Castro Valley Companion Animal Hospital

I love Companion and Dr. B!
Years ago I took all my rabbits here for their issues. Now I have a dog and take her here. I have been to many vets in CV and this is one I trust. Dr B. Is great with our dog. It’s hard to find ppl you trust with your babies.

Absolutely a most positive experience. Dr. B and Trina put me at ease (and sweet Tora) for her new patient, but «I’m here for a reason» visit today. We were both out of our comfort zone but regained some sanity by our first care visit here. Dr. B is incredibly gracious, knowledgeable, kind, gentle and informative. She and Trina make a dynamic duo, thankfully Tora herself was gracious with them. A heavy spot on my heart was lifted today by the care and conversation. They both, clearly have a knack for this, the love animals receive from them, the care… not to mention the care of the companion/​owner who seeks out their assistance, by this I mean they translate and communicate for us «humans» too … Two good friends have pointed out the wonder of this group here, raving about Dr. G too. Catherine, was also ingratiating as she booked our appt on the phone and did our new patient in take. Here’s hoping all is well on this nearly 6 year old new feline path/​care.

I will say that I was very disappointed when Dr. G couldn’t cure my chicken but I will try him again if another hen gets ill. The office staff was friendly and quite a few had worked at my previous vet so I felt comfortable. They are not my usual vet but mine does not treat chickens. I did have them put my chicken down because she was suffering

This review is for Dr. B, we have been going to her for at least 10 years now, we love how kind and compassionate she is to our furry babies! I have one furry baby that needs special attention and she is always accommodating and so caring! Dr. B always takes the time to explain everything and answers all your questions. She is the BEST!!!

I have to say Dr. G is knowledgeable, and he sees exotic animals.
However, this place’s goal is to make money, and not to help animals in need, and shows no love to the animals.
They would love to make money off you when you have the money, and after they made all the money off you and you can’t spare more to spend, they are cold and aloof.
Staffs there have a high turn-​over rate, higher than any vet I have ever seen, every time you go there, you will see new people, and I meant sometimes entirely new people (all old staffs are gone, replaced with all new staffs). Most people works there for months and they are gone. It’s difficult to have someone to be able to follow up with your pet.
Well, there must be a reason why the turn-​over rate is so high there!
Also, staffs don’t follow thoroughly on things. and their intra-​communication is poor. I made a (drop-​off) appointment for one thing, and end up they did a different thing on my pet, me (and they) wasn’t even aware of the error until when I pick up my pet and saw the bill.
Also, they tend to put in random things on your bill, so, check your bill!
They had x-​rays on my bill, and I asked about it (cos what needs to be done doesn’t require x-​ray), and they asked each other (like no one really knows) and found out, no x-​ray was done. And that happened many times.
Also, another time, x-​ray was done, but they give no explanations of the x-​ray results and didn’t even give me the x-​ray images, even when i asked for it. They gave me a CD, but none of the other Vets can open the files inside… Another Vet also questioned why they took the x-​ray while it was not necessary.
And like the other review said, their staffs are careless and will accidentally hurt your pet, and they didn’t care. One time they hurt my chinchilla’s eye and cost me hundreds to have it treated.
I am now taking my chinchillas to see Dr. Jane Johnson at Adobe Animals Hospital in Los Altos, she/​they are highly transparent, and treat you with high levels of integrity. From their procedures, I learned about how Companion was full of BS, and how many unnecessary things Companion has done just to take your money.

Was referred to this place so I for sure thought it was going to be amazing! Not the case it took me literally 2 weeks just to get a New Patient visit, so I thought initially oh ya this place is probably so great that the’re busy & it’s hard to come by an appt. alright so I get their everything was fine until I started asking questions that the cigarette smelling assistant couldn’t answer & would step out the room to ask the Dr/​Vet. But he was even contradicting what he had told me. They wanted to do some blood work on my kitten which was fine, then would go bk & forth if they want to have her vaccinated. I was on board until they said oh we can’t because we weren’t prepared to do so, so come back tomorrow, I agreed to & arranged it. Then I get a vm that I need to call them bk bc they had some walk-in’s & can no longer see us. But before I called them bk the Dr called me & told me a test came up Positive for the Leukemia virus, so I need to come in NOW to take another more accurate test ($ Cha-​Ching $ I already came out of there spending close to $ 300)?? Confused bc of the vm his staff left me, all the sudden I can come in now? He began to explain to me that my kitten many very well NOT have this virus but just to mk sure we should run a more accurate test. Ya… No, u should had done that in the 1^st place. I made some phone calls & paid a visit to another Veterinarian who I felt assured me about my situation.

