As a veterinary student, I am utterly disgusted by this animal hospital’s behavior. In late August, our cat was treated at VCA Aurora Animal Hospital by Dr. Juliana Hilbert. After making personal, familial decisions for our pet, it was clear that Dr. Hilbert had her own opinions on the matter and did not respect our decisions. As a future veterinarian, I understand that one should never judge a client or owner on the decisions that they choose to make. Unfortunately, Dr. Hilbert did not uphold this. Instead, she insisted on pushing her own beliefs and opinions, while our cat was on his deathbed. After I kindly explained to her our own wishes and thoughts, she blatantly grimaced. She not only made us feel judged, but have us questioning her future ambitions as a compassionate veterinarian. Furthermore, after understanding our desires and beliefs, she rudely told us that “her technician could not stand [there] all night” to manually breathe for our cat. While our darling cat was on his deathbed, she additionally told us that such could be quite expensive. Subsequently, she began discussing other options, such as automatic ventilators, and went to her computer to write us an estimate. We had spent much money on our pet without any issues. Money has never been a problem or even a concern. I understand that God has blessed our family, and that many other families cannot do the same for their pets. However, Dr. Hilbert’s veterinary style has truly shown us that she treats her patients as numbers and not as individuals. As stated previously, I understand this occupation since I have the honor of being in this field. She strikes me as one of those veterinarians who are numb to the pain that their patients and clients undergo each day since she sees it day in and day out. This type of mentality is horrendous and goes against everything that veterinary medicine set out to establish many years ago. Again, she has our family questioning her future as a veterinarian. In addition, Dr. Hilbert’s professional and ethical standards must be questioned. As an emergency room veterinarian, she is responsible for contacting the patient’s owners in order to discuss the health concern in question. She failed to do so. Furthermore, each time my husband tried to contact this woman, a technician explained to us that she was busy. We have never experienced the deliberate disrespect that Dr. Hilbert imparted on our family. Instead of calling us with an update on our cat’s condition, she called us to explain to us that our pet had stopped breathing. We had called her facility multiple times before her phone call, but, as noted earlier, she was busy. Lastly, the matter that has appalled our family the most is the fact that Dr. Hilbert sent our deceased pet home in a Covidien WingsTM Fluff and Polymer Underpad box. She did not have the common sense or decency to send out cat home in a respectable box/coffin. As a veterinary student, I am well aware of the pet coffins that various facilities provide. I had asked the technician for such a box; instead he laughed in my face and stated that “[their facility] was not the Hinsdale Animal Cemetery”. Our cat’s primary veterinarian is a VCA doctor in Indiana. We have only had the best experiences at VCA, and the utmost respect for this corporation. Unfortunately, Dr. Hilbert does not emanate this corporation’s mission statement or overall purpose. I truly believe that she is a disgrace to veterinary medicine. Though, I hope that she takes this situation as a learning experience for her future as a veterinarian and her future patients. We only wanted the best of care for our cat, and are truly disappointed that we could not find such in Dr. Hilbert or in VCA Aurora Animal Hospital.

We spent the last 2 months at VCA Aurora and I have to agree with the other reviews. The staff was wonderful beyond words. Whether we were there during the busy daytime rush or at 3am for one of our emergency visits, every staff member, from the receptionist, to the tech, to the doctor was warm, compassionate and caring. Our dog had cancer, so we spent a lot of time with Dr. Green. She was absolutely fantastic. Her knowledge in the field of oncology rivals that of any doctor you will find treating people. Her bedside manner, her attention to detail and her guidance were greatly appreciated. Any time we had a question, she was there to answer it, if not in person, then when we called, she would call us back within minutes (try to get that kind of response from your doctor!). Unfortunately, we had to put our loved one to sleep and I couldn't have asked for a better person to be there with us for that difficult moment than Dr. Green. Like I said before, everybody at VCA Aurora was so warm and caring. Yes, it's pricey, I agree. But this is a specialty hospital, an emergency, critical care hospital, so one should expect the cost to be high. In my opinion, it's no different than a hospital you or I would visit. They offer every service and treatment imaginable and they have an extremely qualified staff of doctors and technicians to administer those treatments. If you need the services offered by VCA, then consider yourself very fortunate that they exist.

We wish to give a special thank you to Dr. Ashley Feil. She attended our pet cat, Pili. During the entire time of him being there Dr. Feil was very wonderful. She is very professional, caring and compassionate. In the end, my husband and I had to make an extremely difficult decision to put him to sleep, but we felt that Dr. Feil was with us all along and had advised us correctly. Don't let her (young) age deter you from having her handle your pet.I assure you that your pet will be in the best hands. Thank you Dr. Feil for being so empathetic and kindhearted . Thanks on behalf of our beloved Pili!!

WONDERFUL people - totally worth it when you have an ill pet. Julie (tech) is one of the best...your pet will be in the best hands.

Very caring and great service. It is a little pricey, but its also emergency service for your best friend...