Frequently Asked Questions

We are a small animal practice catering to dogs and cats.

We do not accept walk-ins. All of our services are by appointment only.

To schedule an appointment, please give our office a call at 619-441-5850.

We do our best to reserve times for sick or injured pets needing to be seen the same day. However, our practice caters to all of San Diego and those appointments can fill up quickly. We do offer day admission/drop-off exams to accommodate urgent cases based on availability and circumstances.

When your pet needs to be seen urgently, but our schedule is full, we may offer you to drop your pet off in our care. They will be guaranteed to be examined at some point during the day, however, we don’t have an exact timeframe. Once the doctor examines your pet, they will contact you with their findings and recommendations and have a member of our medical team contact you when they are ready to go home. There is an additional day admission fee on top of the regular exam fee to accommodate for the additional monitoring and care offered by our medical team while your pet waits to be seen. Please be aware that drop-off exams are only offered based on availability and stability of the pet as an attempt to help as many pets per day as possible and that some days the wait time may be longer than others. We appreciate your patience and understanding while you wait to hear from the doctor. If we do not have room to accept your pet for a drop-off exam or if you do not feel comfortable leaving your pet for an indeterminate amount of time, we recommend taking your pet to the nearest urgent care or 24 hour facility.

THRIVE Pet Urgent Care
5200 Jackson Drive
La Mesa, CA 91942
619-330-8407
Open Tuesday-Sunday: 10am-8pm

Pet Emergency and Specialty Center (PESC)
5232 Jackson Drive Ste 105
La Mesa, CA 91942
619-462-4800
Open 24 hours

VCA Hotel Circle
2317 Hotel Cir South
San Diego, CA 92108
619-299-2400
Open 24 hours

We accept all major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover), debit, Google/Apple pay, CareCredit, and cash. We do not offer payment plans. Payment is due at the time services are rendered.

Only a doctor can give a diagnosis and a proper diagnosis cannot be given over the phone. Many minor and critical illnesses can have similar symptoms. Without a physical examination and complete medical history of the pet, we could miss vital information, preventing us from helping your pet.

At minimum, we recommend having your pet seen annually. Some pets may have conditions that require more frequent monitoring. If your pet requires prescription medications or prescription food, per California law, we must have our doctor examine them annually in order to continue prescriptions.

Per the California Veterinary Medicine Practice Act, A veterinarian shall not prescribe, dispense, or administer a drug, medicine, application, or treatment of whatever nature for the prevention, cure, or relief of a wound, fracture, bodily injury, or disease of animals unless a veterinarian-client-patient relationship exists.

The California Code of Regulations Title 16 Section 2032.1 prohibits veterinarians from dispensing medications without examination and knowledge of your pet’s health, as well as dispensing medication prescribed by another veterinarian. An annual examination is required for all medications to ensure your pet is still healthy enough to receive the medication. Some medications must be accompanied with labwork as well.

Our in-house pharmacy contains a vast selection of prescription medications for your convenience. For prescriptions not available at our location, visit our online pharmacy or ask a staff member for assistance.

We are happy to work with reputable in-person pharmacies, such as Costco, CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walmart. We can either give you a written prescription or call it in (as long as it is not a controlled substance). If you wish to fill your prescription at an outside online pharmacy, we will give you a written prescription that you can mail in. We will not authorize prescriptions via phone, fax, or email to an outside online pharmacy due to liability of product authenticity, risk of inproper handling and storage, and risk of expiration. More information on the reasoning behind this policy can be found on the FDA’s website at: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/need-pet-meds-protect-yourself-and-your-pet-be-website-aware

Pursuant to the FDA CPG Sec. 460.300 Return of Unused Prescription Drugs to Pharmacy Stock, we cannot return prescriptions to stock once they have left the hospital premises. Any medications returned or donated must be disposed of. We do not offer refunds or credits for prescriptions returned.

Please bring any previous medical records and a list of your pet’s current medications. If your pet is being seen for intestinal upset (e.g. loose stool, bloody stool, or diarrhea), please bring a fresh stool sample. For best results, a stool sample should be collected fresh the same day as your apointment. If it’s collected more than 2 hours prior to your appointment, please keep it refrigerated prior to your appointment. Samples that are more than a day old will be discarded.

We will happily send records to whichever pet insurance you use. After your visit, simply submit your invoice and a claim to your insurance provider and they will reach out to us for the rest. Research is key when it comes to finding the best pet insurance for your pet’s needs. The level of coverage for reimbursement is dependent on the type of plan you choose. We do not endorse any particular pet insurance company.

In the event that you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, we ask that you give us at least 24 hours notice. This allows us to open up our schedule to other pets in need. We may require a non-refundable reservation fee of our exam price to book appointments for repeated cancellations or no shows. Surgical or dental procedures will require a reservation fee of 100% of the estimated procedure cost in order to reschedule.