PETS Referral Center

This review would have been so much better if I didn’t feel like I was getting scammed out of my money. And here is why I say that.
I have a 2 year old yorkie chiwuawa mix. I’ve had him for exactly a year. When I first got him at the end of 2014 he wasn’t able to poop for an entire day. so I took him to the only 24 hour vet office that I could find which was this location. The receptionist was really nice. The doctor was kind as well. She told me that this kind of thing happens to small breed dogs of their anal glands aren’t squeezed on a regular and its common. She said if it did happen again I should consider surgery to have them removed. But for now she told me that they would administer a shot and would give me some take home medication that would relieve the swelling in 2 days. I paid $ 200.00 overall which wasn’t bad.
Fast Forward to This YEAR. A Week ago. My dog was sick and wasn’t responsive. so I took him back to this vet to see what was going on. They told me he had a fever. The doctor said that he was the anal gland problem again. Told me about the surgery that I could do just to end the situation permanently. I already was about that option previously by another doctor the last visit. She sent her assistant in with an estimate of would my cost today would be. I was expecting the exact same about from the last visit. NO! IT WAS $ 867. I was beyond upset asking why does it cost this much when last time it was just $ 200 the nurse was acting like she didn’t know that. And I Said look at my dogs chart from the last visit and do the EXACT same thing you guys did last time. She did and came back saying «oh well the doctor just wanted to give him this and use that etc» no complete rip. The doctor tried to come in and clean it up. and say I was just going to drain his glands and administer some fluids. NO Do what was done last time. Which brought my price back down to $ 200 dollars. I Cant believe they tried to scam me. One of the things on the estimate was a tube that cost $ 500. CAREFUL going HERE. If you don’t know your stuff they will get over on you with extra things you don’t even need. In all fairness a lot of vet clinics do the same.

Pretty upset about my visit here last night. My bunny wouldn’t eat or receive his meds, noticing how strange he was acting I rushed him over to PETS. The receptionist was super nice and the area was clean. I have no complaints about how well put the place was.
They took my bunny in and I told them his condition, they asked about any meds he was taking, and what the VCA hospital has told us about him. An hour later, the doctor came in and informed us that they cant see anything wrong with him but it could be that he just doesn’t move around a lot… they pumped him full of pain meds, hydrated him and sent us on our way. I explained his condition and the meds he was already taking and she said «Well I don’t know what those meds do» … Aren’t you a bunny vet? shouldn’t you know about medicine? shouldn’t you care? I mean… I feel like that’s me going to one doctor, getting antibiotics then going to another doctor and saying «well this doctor gave me antibiotics» «oh… well I don’t know what antibiotics do, so there’s nothing I can do to help.» Then she proceeded to tell me that my bunny might have flees… it just wasn’t making sense. I asked if she had felt his belly, because it was really full and she confirmed she did. Apparently this vet had a bunny of her own, so it concerns me the advice that she gave me.
Unfortunately this morning I had to rush him back to VCA on Shattuck (I highly recommend) and they checked him out and said that he had inflammation (that’s why his belly was big), gave him proper medication and even trimmed his nails for me. I wasted $ 200 on nothing at PETS, no solution & VCA charge us this morning for $ 400. To be honest, if I wasn’t completely up to my wit’s end, I would probably go screaming back there asking for a refund because that’s just taking money from people for no good reason.
~end scene~

