VCA Desert Animal Hospital

This place is AWESOME! Dr Yates is the BEST! She explained everything to us as she was examining our dog, came back with medication and talked more about what was going on with our pet. Totally worth our drive from Indio to Palm Springs to get the care we needed!

It had been a few years since we had visited Palm Desert for vacation but we knew that we would feel comfortable leaving our two Siberian Huskies at VCA again. Our dogs can definitely be a handful but from the initial email contact for reservations to picking them up at the end of a week-​long visit, everyone was so professional, pleasant and genuinly friendly. They allowed us to check-​out our dogs for their daily walk and showed such care and compassion by calling us if they didn’t eat. I would be remiss if I did not specifically acknowledge Terri (boarding check-​in) and one of the caregivers, Ben. They were excellent to us! When in town, I will not leave my «kids» anywhere else.

My dog was sick, took him in and they did blood work & X-​rays, $ 385. Nothing conclusive, just a shadow in his stomach. MIGHT BE CANCER! We need an ultrasound & fluids, ok $ 756.50. Ultrasound didn’t show anything, MIGHT BE CANCER! Need an endoscopy, but you’ll need to go to Orange County, no one in the valley is good enough, but here start him on antibiotics, $ 30. 4 days later Dr called to set up endoscopy, my dog is doing much better. Dr. Says great, I’ll refill the antibiotics $ 30. So, after $ 1100, my dog needed $ 60 worth of antibiotics. This is why I left Banfield, tired of getting ripped off by vets screaming fire and doing unnecessary procedures to hike up my bill. I WILL NEVER STEP FOOT IN VCA EVER AGAIN!!!

These people are angels.
We were away for a weekend in the desert when our dog, Lucy, passed away. Not knowing what to do, my husband rushed her to the nearest animal hospital. The staff could not have been more comforting and helpful in an admittedly horrible situation. I honestly do not know what we would have done without them.
The cherry on top was the sympathy card that we got in the mail today, signed by the staff, that included a wonderful story about reuniting with your pet in heaven. I cried my eyes out.
My personal experience aside, it is nice to know that there are people on this earth who care this much about their work and the people (and animals) they serve.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

I am a firm believer that you generally get what you pay for. I have been, or rather my frenchie has been a patient of VCA on Ramon Rd for approximately 6 years. We will now be leaving. The vet has failed to provide care for my dog on three occasions now. The problem, an infection, was not resolved on the first visit. I brought him back after a few weeks when the problem had not gone away and was told the same things, keep cleaning the area. After two months of due diligence and no improvement I bring him back. Now they want me to pay for another visit to be seen for the same exact problem we have been dealing with since the beginning. No thanks. I’ll be taking my pet and my money elsewhere.

This veterinarian office is far from what it’s rating show. I brought my dog in because she had started having the loud hacking cough and my mom’s new puppy had just been tested to have giardia and we believed him to also have kennel cough tested from the same vet office. While I appreciate them seeing her as a walk in, the visit itself did not seem even worth the $ 85. I explained to the doctor about my concerns and he just checked her breathing and stated that her lungs sounded clear checked another issue and then asked about her vaccines that we wanted to do. He stated to bring her in if it continues. Now her coughing is getting worse and when I called in about it, while the lady on the phone was nice she explained I had to see the same doctor so I could be charged a recheck fee instead of the full visit cost. I feel that going there is not worth it. My dog has the same issues but can’t see any doctor there, even when the original doctor is too busy. No resolution from them.

My experience with this clinic has spanned the last 5 years and involved 4 dogs that I have owned. Let me say first that the quality of the vets I have dealt with has been excellent. Treatments have been effective with good results. The problem is that they are a corporate chain rip-​off. Example: I had to take my old dog to a vet when traveling recently in Marin. The clinic I found was a 1 vet private practice but very accommodating to a walk-​in client. Since returning to PS I have gone to VCA for follow up. Cost comparison: Office visit Marin…$ 35, VCA…$ 67. Tests (blood, urine, fecal etc.) …Marin.$ 190.(all day monitoring for additional cushings tests). VCA.$ 290(blood only… 10 minute visit). Medicine prescribed (same from both). Marin.$ 35…VCA.$ 57. I know that these numbers aren’t life changing but they do make you wonder how costs can vary so much from one place to another.

They were amazing. My dog is almost 18 years old and most vets just stare at you in confusion on why you wouldn’t consider «putting them down» over an absessed tooth. I had this prepared speech the minute anyone was going to suggest throwing my puppy over board and I was going to ‘Let em’ have it.’
However, I didn’t have to hoot and hollar, because my dog’s vet Alison Koogan was AWESOME! She was kind and reassured me that they take very special care for senior citizens. She wasn’t too worried about putting her under anethesia if her blood work came back ok. She had her surgery, healed nicely and wasn’t in pain. Wahoo!
Plus… I will say that I didn’t have a heart attack when seeing the bill. I recommend this vet and business!

