VCA Canada Calgary Animal Referral & Emergency Centre (CARE)

Dr John Murray at vca is kind and wonderful…. They care deeply about Cammi and Angel…. I’m forever grateful for them…thank you for being so supportive Betty Heins

This "clinic" scheduled my dog for a non urgent surgery, to be performed by a specialist that works in the clinic. After a very expensive consult, they asked if I could bring her in by 7am and to leave a deposit ($3,000). By 6pm I had already called several times for an update, when I was finally able to track someone down they told me she hadn't even been in for an x ray yet. In 11 hours. At this point she hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. I asked to speak to the vet and when he finally called me I asked (nicely) why there was a delay and why I had not been contacted for an update, he said "you're obviously overly worried so I'm canceling your surgery" with zero other explanation, and at this point my dog has been there for over 12 hours. When I arrived to get my dog (and my deposit) I discovered that my dog had been given an iv that had been sitting in her arm the whole time, but they said no fluids or anything were given. When I took her outside it was clear to me she hadn't been let out to pee in a VERY long time, if at all. Essentially my dog was neglected in a cage in a stressful environment for over 12 hours for absolutely no reason as her surgery or even x rays were not completed. The clinic also tried to delay bringing my dog out, deny me my deposit, and said the vet would be "willing" to reschedule the surgery for 11:30 pm that night, a full 16 hours after drop off, with no food, water, or bathroom breaks for a SCHEDULED NON URGENT procedure. The staff could not understand why I was upset as this is clearly something they do on the daily. They schedule too many dogs, don't stage the drop off times and will not update you. For reference her surgery was completed by another specialist a few months later, she was dropped off by 8am and back to me at 1pm, they called me 3 times to update me and the procedure ended up being $600 cheaper. Dr. Cambell is truly the most entitled and fragile man I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with, if someone asking for an update on their family member after 12 hours is too much, you have no business being a vet. VCA continues to perpetuate the unnecessary suffering of animals, even in their non emergency departments where it is highly preventable.