VCA Emergency Animal Hospital & Referral Ctr.

VCA Emergency Animal Hospital & Referral Ctr. VCA Emergency Animal Hospital & Referral Center is a full-service, 24-hour veterinary emergency and specialty hospital.

We provide emergency and urgent care, around-the-clock intensive care, and board-certified specialists in Emergency and Critical Care, Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Oncology, Surgery, and Holistic Health. Our hospital is accredited by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), and is a member of the San Diego County Veterinary Medical Association (SDCVMA).

09/02/2025

Not all pet toys are created equal—some could be doing more harm than good. Watch now to find out which toys to keep and which ones to toss!

A day off of work means a day on for playtime! And there's always room for *one* more toy... right?!Tune in tomorrow at ...
09/01/2025

A day off of work means a day on for playtime! And there's always room for *one* more toy... right?!

Tune in tomorrow at 9am PT for toy keep-or-toss recommendations from our team at VCA Lake Jackson Animal Hospital!

🌊🐾Don’t miss the 2025 Seaside Veterinary Forum at the beautiful Hilton Del Mar on Sunday, October 5th! 🐾🌊✨ Limited-Time ...
08/29/2025

🌊🐾Don’t miss the 2025 Seaside Veterinary Forum at the beautiful Hilton Del Mar on Sunday, October 5th! 🐾🌊

✨ Limited-Time Offer: Buy One Registration, Get the Second 50% Off!
📅 Sale runs now through September 5, 2025.

Join us for a full day of learning, networking, and inspiration with colleagues and friends.

👉 Buy tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/vcainc/1647877
🎓 6 hours of RACE-approved CE
👩‍⚕️ Expert speakers across multiple specialties
🧪 Tech Track breakouts just for RVTs!
🎟️ General Admission: $195 | VCA Associates: $135*

📍 Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn, connect, and enjoy the SoCal vibes.
📲 Scan the QR code or click the link in bio to register now!

🌊🐾Don’t miss the 2025 Seaside Veterinary Forum at the beautiful Hilton Del Mar on Sunday, October 5th! 🐾🌊✨ Limited-Time ...
08/29/2025

🌊🐾Don’t miss the 2025 Seaside Veterinary Forum at the beautiful Hilton Del Mar on Sunday, October 5th! 🐾🌊

✨ Limited-Time Offer: Buy One Registration, Get the Second 50% Off!
📅 Sale runs now through September 5, 2025.

Join us for a full day of learning, networking, and inspiration with colleagues and friends.

👉 Buy tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/vcainc/1647877
🎓 6 hours of RACE-approved CE
👩‍⚕️ Expert speakers across multiple specialties
🧪 Tech Track breakouts just for RVTs!
🎟️ General Admission: $195 | VCA Associates: $135*

📍 Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn, connect, and enjoy the SoCal vibes.
📲 Scan the QR code or click the link in bio to register now!

08/29/2025

Feeling unsure about spaying or neutering your pet? We're here to bust some common myths and help you feel confident in making the best choice for your pet.

🌟 Employee of the Month for August 2025: Julia! 🌟Please join us in recognizing Julia for her incredible dedication, team...
08/27/2025

🌟 Employee of the Month for August 2025: Julia! 🌟

Please join us in recognizing Julia for her incredible dedication, teamwork, and compassion! 💙 Julia plays a vital role in keeping our hospital running smoothly—often behind the scenes, but always making a huge impact. From maintaining a clean and safe environment to providing comfort and care to our patients, her work is essential every single day.

She was recently recognized for stepping up during a busy night with several critical patients, showing her strong work ethic, calm under pressure, and gentle patient handling. One teammate summed it up perfectly:
“Your efforts may often happen behind the scenes, but they are absolutely essential!! Thanks for all you do!”

Thank you, Julia, for everything you do for our team and our patients! 🐾💙

08/27/2025

Happy First Day of School! We love another reason for more pet pictures to fill up our camera roll!

We're so grateful that everyday is here at VCA Animal Hospitals! Give your dogs some extra love from all of us today!
08/26/2025

We're so grateful that everyday is here at VCA Animal Hospitals! Give your dogs some extra love from all of us today!

🐾💙 Happy National Dog Day! 💙🐾Today we’re celebrating all of the loyal, goofy, brave, and loving pups who fill our lives ...
08/26/2025

🐾💙 Happy National Dog Day! 💙🐾
Today we’re celebrating all of the loyal, goofy, brave, and loving pups who fill our lives with joy. From our patients to our own pets at home, dogs remind us every day why they’re truly the best companions. 🐶✨

Drop a photo of your dog in the comments or tag us in a photo of your pup—we’d love to see and celebrate them with you! 📸🐾

Don’t miss the 2025 Seaside Veterinary Forum at the beautiful Hilton Del Mar on Sunday, October 5th!✨ Limited-Time Offer...
08/26/2025

Don’t miss the 2025 Seaside Veterinary Forum at the beautiful Hilton Del Mar on Sunday, October 5th!

