VCA Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Center of Kalamazoo

I went to the open house on 9/07/24 where I was able to tour the new facility. It is a beautiful building with a lot of space. There was a nice lobby with 12 exam rooms. There is also a lab, a CT room, an Ultrasound room, 3 sterile surgery rooms, a couple x-ray rooms, numerous kennels of different sizes, several exam tables with oxygen, and so much more! The staff seemed nice. I love that this is a better location than the Cork Street location in Kalamazoo. The best part of it all, is that this is not only a 24-hour emergency hospital, but also a specialty clinic since it has a CT machine and an oncologist on staff for pets with cancer which is phenomenal! I heard that there were plans to also add an MRI machine which will be awesome! I have not personally used the services at this location so I cannot speak to the treatment or if it is better than the Cork Street location, but I am optimistic. I rated a 4-star due to averaging 5-stars for the location/facility and 3-stars from my past experience with the Cork Street location which had ridiculous wait times. I'm talking an hour just to speak to a vet over the phone while in the parking lot or have my animal assessed during an emergency and then unwilling to allow me 30 seconds to ask my partner (who was sitting right next to me in the car since we were required to wait outside in our cars during covid) what treatment we should do because they had 'other patients to see'. I even waited around an hour just to checkout and pay prior to leaving. That night we had to put our dog down and I will never forgive them for how they treated us, but as a glass half full, was thankful that there was a close animal hospital open in the middle of the night to assess my pet and stop their suffering. I will update my personal experience if I have to take my current pets to this new location in Portage.

I want to that the vet and staff. We brought our cat in. He was fine and then all of a sudden he couldn’t move half his body. Sadly, he had a blot clot and heat disease. The vet that was there. I can not thank her enough for what she did for us. I really hope that she sees this and knows how grateful we are to her for her kindness and help. 1-19-25. On a very hard day for us. Your generosity and care has made it a tad better.

Update: Took my dog to my normal vet. All it took was bloodwork to get results of Mold Toxicity. So not sure how that wasn't an emergency. I've been to a vet emergency room before, so I understand there can be long wait times, especially on a Sunday. We waited over 4 hours to see a veterinarian. I was told we were next in line & proceeded to wait another hour after that. We decided to leave and take the chance trying to see our regular vet. My dog was not showing physical symptoms that she was in dire need of care, but it doesn't excuse the fact that we were shoved off into a room with no communication after that. If you label yourself as an emergency 24/7 clinic, you should staff like one.

Everyone there was wonderful! Our cat needed emergency surgery and they took great care of him. They were extremely professional about the charges which can be expensive and not fun, but they handled it with care and explanation. Treatment plan was discussed beforehand and they kept us updated on how he was doing the whole time. Very grateful!

Stay as far away from this place as possible. They only care about over charging and their bottom line not the well being of your animal. If I could leave less than a 1 star review I would do it in a second. I typically do not leave reviews but for this horrible money hungry business I made an exception. They wanted to charge over $1000.00 for an x-ray of my dogs leg to tell me if she needed surgery. We called around and everywhere else was around $250 dollars. They would not give us any idea of how much surgery would cost if our dog did need it. Prior to leaving that place (after 4 hours of them doing nothing) we were charged $386 for a pain med. This place should be shut down for ever. Along with this review I will be filling a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Not sure how anyone that works at this place can sleep at night. TRUST ME, FIND ANOTHER PLACE TO TAKE YOUR BELOVED PET. We were able to find a great place that took our animal in right away up in Byron Center. Make the 40 minute drive if you want your animal to be cared for.