Balboa Veterinary Medical Center

Please read this:
This Vetenarian is terrible. Please, and I really say please do not take your pet to this man. I really urge this bc I love all animals and would hate your pet to be negatively affected as a result of this «vet’s» lack of competence.
I took my pet here for vaccines, and there was something SUPER shady about this place to begin with. The second I walked in, I just didn’t have a good feeling. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. My dog was vaccinated for a few years by this time and never did his body react to vaccines the way it did after he was vaccinated here. The vaccines were super cheap and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that, but my dog wouldn’t let me touch him for daysss and I thought he was going to die. Literally, I could not even touch him. If I could give this place ZERO stars, I would. It’s not even just bc of the vaccines I’m saying this…
I do feel bad for talking low on behalf of people’s businesses, however, when it comes to animals and their lives, I will speak up and tell you GO SOMEWHERE ELSE and pay the extra cash.

The sales staff are phenomenal! Some of the best I’ve seen! The assistants are very friendly and always have a smile. This is your typical Veterinarian. They will prey on your heart-​strings in the exam room while you’ve got an injured pet on the table, making sure they milk you out of every dollar you have. Although B.V.M.C. has competitive prices, they will «build your bill» while you wait, and right in front of your eyes.
A few months ago, our Labrador injured her right leg. We called around, and BVMC was the closest. She needed $ 600.00 worth of x-​rays and meds (since she needed to be put under for the x-​ray) and another $ 3000.00 for the surgery. Much like being at Galpin Ford, they will try to up-​sale an upgrade from stainless steel to titanium pins, and other things like that– reminiscent of a car buying experience.
Last week, our Labrador injured her other leg. Same operation was needed. Another $ 600.00 for x-​rays and meds, and another $ 3000.00 for the operation. We are not rich. We are struggling. I’m not blaming them for our financial situation, but when I asked for a repeat customer discount, or maybe a little off the bill, they looked at me like I was out of my mind. They don’t give discounts. They will not work with you. Animal in pain? Too bad. Don’t have money? Too bad. Over $ 7000.00 dollars were spent at Balboa Vet within two months on our dog and they couldn’t even knock $ 50 bucks off the bill? Disgusting and pathetic.
Hey BVMC… If you’re reading this. You’re a disgrace to Veterinary medicine if you truly believe you’re in the business to help animals. You’re not. You tug on heart strings for financial gain and you should be ashamed of yourselves. Who else do you do this too? Senior citizens? The poor? I’m not asking for anything free am I?
My wife and daughter will be in tomorrow to pick up our dog. I won’t be going because, quite frankly, you make me sick to my stomach. Besides, I doubt you’d want to see me. Yes, I am that pissed and YES… it would be just like BVMC to offer my wife $ 50 bucks to make this review go away. My reply? You could refund all 7 grand and it won’t remove this review. People need to know what pathetic, money-​grubbing charlatans you are. Do yourself a big favor, and don’t even reply to this review. You’re a disgrace to the Veterinary field, and you’re crafty enough to know that.

Horrible place, I made an appointment for dental cleaning and bath. They quote me a price over the phone when I get there they where charging so many extra things on top. I can’t stand shady businesses like this, and there employee was rude and like to argue over any statement I made. If you love your pet stay away from this place.

If I could give this place negative stars I would. I had a horrible experience with this clinic. They DO NOT care about your pets at all. All they care about is the money. They had offered a free initial office visit as a first time customer but that is there way of getting you in to try and rip you off. My dog had an infected lump on her back and I brought her to get it checked out last week. First Dr. Hagaman came in seemingly to be nice, he asked what was wrong and I told him. He didn’t do a full exam of my dog like checking out the rest of her body to see if she was okay, like a standard office visit would. Instead, all he did was took her temperature and felt around the lump and determined that she would need to have surgery ultimately but first a blood test was needed.
The blood test alone costs $ 175. Mind you I had to wait 2 HOURS for the blood test which pissed me off because they weren’t even that busy and they kept giving me the run around for how long it will take. Then after the blood tests results were in, they again explained that she needed surgery. The Vet again was nice and said that his staff would come in and talk to me about how much it will be. When he left the exam room I heard him whispering to the Vet assistant before she came in to talk to me. The Vet assistant came in and quoted me $ 875 for the surgery, just to remove the infection, clean it, and stitch it up. $ 875!!! On top of the $ 175 I paid for the blood work. Over a $ 1000 total!!! I told her I couldn’t believe it would be that much and all her response was, was «Yeah… I know…». What kind of response is that for someone that is trying to help there dog but is on a budget!!! Then I asked if they offered a payment plan and they said they didn’t. After that I was done with the place. I paid for the blood work and got the hell out of there. I was soo pissed off!!! Oh and by the way… the office visit there regularly is $ 45 which is also ridiculous. This place does not care about your pets, it’s a rip off! With how much they are charging you would think this Vet would be in Beverly Hills somewhere… no it’s not in fact the place is old and run down.
Luckily I was able to find another Vet less than a mile from my place called the Spay and Neuter Clinic at Magnolia and Kester in Sherman Oaks. They have Vet services as well and are amazing. Their office visits only costs $ 10 and the same surgery that my dog needed costs over $ 400 less than this place AND offered me a payment plan. This furthermore confirms how much a rip off Balboa Vet clinic is. I will make sure everyone I know who has a pet knows that they should not come here. Money is there only concern.