BEWARE — BEWARE – BEWARE
** I had too take the last 2 weeks to decide if wanting to post this or not. After very serious consideration we are, so we can advise everybody on the internet considering using this place. It’s only fair.
If you deicide to go here, you been warned!
They are a total ripoff and will misdiagnose your pet and severely charge you for bullshit crap. They will charge you at every shift change for the new doctor coming on shift as they say your pet will need a new exam by each vet coming on shift (it’s like a shift change every 4 hours)…
We brought in our 7 week old teacup chihuahua as it was throwing up. They claim they did tests and it was a congenital birth defect with regurgitation and the puppy would need very extensive tests done to determine how severe.
As my wife and I sat in the room we could infact overhear them telling the guy in the other room the exact same bullshit as us!!!
The came back with a offer that was low and a high. We were so alarmed that we love our pet dearly (they will take advantage of you on this) and would do anything for «Tinkerbell» as a pet is a family member.
They are not our regular vet, we are from out of the area, our puppy was just seen 2 days prior by our vet who we’ve used for 25 years and and was totally fine. We told them too keep «Tinkerbell» overnight cause they had us so scared something was wrong. we told them we wanted to call our family vet in the morning too discuss with them. Our vet doesn’t get in until 8am but they said if we went past 6am it would be another couple hundred dollars until 8am.
We took a chance took our pet at 6am. And never had issues after that. We called our vet of 25 years he confirmed something wasn’t right with this place and they way they charge customers is unheard of being a per hospital or not. (I won’t use his exact words lol)
We got home 2 days later had «Tinkerbell» examined and our vet confirmed a very healthy active pet. No health issues what so ever!
Was only motion sickness from traveling lol!
They took us for almost $ 500 in this place so do not trust them… I’m going to post about this all over the Internet to warn everybody how crooked they are
**** read the reviews people they are all true!!!

The vets on staff on 1am in the morning are apparently not as skilled as day staff. My teacup yorkie was misdiagnosed with pneumonia. The doctor did not do a complete physical examine. we explained very specific behaviors he was exhibiting and the information was ignored. The doctor the next morning explained based on behavior and breed alone that it was more than likely liver shunt. when blood work was reviewed the morning doc concluded it was liver shunt.
My poor less than 2 pound pooch suffered alllllllllll night. Perhaps if he wasn’t misdiagnosed — he would still be with us today. We were still charged $ 231 for x-​rays, over $ 100 for oxygen (in a plastic Rubbermaid bin with a hole cut in it), a couple hundred for an overnight stay and antibiotics. Oh and I had to pay $ 400 for him to be put down. With advance liver disease, already head pressing, foaming at the mouth, hard time breathing, and having up to 10 seizures in an hour — we had to say good bye.
You would guess vets would know Yorkshire terriers suffer from liver shunt far more often than any other breed. Seems as though they would check this first and NOT rush to a diagnosis .
I’m giving them 2 stars because the doctor the next morning, when the shift changed, was much more knowledgeable and pleasant. I do not think I should be charged for the misdiagnosis and treatment related to a condition he DID NOT HAVE. $ 1300 later — I am heartbroken and my dog is in puppy heaven… *heavy sigh*
SAVE YOUR PETS LIFE AND RUSH THEM TO UC DAVIS VET ER… The surgery was $ 2K at UC Davis but $ 6k here…

Until tonight PETS referral was the best. I have been there multiple times over the years and always received ⁴⁄₅ star care for my dogs & cats.
Tonight I brought in our 13.5 year old dog who had sudden onset loss of balance and hind end mobility. He was in pain, but stable.
Having multiple animals and a husband who is a doc, I understand triage. What I don’t understand is a 3.5 hour wait and never getting any work up or visit with a vet.
I don’t know if they were understaffed due to the holiday, but a 5 minute overview, a blood panel and hip x-​rays would have been a start.
As my dog is stable, but in pain, we left at 1.30 am. No pain meds or diagnosis or conversation with a vet. When we asked at the 3.5 hour mark if anyone was going to see us, they could not answer that.
I’m sure we will be back one day and I will update accordingly, but for tonight, abysmal. My thoughts are with all the pups who did get treated and their families tonight. PETS, you can do better. Tonight was a fail.

Operated by compassionate doctors and staff. We feel lucky to live in the same neighborhood as they are!

