VCA TLC Pasadena Veterinary Specialty and Emergency

Reviews

• CA

  cristian araiza

  Mar 31, 2026
  4.0
  this is going to be my honest review. I am writing this because most people will write their horror stories but never the successes. Mine is a little of both. last year I took my dog here because he was hyperventilating and then couldn't get up on his own. I rushed him to vet here at TLC and they told me it was probably a minor back injury, to give him some rest and sent me home. I had told them that this doesn't look like a back injury and that it was similar to when my dog had pancreatitis. the vet told me they checked for that but test came back negative and that if he doesn't get better to bring him back. this was on a Saturday. My regular vet is not open weekends so that Monday I rushed him to my regular vet and they were incredibly worried and told me it was something neurological, initially. that could mean back but they said probably meningitis. my vet kept him, saw him for multiple days keeping him on I.V. while I find a neurology vet. he was showing signs of improvement on IV so I thought id just keep seeing my regular vet and maybe his condition would improve but unfortunately it did not. Friday comes and my regular vet would be closed Saturday and so I gave my trust one last time to TLC in South Pasadena for an emergency overnight visit. I got a different vet this time, I believe my vet was Minghao Wong, a God send. my dogs condition was grim and he would not have made it on his own over the weekend and Dr. Wong and the care team at TLC managed to make my dog better. It turned out not to be his back or meningitis but he was going through Anaphylaxis. it was incredibly scary and I cried a lot that entire week. my take away is, you know your dog/pet better than anyone so trust your gut. I should've pushed for further testing when I arrived initially but I wanted to believe it was not a big issue and he would get better on his own. the vets and vet techs here do seem like they care but again at the end of the day you have to be your pets voice. 4/5 stars because the ball was dropped on both sides in the beginning but they more than made for it in the end. They are a valuable resource to have in this side of town so I thank them.
• AC

  Anne-Marie Colwell

  Mar 4, 2026
  3.0
  These are good emergency vets, open 24 hours. That's really what they do and I'd give them 5 stars if it was all that they did. The problem is they present themselves as also doing primary veterinary care and they aren't set up for it. First off, you can't get an appointment here for any medical problem - only for a well check. So if your dog has itchy skin or a digestive upset, you're doing a walk-in with the emergency patients. Walking in means you don't get to chose the vet you see and every time we went in we saw someone new. There's no way you (or your dog) can establish a rapport or comfort level with a vet you only see once. I have a sweet, gentle rescue Aussie who is wary with strangers. Even though I asked a couple of times to have the exam done in my presence so she felt safe the decision on whether to see her in back or the exam room was always up to the vet on call. Simple office visits became stressful for both of us. Also, the treatment options were presented as if you really "needed" to pay for $800 of additional blood work or have an MRI, even if the initial exam of the dog showed no health problems. I get it, I think - when you're an emergency vet you see animals with urgent, life-threatening issues so you want to leave no possible problems unchecked. But that's not primary care. For primary care you want a vet who can work with you to understand possible causes of minor health issues and who will make suggestions to adjust the dog's environment to keep them healthy, not just recommend expensive tests to make sure they aren't suffering from some extreme condition. I wouldn't normally leave a review like this - I'd just leave the practice and find a new vet, which I have. But I think the management at TLC needs to hear that they aren't providing what a dog owner needs in a primary care setting. The folks who work here are all very nice so I'd really like to be able to recommend them more highly.
• LN

  Lan Nguyen

  Feb 8, 2026
  1.0
  I JIST CALLED TO GIVE ME INFORMATION ANOUT VACCINES AND NEUTERED MY CAT TO GOVECME AN IDEA . ALL SHE SAID WAS WE CSNT GIVE YOU ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THAT . LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING . YOU SHOULD GIVE AT LEAST A NUMBER FOR THE VACCINES . IM GOING OVER THERE DRIVING THERE AND TO GIVE ME A PRICE ONCE IM THERE LILE I HAVE NO OPTIONS? YOU GIYS DONT GIVE OPTIONS . NO WONDER TOU GUYS HAVE 3.0 REVIEW .
• NN

  Negar Nekooei

  Jan 12, 2026
  1.0
  Horrible service.. Dont go here!!! I had my pet’s first visit here and after weeks of bugging me, they didnt allow me to go in because i was 15 minutes late which is more than the 10 minutes cutoff that I didn’t know about. I had to take public transport to here for an hour with my cat and we went another hour back home without doing anything. They have zero flexibility or sympathy. Would give zero stars if I could. Would never come here again
• CB

  Carina B.

  Jan 11, 2026
  1.0
  When our senior dog's kidney issues became too complex for his regular vet, we were referred to a "criticalist" at VCA TLC. The visits were informative but exorbitantly expensive. Front desk staff was hit or miss, I never knew if we were going to be treated normally or like an annoyance. We had to administer fluids at home, special meds, expensive thing after expensive thing – all while watching our poor dog decline. We were told we needed to talk to a cardiologist to get the amounts right for his fluids, who we never heard back from. VCA never once helped coordinate or try to make a harrowing time any easier. When it became clear our beloved dog was having his last day with us, we called. All they said was to give him cerenia for his stomach. He passed away at home later that night. As of writing this, our dog has been gone for over a year and we never received any kind of follow up from his vet Dr. Barnes or anyone from this practice. I sincerely regret placing my dog's life in their hands.

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