Old Dominion Animal Health Center

We love Dr. McDaniel! ODAHC has taken great care of our Gracie since she broke her leg. Top notch service and a great location!

Easy to get appointments & even same day local surgery. I really feel that the vets & I work together as a team for my dog’s optimum health. My dog has had a few surgeries, & the vets even call after hours to check on her. Big, clean center with one side for cats & other for dogs.

The doctors at ODAH are great. They take time to make the pets comfortable and their written visit notes are complete and informative. We are long time customers and the service has been consistent.

Love this place! Our dog actually enjoys coming here, and the doctors are very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.

We’ve taken our dogs to Old Dominion for the six years we’ve lived in the area. They are thoughtful and kind, in addition to being excellent veterinarians. They were so compassionate when one if our dogs died, calling to check on us and sending a card. When I take our Lab in for treatments the staff greats him warmly when we walk in. This is an outstanding group of professionals. We highly recommend!

As others have said ODAHC is outrageously expensive. Case in point: They charged us $ 109 for 60 Proin (50 mg). At 800 PET MEDS, the same drug/​quantity cost $ 20. Importantly, they refused to confirm prescriptions by fax/​email scan, so you have to pick up a written script. Couldn’t be anymore inconvenient. Obviously all meant to make it hard for you not to pay their gouging prices — which are 450% higher.
We are used to the «McLean» tax — but this is just ridiculous.

Recently, I took my new kitten to Old Dominion Animal Health Center for her first check up. From start to finish, the desk staff, technician and doctor were kind, sweet and gentle. They were thorough and efficient. I happened to be in the waiting room when a woman came in with an emergency concerning her cat. All of the employees rallied around her and didn’t waste any time assisting her. I was very impressed. So happy we found them. We will definitely be back!

Ok, not sure why others haven’t given this vet 5 stars, but we got great service here! First, our cat almost died about a week before we needed to go away for the weekend. She ate an ibuprofen, but fortunately we caught it early enough and brought her to Hope near our house. But then we needed to board her, so we brought her to Old Dominion where they had the vet check in on her and the vet techs supervising her. They also followed through on tests, fed her the right diet for her special needs without making us pay extra, and then even brushed and played with her (for an extra fee, but that’s ok). Ok, so she survived, but then 6 months later we had to move across country and just two or three days before she started to get the runs, and being a long-​haired cat, this became a problem. Can you imagine bringing a cat with diarrhea on an airplane? We thought it was just moving stress, so I brought her in for a grooming, and what great care we got there. The groomer did a great job clipping and cleaning, but then she decided to ask the vet what we should do about this, given we were moving. Ok, the vet insisted we have a consult, and she squeezed us in just that day. She examined kitty, and prescribed us something for diarrhea, but also insisted we give a stool sample. Well, guess what, she had giardia! What? an indoor cat with giardia!!! well, I suppose she could have eaten an insect that sneaked in and gotten it that way. In any case, we caught our plane two days later without any concerns. Kitty’s diarrhea was gone and she slept happily in her crate for the entire trip, yeah! I am so thankful for the vets at Old Dominion and also HOPE for saving our Kitty’s life! But first off, I think the groomer deserves a reward for going beyond her call of duty to ask the vet what we should do about Kitty’s diarrhea, thank yoU!

I can’t say enough good things about Old Dominion Animal Health Center. My first experience with this facility was a few weeks ago, when I found myself in a bind for boarding my dog,
Oscar. Long story short, I hadn’t updated his bordetella vaccination, and therefore couldn’t board him at his usual establishment. Old Dominion not only gave him the vaccination, but also had room to board him. They were patient and glad to give me updates whenever I called to check on Oscar. He seemed happy and playful when I picked him up, and kept looking back at his caretakers and wagging his tail. And, to top it all off, Old Dominion sent me a personalized thank you card with a photo-​sketch of my Oscar on it! We will be back.

«we still welcome the opportunity to personally discuss your perceived concerns»
Just a clip from the lengthy response I just noticed. Interesting how they became interested in doing that AFTER I posted these reviews, and not when I called them prior to discuss.
None of what I posted is inaccurate, regardless of their assertions. Caveat Emptor.
If you are in McLean, I would recommend McLean Animal Hospital as a much better alternative.