This place totally took advantage of me and play on my emotions… If you love your pet of course you want to do anything to make them feel better… I ended paying 468 dollars just for them to find out NOTHING!!! All those tests that they ran on my sweet Millie and they still couldn’t find anything wrong with her. They wanted to keep her over night and I told them no and took her home… ended up taking her regular vet the next day just to find out that my dog was constipated! OMG! I wasted all that money and they couldn’t see that she was constipated? Makes me wonder if they seen that they whole time but just wanted to get more money out of me… Hopefully I will never have to come here again…
Gave this place 2 stars because the staff was really friendly…

RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE. Although they were very friendly, I feel like they swindled me.
first time I came here, they got at least $ 1400 from me. I didn’t get any answers on what was wrong w my dog with all of the xrays and ultra sounds they did on her. Mostly «I don’t knows, we should do another test…»
A month later, I went to my regular vet, did another X-​ray and found my dog needed pyometra surgery. couldn’t do the surgery there so they called pets referral to send us a quote which was: $ 2,500-$ 3,500 for surgery & keeping her after surgery and aftercare would be $ 4,000-$ 5000 altogether.
Luckily I was referred to drive an hour and a half a way to Tracy *affordable vet pet clinic* and pay way less for the same procedure. I called them right away to compare prices. they quoted me:$ 650-​$ 850 surgery. I paid $ 1014.00 total including aftercare, meds, etc. I JUST SAVED $ 4000 and my dog’s health by driving an extra hour and a half. I’d rather pay for my gas than have this place rob my pockets ever again.
In all seriousness, would you rather drive farther or pay hundreds/​thousands extra?

This is a wonderful place, staffed by great professionals. If you ever (unfortunately) have a pet emergency, this is the place to go. Don’t get confused by the nearby University Veterinary Hospital – it’s NOT the right place to take your dog or cat or animal.

PETS Referral Center saved my puppy from Parvo, and for that I thank them deeply. My puppy is back at home and finally recovering back into his happy self, which makes us very happy (but broke.)
For those who wonder what happens after your pup is diagnosed with Parvo… this is our story.
Brownie is the son of my mom’s shiz-​tzu and chihuahua mix, so we feel very special about him. We didn’t have time to give him his 2^nd parvo shots… and when he was 3 months old he had bloody diarrhea. The first test said he was negative.
One month later he was vomiting, diarrhea, and not eating. He was positive for Parvo, and the low end of treatment for 3 days is between $ 2800 – 3600. We believe either our yard is contaminated or maybe our other dog brought it home. This was the day I felt 100% guilty that it was my fault for not preventing parvo.
Staff was very attentive and called us twice a day with updates. First 3 days he was very sick, and we just had to believe it was the hump he needed to get over in order to get better.
When we visited him, he was hooked up to IV machines and a cone in a quarantined space. He was slightly sedated and looked so sad. It broke our hearts that he was still not eating on his own and is being fed thru tubes.
Doctors assumed something was wrong internally so we had to pay extra $X, XXX for a sonogram. Luckily his stomach and intestines were fine, but it was a very expensive procedure we reluctantly had to agree to.
Next few days he was still not eating on his own, therefore we had to pay more for additional treatments. Finally we got the good news that he’s becoming more perky as his white blood cells started to increase, and we couldn’t wait to take him home.
Towards the end of the process, I had to almost negotiate which meds/​treatments to give my puppy because it was getting ridiculously expensive. I have spent average $ 1000 per day to keep him alive. This is the price of saving our puppy’s life, and I understand that not everyone is able to afford this type of care.
When Brownie came home, it took another week for him to become better. He looked like a skinny, smelly homeless dog with part of his fur shaved off for injections/​IV. His butt and chin were rashy red because of the diarrhea and food near his mouth rubbed against the cone. He wouldn’t eat consistently and threw up one time. 6 days later, his stool, appetite, demeanor returned to 80% normal.
For us personally, because we can afford to charge it on a card and pay later, we felt it was worth it to save our puppy. He brings us so much joy on a daily basis that I’m having tears just thinking about him right now. However, I just wanted to share others about my process so they can be informed by at least one successful (but pricey) story.
And any time I see a puppy owner, I urge them to get all their important vaccinations up to date.
Thank you to the caring Doctors and staff who saved our puppy’s life! :)

