VCA Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Center of Kalamazoo

This place is incredible. My cat had to have an emergency tail amputation & I was absolute mess walking in there. They were so patient & compassionate. I have a lot of animals & not all places like this are as kind. I am very grateful for them answering all my follow up questions as well when it comes to aftercare & concerns I expressed. I am so incredibly grateful. Thank you for being a safe place I could bring my sweet girl. Attaching some pics for smiles.

I went to the open house on 9/07/24 where I was able to tour the new facility. It is a beautiful building with a lot of space. There was a nice lobby with 12 exam rooms. There is also a lab, a CT room, an Ultrasound room, 3 sterile surgery rooms, a couple x-ray rooms, numerous kennels of different sizes, several exam tables with oxygen, and so much more! The staff seemed nice. I love that this is a better location than the Cork Street location in Kalamazoo. The best part of it all, is that this is not only a 24-hour emergency hospital, but also a specialty clinic since it has a CT machine and an oncologist on staff for pets with cancer which is phenomenal! I heard that there were plans to also add an MRI machine which will be awesome! I have not personally used the services at this location so I cannot speak to the treatment or if it is better than the Cork Street location, but I am optimistic. I rated a 4-star due to averaging 5-stars for the location/facility and 3-stars from my past experience with the Cork Street location which had ridiculous wait times. I'm talking an hour just to speak to a vet over the phone while in the parking lot or have my animal assessed during an emergency and then unwilling to allow me 30 seconds to ask my partner (who was sitting right next to me in the car since we were required to wait outside in our cars during covid) what treatment we should do because they had 'other patients to see'. I even waited around an hour just to checkout and pay prior to leaving. That night we had to put our dog down and I will never forgive them for how they treated us, but as a glass half full, was thankful that there was a close animal hospital open in the middle of the night to assess my pet and stop their suffering. I will update my personal experience if I have to take my current pets to this new location in Portage.

Great new public facility. My little poodle Drake, is only 13lbs and swallow a 5x5 microfiber cloth about 5 weeks ago. We hoped it passed. Well it didn't. It sat in his stomach for 4.5 weeks and then mover into his colon causing apparent problems. The staff was great and got the internal problem fixed, yes going though his anus, and resolver the problem with out surgery. Thank goodness. The Dr.'s were great as were the attending staff and we were happily discharged to no further event. Pooping great!

My husband brought our very weak 5 month old boxer here. They stated that they did xrays and bloodwork but could not tell us what was wrong. He presented with an inflammed left hind leg, a fever, lethargy and had either lost the ability to or refused to walk as his hind legs were completely limp. After paying approximately $1,500 the "vet" told my husband that she was going to give him some medications. I asked to speak with her to see what the diagnosis was that required an antibiotic prescription and she could not present one. They suggested keeping him over night for observation and we declined because that would be another $2,000. Because I offended her she then sent my husband away with no medications and refunded him the $500 dollars that they were going to charge to provide them. I then took the puppy to another vet the next day who prescribed 2 antibiotics and a steroid because she suspected meningitis. Over the course of the week he threw up a whole toddler sock and we started to see vast improvements in his well being. At his follow up visit it was suggested that he have another xray to take a look at his hind legs and to aspirate fluid where a pocket had formed because the functionality of his legs showed no improvement. His leg was in fact BROKEN in not 1 but 2 places with substantial damage to the tendons and ligaments in the area AND an abscess full of infection was formed because of it. So essentially the dog had a broken leg and was going septic. Now, I get the gist of pathology and body processes and possess quite a bit of knowledge in the way that imaging and bloodwork are utilized in the care of humans and im quite sure that they are very much the same for canines. Meaning that xrays show broken bones for both humans and animals and bloodwork also shows infection regardless of the specimen. Because the break had gone undetected and we were not aware his leg was broken, the damage amount increased exponentially as time went on. I am skeptical that any tests were ran, despite the fact that when we requested his records from vca, they sent us imaging that did not even remotely resemble what I seen on the xray performed at the private vets office. The breaks were blatantly obvious, his symptoms were throwing red flags for infection, yet no answers were given. Ultimately my 5 month old dog has now had to have his left hind leg amputated in an attempt to restore his ability to function. Due to the negligence of this "hospital", my family and I are now out approximately $4,000+ because of the inability to provide adequate services or blatant disregard for the health and well being of the animals being brought to them. So thank you VCA for robbing people blind and creating trauma and financial instability where there otherwise wasn't any.

I recently had to make an awful trip to the vet after my cat seriously hurt his leg. On my second visit, Dr. Williams was the doctor assigned to his care, and I can’t say enough good things about her. She’s not only an amazing doctor, but she went above and beyond to ensure I understood the full extent of my cat’s injuries but as well clear about the options we had as well. She also made sure they were backed up by the right specialists knowledge as well. She’s incredibly approachable, communicates clearly, and takes the time to explain everything in a way that’s easy to understand. We were there for over 8 hours, but the information and care I gained while there to help my baby, I would do it again. Their prices are high because they are an emergency vet, but the whole time I was there, I definitely gained the care, knowledge and, dedication to match that price. Dr. Williams is truly doing an outstanding job. Please make sure she’s well taken care of!