I am so angry I can barely write this review. We took our beloved dog here last night when she had a terrible seizure (1^st time). They kept the dog overnight to watch her. When we picked our dog up late this morning she was still just as bad as she was last night. The visit was a complete waste and did nothing to help our dog or help us. Received no meds or any instructions. I feel like I should have just flushed the $ 788.00 down the toliet. Taking my dog to another vet for 2^nd opinion.

A friend recommended this place to board my two dogs recently, I took a tour of the place and was very impressed with the accommodations, cleanliness and caring staff. We had to leave our two dogs for 6 nights and felt very comfortable doing so. They take all the pertinent information about your furry ones and keep it on file, they were very thorough about any of your pets needs or restrictions. I have comfort in knowing I’ve finally found the ideal spot to board my Lily & Gracie in the future, thank you VCA!

Front desk is always pleasant and wait wasn’t too long. Doctors Kudtich is very nice. Services are way over priced!

I feel that this veterinary office deserves a full 5 stars! From the moment I stepped in they were very friendly, accommodating and very thorough. I’m not from the immediate area, but a couple times a year I find myself in the area and I would definitely return here for my pets (basic) needs during those visits. One visit alone has me raving about their quality and caring care. I brought my pet in an emergency situation recently and they were able to stabilize her and to this day she is feeling great again. The veterinarian tending to her seemed to really care and that matters most in my opinion.
I really can’t thank them all enough for saving my pet and they even gave me a call to follow up on her ! Amazing customer service! Thank you all for what you do :)

I’ve been taking my three cockatiel’s here for the past few years, mainly for check ups and nail clippings. Everyone is always so nice when you come in for an appointment. I’ve never had to wait too long.
About a year ago my curious grey cockatiel, Raffie, met my equally curious puppy, Bear. At the time of this meeting I was in another room, Raffie was perched on the refigerator and Bear was happily chewing on a rawhide bone. Minutes later I hear the distinct cry of pain from Raffie. Entering the kitchen I find Raffie on the floor next to Bear who is laying down beside her looking at me like nothing is wrong. Blood is dripping down Raffie’s wing and Bear is looking like he wants to play some more.
Quickly I call my daughter to scoop up Raffie and start to soothe her before she dies of pure fright. Meanwhile I’m scolding my puppy who clearly does not understand why Raffie can’t be his play toy.
Preparing myself for the worst, I called VCA in Palm Springs as the VCA in Indio does not have an avian veterinarian. It did not look good, Raffie was clearly in distress and bleeding too much.
When Raffie and I arrived, all puffy eyed from crying, they took us to a room immediately and examined my beloved bird. The veterinarian was very informative about her injuries (three puncture wounds from Bears teeth) how they would heal and what I needed to do. She was optimistic about her recovery but realistic about how serious her injuries were. Since Raffie is such a small bird the veterinarian did not want to do surgery to stitch her up because this puts the bird under too much stress and may cause her to die.
After a week of isolating Raffie from her house mates, keeping her beside my bed and administering medicine it was time to get another check up. She passed with flying colors! Her puncture wounds had started the necessary ‘knitting’ process. A full recovery took another few weeks before she was back to her old grumpy self.
Five gold stars to VCA Palm Springs for saving my beloved Raffie’s life!

I called this office one day in a panic because my cat had worms. Although we wound up not going to this office first (and we wound up wishing that we had!), Kim at the front desk stayed on the phone with me, answering every question and concern that I had. She was kind and understanding about my panicking due to being pregnant, and gave me specific directions for how to ask for treatment at whichever clinic we were going to choose. Ultimately, we wound up going in due to sub par treatment at another facility. They got us right in, chatted with us like we were people, got us hooked up with a coupon so that the cost of our visit was cut in half, and every doctor and technician who attended to our cat was fabulous! They treated her thoroughly and we now have no problems. This office is definitely our regular office now.

