I probably would have given DCA a 4-5 star rating. The veterinarian was nice and explained his thoughts on my dogs itchiness. He then gave the 3 different options that we could do and his recommendation to figure out exactly what was going on with my pup who had been having moderate to severe itching for almost a year. We opted to try switching to the hypoallergenic dog food for a couple of months before doing testing. We do not like giving out dogs medications because many of them can be dangerous long term (Apoquel). We were offered Apoquel to control the itching until the food helped which we considered and decided against in the short term. Our pup had used it for a short period of time and it helped but I did not thing the benefit outweighed the risk. We were also told about an injection called Cytopoint. It sounded safe and interesting but I didn't want to just agree to it without doing any research on it. Well, luckily I didn't agree to it! The only testing (As of December 2019) that had been done on it was ONE trial by the company that produces it. No third-party testing at all. I don't like to be Dr. Google as I am a nurse and know where it leads patients sometimes.. But, it doesn't take much effort or time to research to find that while some dogs do fine on Cytopoint, the internet boards are littered with stories of dogs becoming sick and resulting in death of the pet. I obviously do not think the vet at DCA is purposely pushing an unsafe drug onto animals, and I realize a lot of these boards you find online can't be completely relied on as "research". My reason behind the 2-star rating is because when DCA called us after 1 month on the food we said there was some improvement but not complete improvement, and they recommended we continue for one more month. A couple of weeks later we received another email from them asking for an update and we said about the same. They then asked about the Cytopoint and we expressed out concern to them and they didn't find it important to continue to communicate with us about our pet. We didn't want this specific treatment and had concerns and apparently we aren't allowed to question or they no longer care to follow up on our pets outcome or to see if we want to come in for allergy testing. We will be finding another animal dermatologist to go to that cares about their pet patients.

DCA helped us with multiple skin issues for our bully that has suffered from allergies and skin growths his whole life. They had multiple options to approach his allergies and get him relief and worked with what made the most sense given his age and our budget. We decided to go back to them to have a cyst removed from his foot that most other places told us they wouldn’t touch and required a surgical specialist and DCA removed it and a few of his other growths for an affordable fee and he has healed up great! They’ve also been super responsive in email and phone during Covid which has been great. Will definitely recommend to my friends with bully breeds that have skin issues.

Dr. Mel is fantastic. He definitely pays attention to details.

[UPDATE] Thank you Dr. Mel for taking the time to respond and also provide a resolution. This restores my faith in your team and in humanity. Uncompassionate staff - they care more about taking your money than helping your pet. I've encountered issues where they do not renew much needed prescriptions for ongoing medical issues without you setting up ANOTHER appointment and spending $400 out of pocket for that. Shame on you. Find another clinic if you can.

So upset explained in advance my dog was having seizures, possibly caused by toxicity to chemical flea treatment. I needed him looked at for allergies and wanted a holistic product to treat his itching. I was charged $165.00 for a 1 hr initial visit. The vet spent 5 mins, recommended two of the worst chemical flea treatments Serento and Bravo and visit was over. Nothing, no help, no allergy test or relief, he did not tell me anything worthwhile or helpful. I told him those two flea treatments have the worst side effects, he walked out. Don't waste your money or trust this vet to provide safe care for your pets.

I was initially impressed with the office. Dr Mel seemed kind and knowledgeable. He recommended a prescription food and an injection to start treatment. The office signed the prescription from Chewy immediately. I am a lot less impressed with the subsequent/follow up care. My dog did not improve as expected on the recommended food and the vet declined to offer advice regarding further workup or management beyond returning to our regular vet. For my dog's condition is it reasonable to trial several different medications prior to moving on to expensive diagnostics which I would have expected a specialist to pursue or at least provide guidance.

Wonderful, kind, helpful staff, reasonably priced, and Dr. Mel is great. He explains my pets conditions, care plans for her moving forward, all very honestly and easy for us to understand, and manage at home.

We were referred to DCA due to our Frenchie Sumo's food allergies. The level of care and customer service provided by Dr. Mel an his Staff is truly exceptional. I simply cannot recommend DCA highly enough.

* When appointment was made, the representative was respectful and polite. * Upon arrival to the office, the front desk lady was rude and unprofessional. For a $152.00 dollars consultation appointment, it is logical to expect a customer treatment that is not Condescension and disregarding. A formal complaint was not made but I did politely mention my unappreciation to the condescending talk and behavior. * During the consultation, the very first thing the provider mention was the incident by stating “we do not get that kind of feedback” Dr Mel ( per reviews, this is not an isolated situation). I did not appreciate that comment as I was not there to talk about me or the front desk lady; my objective was to discuss my dog’s health matters. Moreover, his statement did not validate my perception of the situation. I did not expect an apology form him as he had done nothing, but If he wanted to start this appointment talking about the incident, he could have started by asking me, is everting ok? What happened? Etc. His initial statement only backed up wrongful doings without asking for the customer’s point of view first. *So, I was left with having to ask the provider to focus on my dog’s health issues as I a way to be productive because I did not want to be there any longer. * People that prejudice against people, do not prejudice or bully every customer, they target individuals or specific groups of people. * In regard to the provider, Dr Mel, was professional and knowledgeable about my pet’s needs. If I am not expelled from his practice after this review, I would surely seek his dog dermatological services again. *I hope the initial situation did not influence my pet's treatment as I'm planing to follow this professional advise. It is not about me, it is about the pets well being. *I’m giving a 4 starts to this office, but I must say. I have gotten by far better customer service in other offices. It is harder when seeking specialist pet care, but still, the front desk lady should at minimum say hello back to the customer and establish some type of polite communication.

