Feline Veterinary Clinic

I really didn’t like this vet. When we moved back from overseas I tried it. My biggest complaint is that I didn’t like the way he treated his staff. I actually felt so bad for them. He tried to tell me that my cat had asthma and that I had to start treating her with steroids immediately. I asked if we could at least try and treat her for an upper respiratory infection. He said he would but that she would be on steroids for the rest of her life. Well the antibiotics worked and two years later she never had another coughing attack. She was on a course of antibiotics for 3 weeks. I had to go and get a second batch. I called ahead and told them I was coming in at 5pm and asked if they could have the medicine ready. I went in at 5pm and the medicine was not ready. I had to wait about an hour for the medicine. I decided that this place was not for me. I changed vets and I am very happy. I didn’t even bother to get her medical records. The thought of asking them for the records seemed like it would be a big hassle.

The only reason I’m giving them 2 stars is that the receptionist (forget her name) was truly kind and listened to my grievances and took care of them. I’m also giving two stars because I feel Dr. Rosen is a very knowledgable vet.
NOW — to the not so great parts. I am new to the area and was wanting a vet to look at my cats teeth. His breath was pretty intolerable and so I just wanted to think about getting a cleaning. I also wanted to get his Rabies shot and was talking into the depovera shot… don’t really even need that since he’s an indoor cat and NEVER gets out nor does he WANT to go out. SO — I took him there to see what’s what.
1^st sour note: I had to cancel my initial visit to which they asked for a credit card to charge me $ 75 that would be refunded when I came to the initial visit. I should have hung up right there — I wasn’t even an established patient yet!!! I can see if I had been there before but this is a bad way to start a relationship. I’m an idiot and gave them the CC# and went to my visit. Should have trusted my instincts.
2^nd sour note: Was charged $ 250 for blood test to do prior to doing a teeth cleaning (that I wasn’t sure I wanted to do!)… — they should have explained how everything is chronologically done: 1) give me the price of the teeth cleaning after taking a look at his teeth 2) ask if I think I still want to do it 3) let me know that I can think about it for 3 weeks since I have to bring him back for another depovera shot ANYWAY (which I was unaware of too) 4) then take the blood for the procedure IF I decide to do it. Instead, the blood was taken, I was charged for the visit and the blood test (which was $ 250!!), then told I had to bring him back in 3 weeks, and then the price of the teeth cleaning and that if I didn’t do it within a month the blood tests were null and void!!! Felt like bait and switch! SO — I called and complained about this. The receptionist looked into it and was very empathetic.
3^rd Sour Note: Turns out they overcharged me for the blood tests anyway — glad I called. They DID handle the situation well and did refund a bit of money but I’m truly perplexed that this happened to begin with. EXPLAIN to your clients EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU DO IT!!! I have had this cat for 12 years so it’s not like my first trip to a vet.
4^th Sour Note: My cat was having a reaction to the depo shot (which they said he might). I called to set up an appointment for the next day (couldn’t see him that day). They warned me that if I canceled they would charge me — WHAT!!! — My cat is having a reaction — IF he gets better (which he did in the 24 hours) I won’t be bringing him into the vet! As many cat owners know — cats DO NOT do well in a trip in a car to the vet. It’s highly stressful so I won’t do it unless I feel it’s necessary. I called the next day and canceled the appointment — the receptionist DID NOT charge me but did reiterate that they do that if you cancel within 24 hours. I hated calling to cancel and was ready to do battle about them wanting to charge me. I shouldn’t be so stressed about this! Can they lay off the charging warning!
5^th Sour Note: This is what prompted me to write this — I have been getting my food from Entirely Pets — they want the vets contact info to get approval. I put them down (since it’s the local vet) and they never approved me getting his food. Are you kidding me! So I’ll use the vet I had in Houston (great place btw). Just crazy.

Been going there since 2008 with my two cats. If someone refers you the initial check-​up is free. Sometimes you might have a front desk person on the phone that is hit and miss (where don’t you?), but Dr. Rosen is alway professional and honest about what he thinks would be best for the cast. He will advise you, but never pressures you or make you feel bad if you chose not to follow it. He takes his time and we always feel taken care of. As with everywhere, you get what you pay for. Quality is not cheap, but certainly not out of line with what other vets are charging. Also like that as a full-​time employed person, I actually can get an appointment there that are outside 8 – 5 Mon-​Fri business hours. His team keeps you informed via email on any upcoming out of offices, medical alerts in the area, tips & tricks, emergency contact clinics, and more. Don’t plan to change vets any time soon.