We have been taking our rescue dog to dr. Kunz for over 10 years – even after he was bought out by a corporation, even after we moved to the other end of the valley. Because he is so busy we didn’t always get to see him, but we continued coming to the practice anyway. We mainly continued because the dog had to have three surgeries and if he needed another we wanted doctor Kunz to do it. After our most recent experience it is unlikely we will visit there again.
Our 15-​year old dog has a collapsing trachea. He requires medication twice a day. Without the medication he has heart– wrenching coughing fits. I called in the medication refill several days in advance. They told me that they were out of the drug but they would write a prescription which we could take to a regular drugstore and have filled. My husband picked up the prescription on Sunday and took it to the drug store as instructed. He visited eight or nine different drug stores and was told the prescription was written incorrectly. He called the vet’s office and they could not help him. In fact, they told him, «Good luck.» They had no vet that could rewrite the prescription and there was nothing they could do.
Our dog was given his last dose of medicine on Monday morning and my husband took him to the vet office at 7 a.m. when they opened. They not only insulted him in every way, for instance telling him we must have been giving the medicine wrong as it should have lasted longer. (He brought the bottle and the syringe fortunately and demonstrated to them that we have given it to him absolutely correctly, which they had to admit, we had.) And further, they could not fix the problem. They said he would have to wait around until 11:30 until the female vet who wrote the prescription came in. Apparently the other vets there cannot fix mistakes.
Finally, after I called repeatedly, Linda, the office supervisor, got involved. It could have been done at 7 o’clock in the morning when my husband got there, but no one seemed inclined to. Instead I had to call repeatedly and by 9:30 they finally decided to resolve the issue.
At that time Linda told us the pharmacist had corrected the prescription and my husband could take it and have it filled. He went back to the vets office and picked up the new prescription. The problem is the new prescription with incorrect as well. He found this out after going to two separate drugstores.
I called Linda again and explained to her my husband had to come back to Palm Desert. He had to get to work. He was doing this because I have been sick and I told her we could not come to Palm Springs to pick up another prescription. (Cannot be faxed because it is a controlled substance.) She kindly offered to have someone from their office bring the prescription to a drug store in Palm Desert. This was very nice, of course, but not an extraordinary offer since my husband had spent over 9 hours on two days trying to get this prescription filled. In addition he missed a half a day of work.

I decided to take my dog to VCA after my regular vet would not see a feral cat that needed emergency treatment. I called several veterinarian offices and the only one that would take this cat was VCA Palm Springs. I received such good care, I decided to make this my regular vet. Dr. Koodrich is very knowledgeable and thorough. The veterinary techs and veterinary assistants are extremely good. The gentleman that settles accounts is great, however, I do believe he is too busy to have the responsibility of answering phones. I do agree with other reviews regarding the chilly reception by one of the front desk staff, but interaction with her is limited and more than made up for by the rest of the competent, caring staff. I would highly recommend this office to anyone looking for a veterinarian in the Coachella Valley.

Our pets are our family and Veterinarians are their doctors. VCA Desert Animal Hospital has cared well for my dogs over many years, up to their gentle and loving demise. My current dog, Molly, benefits from VCA’s efficient friendly staff who greet her, keep accurate records of her required shots and special needs, and advise me. So much so Molly is always eager to visit, enjoying their indoor and outdoor facilities.

I have given this vet my business for two years. This place is a corporate vet so if you’re used to a small friendly clinic, this is not for you. The first sign that you and your pets are just a number is the large reception area with 5 – 7 staff running around and ignoring you. You sign in on a piece of paper and wait. If you call to ask a question, set up an appointment, etc. they will answer the phone and immediately put you on hold. One in particular staff member could not follow thru with a simple request, such as ordering food. For one bag of food, it took me six attempts. Twice, during those six attempts, they called me to inform me that it was available to pick up, but when I showed up I discovered that they had ordered the wrong food. TWICE! I even took a picture of the bag and showed them the kind of dog food I needed (it is ALSO in the pet’s file). I am writing this review because I asked to speak to someone regarding this but after a week, no one called me. This was the second time I had ordered food and was given the run around. The doctors are very nice but you have to get thru the reception area to see them. Trying to pay your bill, it takes awhile since the person you’re working with has to answer the phone and is interrupted by other staff asking questions. It is NOT a welcoming experience.
I switched to an independent vet and immediately they welcomed me to the clinic as soon as I walked in the door. They treated me as a real person. I was not just a number, or a burden to them. Oh, and I ordered dog food at the new vet, they had it in stock, and it was cheaper.

Great experience every time I visit with my dogs. Unilocalers who state they aren’t given cost estimates must not be asking for them. The vets here have no problem with being upfront on costs and even suggest ways for me to save some money. I have an elderly cocker spaniel with constant ear infections. This group of vets have been outstanding in treating him. I also use the boarding kennel and both of my dogs certainly seen to enjoy their stays. Great compassionate people. I would highly recommend this practice to anyone, and I am a super picky dog mommy!

The best Vet, and boarding we’ve ever been to…
All the Dr’s & staff are friendly, professional, and most important caring…
We especially like Dr Derringer, but all the Drs we’ve had, have been excellent.
As far as boarding, our pooch loves going there so they must be nice to her…
Highly Recommend!