✨ Limited-Time Offer: Buy One Registration, Get the Second 50% Off!
📅 Sale runs now through September 5, 2025.

Join us for a full day of learning, networking, and inspiration with colleagues and friends.

👉 Buy tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/vcainc/1647877

08/26/2025

Beans at VCA All Pets Salinas is going to show you how it's done, done, done!

08/25/2025

Adding a new 4-legged best friend to your home? Check out these 5 tips to help everyone win!

📣 We’re Hiring!Join our high-performing, compassionate team at VCA Emergency Animal Hospital & Referral Center! We’re gr...
08/22/2025

📣 We’re Hiring!
Join our high-performing, compassionate team at VCA Emergency Animal Hospital & Referral Center! We’re growing and looking for dedicated individuals to grow with us. Current openings include:

🧠 Neurology RVT/Veterinary Assistant
🩺 Internal Medicine RVT/Veterinary Assistant
🔍 Diagnostic Imaging RVT
❤️‍🩹 ER/Critical Care Patient Advocate (Financial Coordinator)
🧼 Housekeeping
📞 Client Service Representative
🔪 Surgery RVT/Veterinary Assistant
🚨 ER/Critical Care RVTs/Veterinary Assistants

If you're passionate about veterinary medicine and looking for opportunity, collaboration, and support—this is the place for you.

👉 Visit vcacareers.com
and enter ZIP code 92108 to view available openings and apply today!

🐾 Team Tails Spotlight: Dichali 🐾📍 Nubian Goat | 10 years old | 200 lbs of pure personality💫 The ultimate goat shadowMee...
08/22/2025

🐾 Team Tails Spotlight: Dichali 🐾
📍 Nubian Goat | 10 years old | 200 lbs of pure personality
💫 The ultimate goat shadow

Meet Dichali (pronounced Di-CHAL-EE), the unforgettable Nubian goat who stole the heart of his human, Dannielle, RVT (Diagnostic Imaging Team Member)—and anyone else lucky enough to meet him.

Adopted from a Nubian dairy farm, Dichali became part of the family after Dannielle spent time working on a goat ranch and fell in love with the gentle giants of the breed. With the loyalty of a dog and the stature of a guard animal, Dichali was equal parts best friend and protector—after all, who’s going to argue with a 200-lb goat? 🐐💪

What made him extra special? Dichali always came when called, and he never let you forget if his daily banana wasn’t delivered on time. 🍌 He also had a hilarious habit of “spying” through every window of the house just to keep tabs on what was going on inside. Guests were often startled to see a goat face staring back at them from the kitchen window—where Dichali would patiently bleat until rewarded with a cookie.

He was more than a pet—he was a constant shadow. Whether out in the yard or working around the property, Dannielle was never alone; Dichali was always right there, side by side with his blue heeler buddy, faithfully trailing her like a working dog.

Though Dannielle has had many goats over the years, she says Dichali was truly one of a kind—the best goat ever. A loyal, funny, food-loving companion who made every day brighter. ❤️

Celebrating his memory today in honor of World Goat Day! 🌍🐐

08/22/2025

If it's wrong to love these ✨ toxic ✨ traits, then we don't want to be right! The team at VCA Mainland Animal Hospital have a lot of bundles of fun on their hands!

08/20/2025

The "cone of shame" could use a re-brand because of how important it is in the healing process for your pet. Comment your new idea for "cone of ___"!

08/18/2025

Cat questions got your tongue? has your answers!

Swipe through to see our Saturday feels with our squad at VCA Durant Road Animal Hospital!!
08/16/2025

Swipe through to see our Saturday feels with our squad at VCA Durant Road Animal Hospital!!

08/15/2025

Thinking about fostering a pet? Before you start, check out these helpful tips to make the experience rewarding for you and your potential pet.

🐾 Team Tails Spotlight: Louka Starkiller 🐾📍 Border Collie | 11 years old💫 Play hard, sleep harderMeet Louka, the fiercel...
08/06/2025

🐾 Team Tails Spotlight: Louka Starkiller 🐾
📍 Border Collie | 11 years old
💫 Play hard, sleep harder

Meet Louka, the fiercely loyal, cardboard-shredding queen of enrichment and longtime sidekick of not just one—but two of our team members here at VCA Emergency Animal Hospital & Referral Center! 🖤

Louka is loved by Joy King (Hospital Referral Coordinator) and Eddie (Advanced Imaging Team Member)—and has been part of their world since she was just 8 weeks old. Brought in as a stray by City of Coronado Animal Services, Louka had injured her leg overnight by climbing on top of her kennel. But from the moment she was triaged, it was fate: her forever family had found her. 💕 (Bonus: her X-rays were totally clear. She went home that very day.)