Dr B is the best! My vet was on vacation and I was advised to go to Castro Valley Companion Hospital. I got Dr B and she is great. She is compassionate explains the situation well and also does not push you into a tough decision. I am and will recommend her to any of my friends with fur babies.

In all my decades of pet ownership, this is the best vet hospital I’ve ever encountered. Dr. Bercovitz is an angel! Fair prices and excellent treatment. I’m so glad I brought my ailing tabby cat here.

Wow… This place, Dr. Gandolfi and the entire staff were outstanding!!! We recently started fostering a dog, Jack, that was not being cared for by his previous owner, almost out of food and shelter bound. I placed a post on NextDoor advertising that Jack was available for adoption but was currently not neutered. Dr. G responded to my post and volunteered his services for free to neuter Jack in an effort to have better luck placing him in a forever home. I brought Jack to Companion Animal Hospital and he was greeted by a caring and loving staff. In the end, here is a list of the services that were actually received:
Exam;
Blood work;
Neuter;
Pain medications;
Vaccinations;
Microchip;
Tick removal;
Baby tooth removal; and
Bacterial ear infection treated.
This is quite a list of treatment that would have cost a pretty penny. Because of the care and love that Dr. G and his staff had, Jack is in good health and ready to love his new forever family when they are found.
Thank you so much!!!

I am more relaxed today than I have been in 5 months. My dog is diabetic, blind and old. But to me she is my most precious gift. After 3 wasted months of being overcharged several mistakes and NO info from another place, I brought my baby to Dr. B… I am so happy! Most important Chloe is happy. We were treated like family and given more info and options than I could imagine. She was gentle and loving to my girl and for the first time I can breathe. This will be my regular vet for all 5 of my babies and I couldn’t be happier at how she will now progress! Thank you Dr. B and CVCAH!!!

Dr. Gandolfi is on Rabbit.org’s list of rabbit-​savvy veterinarians. He was extremely knowledgeable and comfortable when examining Bailey, my bunny, and explained her eye complications in great detail. I liked him.
Later, a technician came in to check Bailey’s eye pressure. When she was performing the test on Bailey’s bad eye, it looked so painful that I couldn’t watch. The technician said she accidentally «indented» Bailey’s eye with the device :(I was too shy to ask questions and call them out on what happened. In the end, they were unable to get a good reading and referred me to UC Davis to redo Bailey’s evaluation.
Even though they failed to get accurate test results and damaged Bailey’s eye in the process, they never apologized and still charged me for the test. During checkout, I was shocked to find that the visit was 3x the price as my regular vet. But I had nothing to show for it. I still need to drive to UC Davis to redo the evaluation.
I cried on the car ride home since I let that random technician hurt Bailey :(
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If you want a knowledgeable AND compassionate vet, I strongly recommend Dr. Anderson at Calaveras Veterinary Clinic. He has 4.5 stars on Unilocal with over 140 reviews. He’s great with both animals and people.
I’m giving this clinic 2 stars for «Meh. I’ve experienced better.»

I have been seeing Dr. Berkowitz since the late 1990s and I would never take my pets to anyone else if I could avoid it. She has seen me and my pets through thick and thin, good times and bad. I’m very surprised at the negative reviews, as I would recommend Dr. Berkovitz without a moment’s hesitation. I love the staff and have also heard great things about Dr. G. I’d give more stars if I could!

