Extremely helpful and very kind to both me and my cat. I showed up at 2am with my cat who had started to bite some stitches that didn't dissolve, they took the stitches out and sent me on my way with a smile in less than 15 minutes! I was very happy and felt that my cat very well cared for.

I have a lot of animals, and I've gone to a lot of incompetent vets (there are a lot, unfortunately). Veterinary Specialty Hospital and their amazing staff and advanced team of veterinarians are the BEST, most advanced specialists and surgeons in Southern California. I would literally trust them to operate on myself...they are that amazing. Dr. Akins did Patella Subluxation surgery on my 2 mini pins so they could walk again. Dr. Mallory treated my one cat for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and she lived another 1.5 years. The staff treated my other cat for mega-colon and she lived another 2 years. They even sent in a donation to a non-profit in her name after she passed away! That warmed my heart! And a few weeks ago, Dr. Stevenson saved my 3.5 year old dog's life by doing emergency back surgery on her when she suddenly became paralyzed. In 60 seconds, Dr. Wakeman knew exactly what was wrong with her! Some people don't understand that when you go to a real specialty hospital, it won't be cheap like other vets who have no idea what they are doing and usually tell you to euthanize your pet because they don't have the knowledge or tools to save them. This hospital (they also have another facility in Sorrento Valley) is top notch. The staff are professional, friendly, and they CARE about your animals. I actually took a loan out to save my dog's life, and it was worth every penny. They provided me with the paperwork to fill out and within 10 minutes I was approved for the loan! I was ecstatic! She has degenerative disc disease at only 3.5 years old and had a ruptured disc that had to be cleaned out, as well all the fragments. Dr. Stevenson then needed to drill a hole into one area of her spine to clean out 4 more discs because the chances were good the others might rupture, too. Trust me, other emergency animal clinics don't have the technology, skill or equipment like this advanced facility to do this type of surgery. My beautiful dog was literally walking right after her surgery. In two weeks, it's as if nothing had ever happened to her and she's enjoying life again with her brother and sister. Dr. Stevenson said she's doing fantastic and her results are phenomenal. No, Dr. Stevenson, you and everyone there are phenomenal!!! May God Bless you all for saving all my animals' lives and for the compassion you have for everyone's "kids." Thank you with all my heart!

Our dog was under the care of a vet at VSH in San Marcos for just under 2 months before his death. We were referred to VSH by our regular vet for ongoing treatment after having mast cell tumors removed. From the first visit, it was clear that there is an air of money-making going on as opposed to caring for sick animals. The facility is state of the art - probably wouldn't be if the cost of the care was reasonable. The schtick of having a consultation with a doctor, the doctor leaving the room and a nurse coming in to give us a quote on the cost of treatment should have been a huge red flag. We went through the motions of starting treatment for the remaining tumor cells but didn't feel 100% comfortable with the facility so we didn't continue. A month or so later when our dog's appetite declined, we took him back in and were talked into starting him on one of the drug therapies (side note:it was Kinavet specifically, but there is another one called Palladia. DO NOT USE THEM. THE SIDE EFFECTS WILL KILL YOUR DOG FASTER THAN THE CANCER. There are a million reviews of Palladia out there and they all say the same thing. We opted for Kinavet because it wasn't supposed to have the side effects like Palladia but that's because it's so new that there are no reviews of it.). The doctor gave only a curt indication of 'yes' when I specifically asked if she had any other dogs in her care that it'd worked for, though she wouldn't elaborate. After two weeks, our dog was worse. Seems the medication (which had to be administered with gloves - another huge red flag) gave our dog stomach ulcers. We took him back in and instead of wanting to let our dog's stomach heal and make him feel better, the vet recommended that we start another course of treatment (chemotherapy) right away. We opted not to do it. Two days later, the dog stopped eating and started vomiting. We could not administer any medication. We contacted the vet to let her know; however, she responded by saying that they could give him fluids and anti-nausea but without starting chemo, there was nothing else they could do. She failed to recognize that he hadn't had any doses of antihistamines for 3 days. (If you don't know, antihistamines keep the histamines that the mast cell tumors release into the blood stream at bay and are vital for any dog that has these tumors so they don't go into anaphylactic shock.) We took our dog into VSH on a Sunday night and the vet on duty gave him fluids and anti-nausea and even she didn't note that he hadn't taken any antihistamines, though she and the VSH vet we'd been assigned to communicated after our dog left the facility. Our dog died 12 hours later from anaphylactic shock. Had those two veterinarians taken into consideration that our dog missed over a dozen doses of his antihistamines (he was taking them 4 times a day), our dog wouldn't have died the way he did. He was 13 years old and in great health otherwise, extremely alert and still had all of his senses (sight and hearing). He left behind two other pugs - our 15 year old girl with whom they had a litter of puppies, and one of his sons, who is now 12. His death was senseless and, I believe, exposes a lack of communication and consideration for pet owners. This place is only out to make money off of you and your emotions. Do your research before seeking treatment at this facility.