We have been clients of Dr. Rosen and Feline Veterinary Clinic for at least 15 years, and they are simply the best — period. There is nothing else like Feline Veterinary Clinic in the Washington/​Baltimore area, and this may very likely be one of the premier feline clinics on the entire East Coast — as modest/​small/​unprepossesing as it may appear from outside. I don’t know if it’s the cheapest place to go (probably not, in most cases), but if you really love your cat (s) and he/​she/​them have any kind of significant — and/​or mysterious — medical problems that other vets can’t seem to help with, it will likely be the case that only Dr. Rosen can sort it all out and save your cat’s life; he keeps himself apprised of all the latest scientific journals. He and his staff all love cats, and are all so kind and gentle and sensitive. I don’t write a lot of over-​the-​top laudatory reviews like this, but Dr. Rosen and his clinic deserve it. God bless them!

I’m updating my review as my husband and I have since decided to change vets for our cat. The main reason for my change of heart was that Dr. Rosen pushed me to do a bunch of expensive tests which made me feel uncomfortable. I’ve never liked the feeling of being sold something that I wasn’t sure I needed.
I will still say that Dr. Rosen does have your kitty’s best interest in mind and sincerely believes that you should get all available tests and vaccinations for your cat – I don’t believe that he’s trying to make more money or take advantage of anyone. The vet just wasn’t a good match for me personally.

Dr. Rosen is an excellent and thorough veterinarian. We have been very pleased with his care of our two cats. He’s kind to our kitties, well, as kind as he can be while shoving a thermometer up their butt, making them swallow a pill, or the like, and he’s a great communicator with us. He knows cats and hones in on their symptoms and cues very well. He takes a very organized approach to discovering their medical issue and I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a specialist in felines.

I reported Dr. Rosen to the VA Board of Veterinary Medicine for euthanizing my cat without my permission. We live across Lee Hwy from his office. My older, frail cat was outside and wandered away from my house. A well intentioned family from out of town brought him to Dr. Rosen’s office because they were worried about him. Dr. Rosen told them they could take him home with them, or he would euthanize the cat. They were unable to take him, so Dr. Rosen euthanized him. Sadly, there are no laws in Virginia that prevent this from happening. I couldn’t keep a collar on my cat (for several reasons) and should have had him chipped. That was entirely my fault. But Dr. Rosen failed to even suggest that the family take him to a shelter.
The worst part was that we had gone to Dr. Rosen for several visits about 2 years prior. We stopped going to him because I felt uncomfortable with the way that he handled my cat (too rough and aggressive).
Please don’t patrionize this business.

Feline Veterinary Clinic is just ok. I’m not really impressed with the place. Dr. Rosen is kind of awkward and quirky but I was never offended by him or anyone in his office. While he may be great with cats, I didn’t really see evidence of any cat whispering with my kitty. As any pet, she doesn’t like the vet, but she gets really anxious around Dr. Rosen and even went #1 and #2 on the exam table once. He seemed really turned off, which, I understand, it is kind of gross — but you are a vet! and I’m sure animals get freaked out all the time! He didn’t really do much to calm her down.
I took her in for an ear infection, which required 4 visits with 3 different treatments before it went away (and then recently came back). The first time, he gave me ointment #1 for her ear. Then, ointment #2. Then, he tried to give me ointment #1 again — good thing I recognized that it was the same, or I would have been charged to buy the exact same item again! He didn’t look at her record to see that he had already prescribed that ointment the first time around. Regardless, he recommended that we do ointment #1 again. When that didn’t work (shocking, I know), he finally took a sample from her ear and determined that it was a different type of infection that needed antibiotics to treat. Really? Why didn’t you just do that in the first place? I ended up spending a lot of money on these visits and treatments that didn’t work. And yes, it is an expensive vet.
I also feel like they pushed me into tests that weren’t that necessary. Cat scratch fever test, who has even heard of that? I’m not trying to doubt this professional vet’s opinion, but they even told me that cats live with it with no problem. She had also tested negative for Feline HIV at the shelter where I adopted her, but they were pushing hard to give her a second test, which I could see no justification for.
Finally, I don’t like how they don’t let you touch your cat in this office. They only let assistants handle your cat with big gardening-​type gloves, which only freaks out poor kitty even more. Once I tried to pet her to calm her down and they straight up told me not to.
Not really impressed… they did give me a free first visit though, and I feel like Dr. Rosen was a knowledgeable vet. They also scheduled me in last minute once as they were closing on a Saturday afternoon. However… in my opinion that doesn’t make up for other experiences I had here. I’m switching to a different office.

I worked for this guy for a whole 2 weeks. It’s a revolving door of employees. As one Unilocaler noticed, it is not a positive atmosphere, AT ALL. In my 2 weeks, I had 2 «clients» apologize to me for his behavior. I even met 2 prior employees, who are now in the health care industry, who told me «be careful, he is very difficult to work with.»
For the cat owners, be mindful of the following: 1) he is very good with cats (people, not at all); 2) I was working as a receptionist at the clinic and filling and administering medications (would you let the cashier at CVS fill your prescriptions?) at $ 10/​hour; 3) gloves are rarely worn and hands are rarely washed.
Lori: she has worked for him for 30 years (God bless her; she deserves a fricking medal!). As a result, she has her good days and bad days. I liked her and I will miss her, she’s a hoot with a higher tolerance than mine!
(FYI, I was fired for asking him to not treat me like a 10 year old. ‘Nuff said.)