Now 11, Louka has developed some hearing loss—which, surprisingly, has helped ease her anxiety. Without the startling sounds of the outside world, she’s more relaxed and content. And the bond she shares with her humans has only deepened. She looks to them for guidance, security, and unconditional love in any new environment. 🐶❤️

When she’s not Hurkle-Durkling (lounging in bed way past alarm time), she’s living her best life through:
🌿 Long sniffy walks
🏕️ Camping adventures
🍻 Brewery patio hangs
🧻 Total domination of sticks, junk mail, palm fronds, and cardboard

One of her most legendary moments? Teaching her baby cousin, Gunner the Lab, how to use the doggy door at 8 weeks old. He's three times her size now—but still follows her lead. 🐾

Louka’s impact on Joy and Eddie’s lives—and on the hearts of countless nervous pups at our hospital—is undeniable. She’s the definition of heart dog… and one of the many reasons we do what we do. ❤️

🎉 Congratulations to our most recent group of veterinarians and technicians who are now RECOVER CPR Certified! 🩺💪We are ...
08/05/2025

🎉 Congratulations to our most recent group of veterinarians and technicians who are now RECOVER CPR Certified! 🩺💪

We are incredibly grateful to have had expert coaching from our Regional Technician Director, Melissa Hulgreen, MS, RVTg, VTS (ECC) during this phase of the course. Her knowledge, support, and passion for teaching make a huge difference—helping every team member feel confident and prepared in a collaborative CPR setting.

This training is another example of our team's unwavering commitment to delivering the highest standard of care for every patient, every time. 💙🐾

Way to go, team! 👏

🐾 What a pawsome day! 🐾On Sunday, 8/3/25, we proudly joined forces with our sister hospitals — VCA CVS Carlsbad and VCA ...
08/04/2025

🐾 What a pawsome day! 🐾

On Sunday, 8/3/25, we proudly joined forces with our sister hospitals — VCA CVS Carlsbad and VCA Animal Specialty Group — to represent the San Diego VCA Emergency & Specialty Hospitals at the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Dog Days of Summer event! ☀️🐶

We loved connecting with pet parents, soaking up the sun, and meeting so many incredible dogs. This community celebration also supports local rescues, shelters, and humane societies working hard to help pets find loving forever homes. 💙

Thank you to everyone who stopped by — we had a barking good time!

🐾 We’re excited to be part of Cardiff Dog Days of Summer—presented by Cardiff 101 Main Street and the City of Encinitas!...
07/31/2025

🐾 We’re excited to be part of Cardiff Dog Days of Summer—presented by Cardiff 101 Main Street and the City of Encinitas! 🐶☀️

Join VCA Specialty Hospitals of San Diego at this free, dog-loving community event! Our teams from:

🔹 VCA Emergency Animal Hospital & Referral Center
🔹 VCA Eye Clinic for Animals
🔹 VCA Animal Specialty Group
🔹 VCA California Veterinary Specialists – Carlsbad

will be at our booth to chat about specialty care, answer your pet questions, and hand out some paw-some giveaways! 🐕💙

🎉Event Highlights:
🐾Dog-related vendors & rescue groups
🍦 Dog ice cream eating contest
🏃 Lure course by Swift Paws
🚒 San Diego Fire Department demos
🎶 Live music & fun dog contests

📍 Encinitas Community Park
📍 425 Santa Fe Dr, Encinitas, CA
📅 Sunday, August 3, 2025
🕙 10 AM – 3 PM

We can't wait to see you and your pups there!

07/31/2025

🚑🐾 CPR Refresher at VCA Adobe! 🐾🚑
We had a fantastic visit to VCA Adobe Animal Hospital, where our Co-Medical Director and Criticalist, Dr. Amy Nadolski, led a hands-on refresher on RECOVER CPR techniques. 🩺

From chest compressions to effective team communication during emergencies, the VCA Adobe crew jumped right in—bringing energy, curiosity, and clinical sharpness. 💪🏼❤️‍🔥

Thank you to the whole team at VCA Adobe for your commitment to staying prepared and your passion for patient care. It's always a pleasure to support and collaborate with our VCA family! 💙

Address

7675 Mission Valley Road
San Diego, CA
92108

Telephone

+16192992400

Website

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