Pet Grooming, Veterinary Services, Animal Hospitals, Bird Hospitals, Veterinarians, Veterinary Dentists, Veterinary Surgeons, Exotic Animal Practice, Small Animal Practice
VCA Animal Hospitals provide a full range of general medical and surgical services as well as specialized treatments. We have created a network of highly qualified veterinarians coupled along with the greatest resources in order to provide the highest quality care available for your pets. VCA maintains the highest standards of pet health care available anywhere. We emphasize prevention as well as healing. We provide continuing education programs to our doctors & staff and promote the open exchange of professional knowledge & expertise. In addition, we have established a consistent program of procedures & techniques, proven to be the most effective in keeping pets healthy. Visit our website or call to find out more about the services offered in your area. VCA Animal Hospitals ? Where your pet?s health is out top priority and excellent service is our goal.
I absolutely love this place! The staff is wonderful but they are also expensive. I personally rather pay a little more for great service and a knowledgeable staff. I would recommend (no matter what vet you go to) that you always question their recommendations. Every vet recommends things that are not necessarily a necessity. Always ask for options!
If you are looking for a good vet that will take good care of your pet then this is the place!
Posted 10/21/08 | Report Abuse
Was this review helpful to you?
I've been taking my dog to VCA well before it was ever VCA and I have to say, not once did I ever feel that my dogs health was in their best interest. Someone made a comment about their dog in another post suggesting that Dr. Tayman wanted to put the dog to sleep and they had an issue with that. Well, let's see...it is by YOUR own feeling that your dog had another good 4 months...how did you know how the dog felt? Dogs are amazing at hiding their pain, especially if they are dying and know that their owners want them to stick around longer. I think it was selfish of you to put your pet throught that! If you loved your pet, you would have said goodbye to him/her when it was time...I love my dog more than anything but if someone who has had more than 8 years of veterinary medicine and who is well liked in the community and trusted and is dependable, tells me that my dog should be put to sleep, that it would be best for the dog...I AM GOING TO LISTEN TO HIS ADVICE! You people don't need to have pets, you just want them to fill some unfullfilled need you didn't get as a child. Pets are to be companions. Would you treat your husband like that? Probably! It's funny, a lot of people don't have a problem pulling the plug on their loved one when it is time, but when their pet is involved they want to cling like an co-dependent freak to it while it suffers needlessly in the process! Don't hurt yourself next time, get a bug for a pet!
Posted 09/14/08 | Report Abuse
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
I am a current tech at both CAH locations. You people make me laugh. You have nothing better to do with your time than to get on the internet and play the victim... you must be from Columbia. Dr. Tayman is one the most dedicated and passionate DVMs that I have ever met, and drawing a picture of him as a "money vampire" is just wrong to me. I would trust Dr. Tayman with MY life if it was in jeopardy, and he is a DVM, not an MD. And when it comes to pricing... you get what you pay for. If you want an impersonal and unprofessional exam... go to Banfield. If you want real dedicated care then you are going to pay for it, its how the real world functions. People always ask me... why are vet bills so expensive? It is because your dog or cat or whatever you have cannot just simply tell you what is wrong outside of body language and symptoms. Your cat cannot come to us and say "I'm feeling a little bloated today". It is strictly knowledge and diagnostic tests that tell us the answers, so calling a test not nessecary really shows just how much you don't give a crap about your companions. Vaccines are as well very importiant. When it comes to veterinary medicine... prevention is the key. Some animal diseases are very hard and expensive to treat... some are not treatable at all and are fatal. If you are fine with taking those risks for your animal... please do not influence others to take the same path. The bottom line is... please educate yourself before "blogging" about something/someone because you have nothing better to do.
Posted 07/18/08 | Report Abuse
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
I worked two years as a volunteer at a pet shelter in another state. I went here because they were voted Columbia #1 when we moved here. I took my pet in healthy and told them I just wanted a yearly health exam and dental cleaning. I told them I was on an extremely tight budget and to try to keep costs low. On the phone they said the bill would be around $100 dollars... It ended up $400+. This bill did not even include the dental. They also peppered me with "necessary" tests, and gave me vaccines I didn't need, using high-stress, high-pressure fear-tactics as I might lose my pet if I didn't comply with their suggestions. I feel like Dr. Tayman exploits people's love of their animals and their natural fear of losing their pets using stories of deaths of pets to instill fear. I already called to inquire what governs veterinarians in Maryland.
I did research on some other vets through Consumer Checkpoint and found a wonderful Vet with reasonable prices. Comparing Columbia Animal Hospital with three other vets, they charged on average twice to three times the cost of other vets.