My wife and I have been taking our pets to Dr. Hagaman and Dr. A since 2004. They have always taken very good care of all of our pets including Buster, Daisy, Mojo, Lola and Mazie. I will agree their prices are a bit on the high side however the care our dogs get is worth paying the little extra. I appreciate the time both Doctors take to fully explain what is going on with our dogs. All the vet techs are amazing, Kristina, Eve (sp?) and Suzanna (sp?)(I missed a few) are all great to work with and take wonderful care of our dogs.
I find it sad to see some of these reviews sound like these vet’s didn’t want their animals to live or something. You bring your sick cat to the vet and they may not make it, sorry, that’s life, please don’t take it out on the vet. I promise each and everyone of you Dr H and Dr A want nothing more then to send you home with a happy, healthy animal and will do their best to make that happen.

I am completely shocked & heart broken! My family has been coming to Dr. Hagaman for over 30 years and even though the prices were higher, I was personally loyal for over 20 years. Today was the most horrific experience I have ever seen at a place that has a sole purpose of caring for animals. We have and have had in the past Rottweiler’s which this doctor was dealt with and also referred trainers and had champion photos on his office walls since for years. His office has cared for our two puppies since they were 6 weeks old. Today they got into a fight and one was injured pretty bad. Hagaman works part time now so when he walked into the exam room we were happily surprised, he was always a kind doctor. That happiness was quickly squashed. This is not the same man that has cared for our animals, this man was disgruntle. He leaned against the counter and asked «so what do we have here»? It seemed like he did not even know who we were. We explained that the two girls got into a fight and the one hiding under the chair got the worst of it and his response was «I am not going to get bit by another fucking dog this week» in front of my 3 and 8 year old children. Then he further blurted out «if that dog comes after me you won’t make it to the door before I put it down». (thereby threatening that if my dog nipped, she was dead!) This is an animal that his office has seen for every thing since she was born. She was fixed there about 4 months ago without any hassles. My husband was on his knees with the assistant 3 inches from the dogs face when the doctor approached and the severely scared and injured dog backed away into the assistant and Hagaman stood up and coldly said «we are done, she is going after my employee so were done!» It was the most shocking encounter I have ever experienced from a «medical professional». He was very clear that if our dog died he did not care at all, as a matter of fact he threatened to assist in that if the dog was aggressive at all to him. Not only did he not care about losing a loyal customer, but he didn’t care about the animal itself. We had to leave and try and find a vet quick for our weakening dog was losing blood from her neck.
Dr Hagaman, what happened to you? You have changed for the worst, you are heartless, impatient, ignorant, arrogant and have no business being around animals that look to you for kindness and empathy!

I like this clinic.
Its little pricy. But all the staffs were very kind and my dog was happy with them.

This review is way overdue. I took my dog here twice: once to neuter her and the other time because she had a cold. The surgery went just fine, it was a little pricey but my dog did great afterwards and I even think I got a follow up phone call to see how she was doing. Now the second time, I took her for some weird noises she was making (which it turned out it was a cold and she was coughing… who knew dogs cough that way!) Anyways, they said she had a fever, and needed x-​rays, possibly an ultrasound and shots and wow so many things. The bill was going to be around $ 500! So I said thanks but no thanks and took her for a second opinion. I left that office and drove myself to Simi Valley. The results: she had NO fever and the vet said she was just fine, her vitals were fine and she looked fine (playing, alert, etc) so there was no need for any x-​rays or anything extra. She got some antibiotics and a cough syrup and the bill was a little over $ 100. Now that is a huge difference! My dog got better in a couple of days. So never went back to Balboa Veterinary Medical Center. The bad thing is that they charged me for the visit and I lost that money… oh well I guess I saved a lot at the end.