I took my female Weimaraner to them late at night after she became terribly ill within a matter of 30 minutes. They informed us that she had a uterine infection, and after spending $ 800 for them to give her an IV and to inform us of her condition, they then gave us two options: 1) to do an emergency surgery with a 20% chance of success considering her weak immune system or 2) euthanize her.
Since we were berserk with grief, we did not think to do our own research and instead relied on their advice, and we chose to euthanize her.
The next day, after consulting my veterinarian cousin, she informed us that vet clinics like this only give the expensive option or the option of killing the dog, and what they should have done is administer antibiotics and then let us take her home for the night to see if she would get stronger.
That way, we could then attempt the same surgery the next day for a fraction of the cost, and her chances of survival would have greatly increased if her body had responded to the antibiotics.
THEY ARE JUST YOUR TYPICAL UNETHICAL CLINIC, LOOKING TO RAKE IN AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE AND DO NOT HAVE ANY CONCERN FOR THE ANIMALS. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS, BECAUSE THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND NOT SUGGEST THE BEST OPTION FOR YOUR ANIMAL’S WELL BEING.

Unfortunately, girl didn’t come home from Pet Referral but I feel we were in good hands the night we went to them for emergency care service. No wait, took cat in back right away. Vet gave me diagnosis, different scenarios, no good choices. Heart disease — blood clots. I appreciated the doctor’s ability to explain what was likely going on and answer all my questions, etc. At my request, an estimate was given for further testing, blood work, x-​rays, etc.
I’m not «Yay! I’m a fan» but I would recommend PRC for a place to take sick and/​or injured animals.

Really not too impressed. The doctors were nice and knowledgable, but the rest of the staff from what I experienced didn’t show much compassion. super costly too.

My dog, Neena, at the age of 3 contracted a rare disease that caused her body to destroy her blood platelets. The team at Pets helped her fight for two years, always focused on making her as comfortable as possible. She experienced countless visits to be poked and prodded yet the entire staff was so incredibly kind to her that on each visit she went right to the door and greeted everyone in the waiting room before going to the front desk to announce her arrival.
The vets at PETS helped us make the difficult decision to let Neena go when it became apparent that her quality of life would suffer to continue treatment. Their compassion through this awful experience was just incredible.
Through these visits I also saw the staff interact with many other patients. As with any emergency room, when staff arrives to start their shift they have no idea what their day will bring. Their ability to maintain composure and calm frantic owners consistently impressed me.
If you do find yourself in the unfortunate situation of needing emergency pet care, Pets Referral is a good choice. Do keep in mind that they have to prioritize the most critical cases so the wait time can’t be guaranteed but in my experience they make every effort to see each animal as quickly as possible.

Our French Bulldog, Walter, came into our lives about four years ago. He is described as handsome, boisterous, silly, outspoken and loving. He also suffered from digestive and respiratory problems that had him constantly in a state of either getting aspiration pneumonia, or recovering from it.
We were referred to PETS over two years ago and met Dr. Amber McAllister who patiently worked with us and Walter to find the best course of care for him. I found her to be thoughtful, caring and creative. Through her work and care were able to provide him with best life possible in the face of all of his congenital wackiness.
She was also with us when Walter wasn’t able to overcome his most recent medical adventure and was incredibly thoughtful, organized and humane in helping us sort out and administer his jaunt across the rainbow bridge. I felt like Walter left this world surrounded by love and support… the PETS team became his extended family and grieved and remembered him with us.
The team at PETS has been absolutely outstanding and I highly recommend them for their professional, expert, and humane care.

These guys are great. I’ve had to unfortunately come here twice. Once for my dog and once to help a friend with her dog. Both times the staff was super attentive and quick. My friend’s dog had been bitten by another dog and had a puncture on her side. The vet, Dr. Jon Enyart, was super friendly and she was unusually calm letting him check her out. She bounced back great and no lasting harm.
My dog is a bit of an injury magnet so we know what emergency vet services run and PETS seems to run about on target price wise.
Thank you for providing great service during a stressful situation!