Shady hidden costs This is not a “team” but a one man operation. With one tech and a receptionist Does not appear to be board certified or in the WA license data base Pros: spends time explaining differential diagnosis Cons: hidden fees and expenses Consult 157$ A known fee Skin scraping to look at under microscope 60$ Antibiotic 175$ Blood test 180$ Known fee but had to ask Dispensing fee to “count the antibiotics” 8.95 Disposal fee “to discard the needle for the blood test”4.95$ They don’t give you the itemized amount until after you pay and except for the blood test and consult, don’t tell you what the costs are until after you pay the bill The dispensing fee is deceitful and shady because it is literally the vet tech that counts the pills. I mean does the pharmacist charge you to count? This is on top of the pills which cost 175$ Update : my dog went to his regular vet for follow up today and has lost 10 pounds and lab results show that he was very hyperthyroid now. His tests at DCA showed a normal TSH and total T4 and a Free T4 that was 0.6 which is 0.1 point below normal. With that, he was “diagnosed” with hypothyroidism and given 0.8 mg thyroid hormone twice a day. Looks like this did him more harm than good

Welcoming and genuinely caring team!!

My little furbaby Choco's been suffering from recurring skin infections from a mystery allergic reaction. We've made a handful of trips to the vet to put him on oral antibiotics, steroids, additional flea/tick preventative, and anti-itch medication, along with topical steroids and an allergy injection. They've definitely helped with keeping his symptoms to a minimal, but we never found the underlying cause and the scabs kept coming back. After spending a good amount of money, I opted to go to DCA to have him allergy tested. First of all, WOW to all the staff at DCA with their friendliness! Choco usually gets really uneasy with strangers and he NEVER takes treats from strangers but within a few minutes, he was taking treats from Dr. Mel and let all of the medical staff (Dr. Mel, of course, the veterinary student who was there to observe, and the assistant) touch and examine him. Dr. Mel gave a thorough explanation of how we usually get down to discovering and treating pet allergies. He listened very carefully to all the past symptoms I observed (how Choco had sensitive stomach as a puppy, isn't itching much with his recurrent scabs, but will itch when his skin gets infected) and we eventually narrowed down to a potential food allergy. I've notified him that I've switched around Choco's food with different proteins, but he told me that there's a risk for cross-contamination at the factory (or kitchen), which I hadn't thought of. I was pretty much ready to pay the big bucks and get Choco allergy tested, but he actually said that with Choco's symptoms, it didn't seem like an environmental allergy so we should start with a food trial and then see if things get better. I wasn't hit with any hidden costs, everything seemed very transparent and reasonable. Anyway, our first visit was amazing - and we're really excited to get down to the bottom of this with such a wonderful team :)

We moved from Spokane and my pitbull started having really bad skin reaction. We tried multiple vets in South sound areas and no one could figure out what was wrong with him. Then DCA was recommend from one of our friends and what a difference it has been. They knew what was wrong with our Pit and he is 90% there. I would recommend DCA to anyone who's pet is having skin issues!!

This place is a joke. Just like every other vet, “take some prednisone, she must be allergic to something she’s eating!” We too her to a different dermatologist for a second opinion and found out she would’ve died from continued use of prednisone. A couple test, the CORRECT medical plan and medications and she is already 100x better in 2 weeks. This place is just another money pit. Clearly don’t care about your pet, just your money! It’s a joke!

The Doctor is great. Need one in Bremerton

After three visits the best they can do is say, "lol maybe allergies?" Also, they left my cat in a piss soaked carrier for an unknown amount of time

Had my first appt with Dr Mel today and I was really impressed with both him and his staff. He explained everything at a level I could understand, listened to all my questions and concerns and provided a treatment plan that I was comfortable with despite me being a slightly difficult client. ???????? My cat was also calm and relaxed during his exam and handling of her, which is always a good sign. His staff was friendly and knowledgeable and the office was one of the cleanest I've been in. Worth every penny we spent and wouldn't hesitate going back or referring Dr Mel to our friends, family and adopters.

Great facilities, attentive staff, and caring Veterinarians! However, appointments are by referral only so check with your primary vet before taking your animal here!

Friendly but spendy, I guess it is a specialist

Dr Mel is a wonderful doc! If your pets are in need of a dermatologist, this is the place!

They are expensive but good

Dr Mel is the best!

I brought my Great Dane to DCA for a the first today. This was the first time I have felt confident in who was caring for my dogs health. Dr. Lam was professional, extremely intelligent, great with my dog and me even with my many many questions! I’m so grateful to have found this place! Customer service was beyond accommodating. DCA has a really great thing going on! For my dogs sake I hope we won’t be there often! But I 100% trust the vets here!