The staff was very friendly & answered all my questions. I was able to bring in my dog before they closed up & Dr. Hagaman was so informative with my dogs condition! I highly recommend this Vet to any pet owner!

This vet is a crook! Took my chihuahua here due to eye irritations, they wanted to charge $ 589.00 for test and medication!
Went to another vet and 25.00 for dry eye test and 19.00 for medication.
Went back and asked how come there was such a difference in prices, they told me that all vets work differently… And they had an attitude about it.

Our cat died today– 2 days after seeing Dr. Arzumanian.
We took him in and he was a bit weak– having some trouble eating but still fully functioning otherwise– including walking just fine.
Dr. Arzumanian was extremely nonchalant in his observance of our cat. He told us that as long as we are diligent and on-​key with giving him his antibiotics, that he would be fine. He asked that we come back soon for X-​rays and a follow up. He was very brief, and yet very over the top with reassuring us that our little guy would be himself again soon.
On informing the doctor that our cat had not eaten food in a while and his body was rejecting both food and water– instantaneously, this doctor should have been vigilant and knowledgeable enough to know that he needed an emergency iv. He had no nutrients or liquid in his body to keep him alive! Our cat couldn’t walk or even move on his own after we brought him home!
I am utterly disgusted with Dr. Arzumanian and his staff– they are completely unprofessional, corrupt, and incompetent as people you should have your loved pets in care of.
They are NOT to be trusted. Dr. Arzumanian, because of YOUR blatant negligence, a member of our family has passed away today.
Because of YOU. I would never want the karma you have.
**Do NOT bring your pets here if you want to see them live. DO NOT.**
There should be negative stars on Unilocal

Dr. Azurmanian has been our family vet for 7 years now. Now they are part of the family. Many pets, tears and joys, just as it goes with family.

Well, I took my cat here on Monday due to his injury on his tail. The ambiance didn’t seem so appealing but it was understandable because pets come in and go but I would prefer them to clean up right away. There was animal urine on the floor (hopefully I didn’t step on it). The staff members we very courteous when I called to make an appointment and they were courteous when I walked in. My cat got so scared that it pooped on their weighing scale which I felt really bad about and he stunk up the whole office but the staff member was kind enough and cleaned it right up. And the Vet himself was very nice and funny. He treated my cat with kindness. And then just when the lady was handing my cat back to me, he got scared again and pooped on her! Oh gosh, how embarrassing. I felt bad but couldn’t help laughing! Despite stinking up the whole office and pooping on staff members, they were still very nice and helpful.

After months of haphazard care by Balboa Vet Clinic, including over prescribing of antibiotics, salves, and other medications, in an attempt to help our dog, we took our dog to another vet when she continued to decline. After reading our dog’s pathology report from a surgery Balboa Vet did, we learned from the new vet and a specialist we went to, that our dog did not even have what Balboa diagnosed.
She is continuing to improve under the care of the new vets.
The staff is very friendly and helpful, we have a problem with Dr. Igor Arzumanian’s treatment of our dog.
I am only giving this vet one star because I can’t give none.

If you care for you pets DON’T… i said DO NOT!!! bring them here.
They gave a wrong as in high dosage to my 7 week old puppy and what’s funny is before I paid them for the pills I ask them MANY times if it was ok for a 7 week old dog and they said its ok… couple of hours after our dog took the pills he started shaking and throwing up. I called the next morning to tell them about what happened and the receptionist said she will call us back as soon as she gets a hold of the doctor. Me and boyfriend so worried the whole day at work while his mom is taking care of the dog. No call back was received… I have to call many times for them to get back on us. Super fast on collecting payments but super slow on getting back on us.
There are better vets in the area. please do not go here if u care for you pets. do not have a nightmare like us

They were rec’d by a friend. I found an online coupon for first appt free. My old golden retriever was limping. They wanted $ 250 for two x-​rays of her paw which I thought was expensive. However, they ended up taking 5 or 6 x-​rays to find the real problem which they did at no extra cost. The problem was they were a little brief. They are OK but not the best

My wife’s dog died after treatment from here.
My wife took her dog here because she was having trouble breathing. The vet did a blood test and sent them home. The next day, our dog still had problems breathing but generally in good spirits. My wife called the vet and they told her the dog was in good health. But because the dog’s condition was the same, the vet told my wife to bring the dog. The vet gave the dog some shots to supposedly help with the breathing. Soon as our dog came home (5 – 10 minutes), she threw up and died on our doorstep. The dog was the love of my wife’s life for over 10 years. She was old but still had few good years left. Don’t jeopardize your dog’s life by getting misdiagnosed here.