Columbias was $350 with a 15% discount! Other vets was $160 and another $175. Columbia charged C-6 Tests at $135 where the other 2 vets charged $85. Columbia pushed the c-6 test like my pets life depended on it, while the other vets claimed that the test was rare because it was so expensive. Most just put their patients on a two week antibiotic. Columbia insisted on doing another $40.00 fecal, even though the last one was just 6 months ago. The pre-op bloodwork I did at Columbia was $115 roughly, where the new vet only charged $40.... Dr. Tayman kept pushing further expensive tests... until I finally went to another Vet. I got the dentals done and at $160 dollars... This was an expensive hard lesson that hurt. I plan to write Columbia Magazine and the Vet board because I think the practice borderlines on dishonest- giving vaccinations that are unnecessary, pushing expensive tests that are more than twice the rate of others. I feel like Dr. Tayman exploits people's love of their animals and their natural fear of losing their pets.
Dr. Tayman really confuses me, because either he is a businessman who puts on a veneer of caring to bleed people dry with their fears of their pets with expensive tests... or he has some kind of anxiety where he needs to test everything to make sure he has control of everything. Dr. Tayman says he tries to treat pets like he would like to be treated. But we arn't all millionaires like he probably is by now. Even human checkup exams are not as expensive or as thorough. It boggles my mind.
Posted 04/18/08 | Report Abuse
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
When we brought our 2 cats and 1 dog to CAH on Centre Park Drive, we had to fill out a form asking for our social security numbers, our employers, phone numbers, all sorts of personal information that I am not comfortable giving out in this era of identity theft. After seeing a vet (30 min after our scheduled appointment) we were given a high-pressure sales pitch for several different and expensive procedures. Finally, at the end, our healthy pets cost us a grand total of $760.00. More the $250 per pet when their healthy. Praying to God our little guys never get sick. Maybe they needed our ssn's to do a credit check to figure out how much money to ask for. Anyway, for the final insult, they asked us to purchase dental work for our pets at a cost of $500/ea. I'm pricing the work around town and finding most vets only charge $150 for a dental cleaning. Guess where I'm going?
Posted 11/12/07 | Report Abuse
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
I was very displeased with the care my dog received from Columbia Animal Hospital. I took her there a little over a year ago because she had been limping and in pain. After expensive x-rays, she was diagnosed with hip displasia. I was told my dog was geriatric (she was 7 at the time), that I needed to exercise her, walk her uphill and was provided pain medication to make her more comfortable. I called back on several occasions because her condition was getting worse, and was told that they recommended an orthopedic vet look at her and that they had a traveling one that came to their location. Well, after repeated calls - this orthopedic vet was never there. When my dog got to the point where she could not walk at all, I went back. I was finally then referred to a neurologist who told us she had torn ligaments in both of her knees and needed surgery. So exercising her more and walking her uphill actually made her condition worse. I showed him the x-rays we received from Columbia Animal Hospital and he mentioned that they were very poor quality and assumed my dog was awake when they took them, which was not the case. I was then referred to Chesapeake Veterinary Referral center, which is a wonderful place, and my dog went through two surgeries and is currently doing amazingly well - no thanks to Columbia Animal Hospital. I will never take my dog back there again and would never recommend going there to anyone.
Posted 11/14/06 | Report Abuse
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
This is one of two locations (reviewed separately) headed by Dr. David Tayman.
I was pleased with some aspects of this practice, but not with others. The biggest upside is that, between the two locations (reviewed separately), hours are available 7 days a week. Usually if you have some kind of a problem on weekends (particularly Sundays), you're stuck going to an expen$ive emergency clinic. Also, Dr. Tayman was the one who referred us to the terrific folks at VCA (reviewed separately).
On the downside, Dr. Tayman truly lives up to his "Businessman of the Year" designation. When he couldn't convince me to put my dog to sleep, he (knowing we had just about exhausted our financial resources on the dog) made sure our visits cost as much as possible... I guess thinking that the money would run out and we'd have no choice but to do it "his way" (not to mention that he'd rake in some bucks in the process)? With TLC from another vet, my dog had almost another 4 GOOD months. It really bugs me when medical professionals put the bottom line (or their own need for control?) ahead of the needs of patients and their families!
One aspect that could be good or bad is the availability of some alternative services, such as acupuncture. I am an advocate of holistic care, so I'm glad to at least see a nod in that direction. But I don't believe that they truly embrace a holistic philosophy -- so, unfortunately, that may mean they are just trotting out something "trendy" to pull in more customers from their upscale market. This is particularly annoying, considering this practice's other location is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to a REAL natural pet supply store (Dogs & Co., see review)!
Bottom line, I can't quite say I don't recommend this practice... but definitely keep your eyes open if you go there!
.
Posted 07/02/05 | Report Abuse
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
"I helped a stray cat in our neighborhood when she was about ..."
"we have used this company since our dog was 6 months old, ..."