I understand it’s a holiday, but this is an emergency service. Came here with a pretty big bite on my dog’s side that will require stitches. We have been siting alone in a room for over an hour. She’s now whimpering in pain, but I am being asked to just wait. Not happy… In fact, extremely angry right now.
Despite the initial horrible experience of having to wait for almost 2 hours before being taken care of, my dog was very well treated at the center. The doctor was very good and caring. My dog is now recovering and we have to come back to remove the surgical drain. I will update the review soon.

I’m torn about this place. We live in Los Angeles and last time we were all in the Bay Area our beloved Sigi dog just up and died. In an Airbnb a couple of hours after we checked in. And it was the lady’s first time doing Airbnb…
We were mortified and heartbroken and our host referred us to PTC to take care of her body. They were very nice about it. 5 stars.
Well we were up recently and our Wolfgang dog developed a respiratory illness, very very fast. I couldn’t get in to a regular vet and was referred here. He was pretty sick and after x rays during the consultation it was diagnosed as pneumonia.
Then the hard sell began. I was told he needed to be hospitalized, that poor Wolfie was desperately ill, and that he needed to be under constant care. I was left to think about it and then the estimates came in. Low end was $ 1,801 and high end approximately $ 2,700.
I freaked out, and after another meeting with the doctor, about why Wolfie needed that level of care to survive, I asked about home care. The doctor vigorously presented to me why that wasn’t a good idea, how risky it was, how I may not be able to provide the care he needed and what would happen if he suddenly got worse during the night? I saw poor Wolfie shivering and relented. They admitted him.
He’s better now, and they did a great job (I guess) and refunded $ 280 for treatments they didn’t need to do, but when I got all his records to bring to my vet I also got the doctor’s notes, and the admitting doctor wrote that she explained to me that home care was «appropriate» but that I decided to admit him anyway.
I was so shocked when I read that, I felt completely, totally betrayed. That she told me home care was «appropriate» is an utter, bald-​faced lie. Admitting doctor did all she could to persuade me that admitting him would be the best case scenario.
I was just going to let this go but I can’t as it’s left such a bad taste in my mouth. Are these doctors, no matter how caring, paid on commission?
Thus I cannot recommend this establishment wholeheartedly, but they’ll fix your animal if you can’t find someone else, it’s the middle of the night, and you have lots and lots of space on your credit card. Get a copy of everything. Caveat emptor.
Minus 3 stars for the overall experience and for tricking me into admitting my dog and putting him through such a scary experience when home care would have been «appropriate.»

Sadly, I’ve been here way too much. Several months back 2 of my pups got incredibly sick so for about a week, I was here almost 3x a day visiting them. Those were dark days for me, but the staff here is top notch. I had almost a different vet every time I visited, but they were all knowledgeable on the condition of my fur-​baby and they regularly called (when promised) with updates when I had to be at work.
They have a fairly regular flow of traffic at almost all hours — I think this is the closest emergency vet hospital in the Berkeley /​Oakland area. They have a parking lot that they share with a cheesesteak restaurant but street parking hasn’t been much of an issue either. Traffic in this area can get pretty bad though during rush hours which is the only negative.
The other day I brought my husbands dog here and in the 25 minutes it took to drive here from Piedmont in rush hour traffic, the dog had passed away. We didn’t know it at the time of carrying in the dog so as soon as they saw us walk in, they ushered us into the back — no waiting, no paperwork. Unfortunately it was already too late. The staff and Dr. was kind and let us take the time we needed to say goodbye. They offer a number of services on how to handle a deceased pet.
I hope you don’t have to come here, but if you do — I think the team here will do their best for your pet. They will definitely give you the full range of options /​treatments (Low /​high costing options) without being pushy.