I brought my dog here for an emergency-he had been hit by a car. The clinic is not prepared for emergencies, it seems they specialize in routine care. Although the reception staff was kind, they seem to have one vet in charge and something like an assistant vet that picks up the slack....and that doesn't cut it most of the time based on long waits. The main vet does not have good interpersonal skills either....and when I asked for a discount after the fact and the bill was due, I was told that the price was "fair" and I could have taken my dog to San Diego to shop around for cheaper prices beforehand (mind you, he had been hit by a car). This was all stated very matter of factly.
My dog also came home and developed gangrene where they had given him bandages on his so they had to amputate his tail a few weeks later. Thanks El Centro Animal Clinic! Another expense I owed and more trauma for my dog. Yet the clinic staff had told me that I had to leave the bandages/cast on as they were, since his tail was fractured. Sigh.
A few months went by and he seemed to recover well until I noticed a weight loss and lack of apetite. This time around I went to a vet in Mexicali where they performed a blood analysis, x-rays, the works. Aparently from the accident, my dog had suffered internal injuries that damaged his kidneys and bone joints and this had in turn caused anemia, thus leading to an enlarged heart and spleen. It was very sad news...and the El Centro Animal Clinic had done x-rays and blood tests before and never mentioned any of this. They just "fixed" the broken bones and then followed up with the tail amputation due to the gangrene.
It is hard to lose a dog, but to be strung along to be made believe that your dog can in fact recover when it isn't possible due to internal injuries in the kidney, all to make money, is wrong. The El Centro Animal Clinic's vet is there to make money, leave no doubt about it. Bad bedside manner and unequipped staff to handle serious issues. This place has the attitude that there are only 3 vets in the Valley, so they can offer the lowest level of service at the highest prices-at your pet's expense. I highly urge people to consider another vet either in Mexicali or the one in Imperial.
Likewise, and this is disturbing, when my dog was at this clinic, I left him to go to work after the accident. When I went to see him after I got off work, he was in pain and stress, more so than when I had brought him in. No one had been there to comfort him from the staff, he had crapped on himself and it was DRY by the time I saw him, so no one had been checking on him either. I was so angry about the lack of concern or alertness that the staff had for their animals, they were giving priority to people who were just there for routine shots or run of the mill problems while my dog was suffering. I think they said the vet was waiting for swelling to go down...but then I was told they were fixing another dog and whenthey finished my dog would be able to be operated on next. When I asked why it was like this, I was told that he had been given a morphine shot already so there wasn't anything else they could do and he just had to wait regardless because of the swelling. I just stayed there with him until the assistant vet came along and took him into surgery-4 hours later.
Please, have a plan in case your pet has an emergency. In the Valley, some the vets rotate who is on call after hours or on weekends....so it isn't always possible, but have a back up vet in Mexicali too for emergencies...and just write this clinic off if you have a serous problem as they are over priced, the vet is non compassionate and they either missed serious health problems or just didn't let me know, so that they could run expensive tests and perform surgery when in fact the writing was already on the wall. Beware. read more