Dr. G is the greatest and the vet techs are the best around.
I will say they are definitely pricey compared to other vets (the only reason I gave them 4 stars), but you truly get what you pay for. The knowledge that Dr. G and his staff have is above and beyond any other vet that I have personally visited. I work at a dog hotel /​daycare and have worked at a vet before, so I have come across very many vets in my five years of working in the dog care industry.
My boyfriend and I have an exotic pet and Dr. G has come very highly recommended from multiple sources. As new exotic pet owners, we have TONS of questions and instead of seeming annoyed or frustrated, he and his techs took their time to answer all of our questions. We’ve had a couple late night scares too, and Dr. G was quick to respond to our frantic emails. He even checked up on us when we didn’t respond. I would love to bring my dog and future puppy here, but because of their prices, I may have to venture elsewhere to save some money. If their prices were more reasonable for the working-​college students, we would be more than happy to have all of our fur babies come to Dr. G!

Unilocal says that their 5 star review is as good as it gets and that has been my experience with the people here in this office! I have seen Dr. G and his partner a few times now with my aging dog durb! Not only have I been completely satisfied with the services rendered but I can also see that they care for my dog and his issues. Durb has lost feeling in one of his back legs and Dr. G and his staff are trying all they can to help Durb with his problem. We have recently been experimenting with holistic treatments and he seems to be responding positively.
I am surprised that this place does not have all 5 star reviews. I have had a completely different experience than these unhappy people on this board.
I wholly disagree with the claims about this place being all about the $ when it is evident that they care about my dog!!!

I don’t recommend this vet, I feel like since we had an expensive breed of dog that the place only seen us as walking dollar signs. Every time we brought our pup in for a visit it was 100 $ plus! And she was very healthy! I finally caught on and took my pup elsewhere that took care of my pup while not making me feel like I was being taking advantage of with unnecessary costs like at Companion. An example, I mentioned my pups ears had dirt in them, Dr. G took a swab of my dogs ear and then went to check out the sample under the microscope and BAM! 50 $ charge. A couple months later, I then took my pup to her new vet and again mentioned she had dirty ears and the vet took one look at her ears and was able to tell right of the bat that it was yeast. No need for unnecessary swabs/​tests or cost to diagnose simple ear yeast. I’m glad I no longer take my pup to that money pit, Companion.

Love this place! My doggie was very very sick and I didn’t know what to do .She was blowing up out of both ends and I couldn’t believe it. I called and told them her symptoms and even though she had never been there before they accepted her. They cleaned her up for me and assured me that everything would be ok. They gave me a estimate of the costs and it was extremely high .But in the end DR. Renee told me all the testing was not necessary unless I wanted it and I trusted his expertness .Him and all of the staff helped me feel comfortable and helped me in every way possible .
In the end, my doggie was 100% better, the same day and they gave me several discounts, cut her nails for me and sent me home with home care instructions. Then, they called every day on all of my numbers until they reached me to check in on my doggie for a week in a half. I wish my doctor cared that much about ME!

I love this place. The receptionist is very nice, the doctor terrific. They always have fresh homemade cookies and fresh coffee. Highly recommend. They care for our dog and rat.

I reluctantly brought my 3yr German Shepherd to the clinic after she had uncontrollable itching on her belly for two weeks. I had been unable to bring Bella to a vet for over two years because of her battle with severe post traumatic stress disorder – and her ongoing fear reaction.
Dr. Gandolfi and his staff, understood Bella’s situation, and were able to safely (both for Bella and his staff) sedate her, and eventually diagnose, and successfully treat her. After Bella was released, the staff continued to call and check on Bella’s health until her condition had improved. I am forever grateful to Dr. Gandolfi and his staff and now for the first time since Bella acquired the condition I feel that I can bring her to the Vet if she is sick.
Just tremendously satisfied with my experience!

Dr. G is a stellar ferret veterinarian! Even though this office is completely out of my way, I only trust them with my ferties. Lack of 5 star review because they aren’t open on weekends :/

I met Dr. B when I adopted Roxi, my English Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Roxi was 6 months old at the time, and full of mischief! She’s two now, and still full of mischief… but in a good way (she’s the light of my life!).
Dr. B is one of the most caring, compassionate, and knowledgeable Veterinarians I have ever met. She is never rushed… she takes her time to figure out what’s going on, and works with you to resolve whatever is going on with your pet. Roxi absolutely adores her, as well as the other staff members at Companion! Roxi actually looks forward to her visits with Dr. B. and the CAH staff… and when a dog enjoys a trip to the Vet’s office, that says a lot!