I’ve been bringing my cat, Mack, to Dr. Rosen for nearly 5 years now. We’re there often and the entire staff recognizes us and loves on Mack when we board him there, especially the day-​time receptionist Lori. They’re all wonderful people and truly do care about your animal. It’s also a cat-​only clinic which is great for our cat as he gets stressed out around dogs.
One reason I will always go to Dr. Rosen:
My husband and I went out of town right before «Snowmageddon» in February 2010 and we boarded Mack, as usual, with Dr. Rosen. While we were gone, the clinic lost all power and heating. Dr. Rosen dutifully loaded up the few cats that were boarding there that weekend and kept them at his house for 3 days while we were gone. Definitely made me feel better knowing that my kitty wasn’t cold in a cage.
He does push for tests sometimes, but he respects our wishes if we say no.
I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a vet for their cat.
UPDATE:
I wanted to post an update to this review. It’s definitely still 5 stars, no doubts about that!
Earlier this year Mack got very, very sick. I brought him in and it was discovered he was in basically liver and/​or renal failure. We could either admit him to a vet hospital, or let him go. It was an impossible choice to make but at 19 years old he didn’t have much time left. We decided to put him down. I wanted to take him home and cuddle with him for the afternoon before bringing him back at the end of the day but even just putting him in his carrier was too much stress for him at that point. There was no moving him, we had to do it then.
My husband was at work and the staff there postponed their afternoon appointments so my husband could make it over and we could say good bye. My husband had Mack for about 18 years, he was his baby, and the staff understood just how tough this was for us. They didn’t push us to try to hurry us along, they let us take the lead and gave us enough time to say good bye. They also didn’t insist we paid at that moment. We could take our time to grieve and were able to come back later that week to pay the bill.
Thank you Dr. Rosen, Lori, and all the staff! Letting go is always hard but you all made it as easy as it could be.

We have been going to Dr. Rosen for about 11 years now. The office is on the small side but we feel Dr. Rosen does a good job with our cats. Unlike other posters we do not feel pressured to do tests/​procedures we dont want. Maybe it is because we are more seasoned and willing to say that we will not pay for certain tests/​procedures.
Dr. Rosen can be a little quirky but Hello he is a cat doctor! He is a good guy with some good skills.

I joined Unilocal because I was shocked at seeing anything other than 5 stars.
My boyfriend has been going to Dr. Rosen for years because of his excellent veterinary clinic. He called this morning because our cat wasn’t eating, and Dr. Rosen took his lunch hour to squeeze us in. During the visit, another woman called that she had a flat tire and had to push her appointment and he totally re-​did the schedule to accommodate her later. On top of that, he actually cared about her well-​being, asking if she was ok and if she needed a ride, had AAA, etc.
Dr. Rosen runs a great practice and truly cares about his patients and their owners.
Our cat is happy. Thanks!

Dr. Rosen has taken care of four of my cats over 10 years. He’s a consumate professional that has added years of good and happy health to my animals. He’s been a caring professional to all their end-​of-​life care and has been there for good advice from nutrition to general health. Lorie, the office manager is top-​notch.
I don’t understand the low scores. This is the feline vet clinic and it does that job very well.

Feline Veterinary Clinic was recommended to me by a neighbor who has been taking her cat there for years. This neighbor is extremely discerning about who she lets near her cat (e.g. vets, pet-​sitters, groomers, etc.) so when my husband and I adopted ours, I knew she would be the best person to go to for a vet referral.
We have been taking our cat to Dr. Rosen at the Feline Veterinary Clinic for over a year now and have been quite pleased with the service. It’s a very cat-​centric operation (the practice specializes in felines only) which is helpful when you’re dealing with an animal who doesn’t enjoy being in the carrier and/​or going to the vet to begin with (i.e. no barking dogs or squawking birds to make the situation more stressful). The office is clean and the staff is friendly, albeit wait times can vary. Dr. Rosen is both friendly and thorough, and the assistants that help to handle the cats while they’re being examined are both capable and nice.
My only gripe with Dr. Rosen is that he has occasionally performed small procedures (e.g. nail clipping, teeth scaling, etc.) without telling us in advance that we’d be charged for those services at the end of our visit (in addition to an office visit fee and the cost of whatever else our cat happened to be in for, be it shots or a routine check-​up). But overall, we’ve been happy with Feline Veterinary Clinic.

Dr. Rosen is very experienced with cats. He made our cat feel at ease. He was very thorough in his exam.
His assistant, Mike, is also very nice and comforts the cat the whole time he is there.
The reception staff was disorganized but I think that was because they were short staffed that day.