If you’ve read the reviews about how crazy pricey ODAHC is then this will be no shock to you, but I’ll do my best to provide a guide on why that is. I’ve just compared my bill for an annual checkup at ODAHC with a recent one at McLean Animal Hospital, which is literally a couple of minutes away.
ODAHC– $ 450
MAH — $ 260
Because of that stark difference in the bottom line, I was surprised to note that ODAHC is actually slightly cheaper than MAH on most services. The exam itself and the lyme vaccination that was due were both $ 2 – 3 cheaper at ODAHC than at McLean. So what lessons can I pull from this?
Firstly, do not buy medication from ODAHC. Take your prescription and go. I got a six-​month heartworm preventative pack from McLean for a little over $ 40. A year supply of that same drug at ODAHC cost almost $ 140. Any way you slice it, that’s an enormous markup and probably a big part of the reason so many reviewers complain that its impossible to walk out of ODAHC with less than a $ 250 dollar bill.
Second, be educated about your pet’s health risks and be prepared to make firm decisions with your vet. As other reviewers have noted, the policy at ODAHC is to present pretty much all vaccinations as mandatory. If you want to decline a shot against Lepto, for example, the vets will scare you with a talk about what a horrible illness it is and will more or less insinuate that you’re being a bad pet owner if you turn it down. If you aren’t prepared to be scolded for being such a cheapskate, I’d go to pretty much any other vet.
The main reason I left ODAHC is not so much the prices, though, as it is the headache dealing with the place. The actual standard of care seems high, the vets eminently qualified, and the facility itself is fantastic. The front of the house staff is caring toward the animals, but relatively incompetent with the files. Two years ago I was forced to make a half-​dozen phone calls to resolve an instance of being billed twice for the same services. At around that same time, horrifyingly enough, the files were so incomplete and the doctor’s handwriting so illegible that she herself couldn’t read it, and she confessed that she wasn’t sure what injections she’d given my dog last time and which ones she was supposed to do this time. Mistakes happen, but goodness. That was bad.
My conclusion is that ODAHC is competitively priced with other DC-​area vets as long as you don’t buy medication from them or let them bully you into getting 3 or 4 vaccines for illnesses your pet is not really at risk for.

My dog had been in and out of hospital care and other vets no one could figure him out like them we love them they are more pricey but my dog is a lot better thanks to them

We so appreciate the care our dog received at Old Dominion when she boarded — especially from Brenda and James, along with the rest of the staff up at the penthouse.

I’ve used ODAHC a few times for both vet and grooming services. The reason they have 2 stars is because they are OUTRAGEOUSLY EXPENSIVE. I’m not talking «sorta pricey», but more like, «here’s a pillow case, fill it up with $ 100’s».
The reason they have 2 stars and not 5 is the price. They are upwards of double the price of anywhere else. It’s not even remotely competitive. You’ll spend close to $ 200 for a 60lb dog to get shaved.
The folks who work the front desk are incredibly nice and truly caring towards the pets. The facility is also spotless and they’re not shy to let you inspect it. If they were more competitive with pricing, I would absolutely go back there — it really is a nice place, just not worth the obscene cost.

I left Old Dominion Animal Health Center after about two years and will never return. It became clear after several experiences that this practice is specifically designed to separate customers from as much of their money as possible.
Recommended by a neighbor, I toured the facility, which is immaculate. So we started taking our dog and cat here and initially loved it. The waiting room is very comfortable and has coffee at all hours. They also have a quaint little in-​house pet toy store (although everything in it is overpriced). And the vets seemed very competent and thorough.
But after a while, I became concerned about the care they recommended and their billing practices. They recommended a lot of rather extensive specialist procedures and assessments. These expensive procedures were presented as the baseline of pet care, and the vets would make you feel that declining to pursue them constituted poor pet ownership. I got sucked into very pricey orthopedic examinations and heart health assessments (finding out later that they do not even have a board certification in animal cardiology). In most cases, the vets then delivered diagnoses for conditions about which little could be done. In most cases, I sensed the outcome was known prior to the procedure, which then only confirmed what they already knew. So I spent a significant amount of money just for an FYI.
Both of my pets had several dental extractions and minor surgeries as recommended by ODAHC. (I’m pretty sure my dog in particular lived partially toothless due to unnecessary extractions at ODAHC). Without fail, every time I picked my pet up, the bill exceeded the original estimate by at least 15%, sometimes much more. If the estimates were sometimes high and sometimes low, I might accept that they were made in good faith. However, the final bill was ALWAYS significantly higher than the estimate. They always had some weak explanation but frequently just chalked it up to «it’s just an estimate.» It felt like a bait and switch.
The final straw came when my dog went under for yet another recommended extraction. We dropped her off in the morning, then several hours later my wife received an urgent call from the vet. They stated our dog was on the table and under anesthesia for the procedure, but the vet had observed a «mass» on her ear that needed to be removed. Alarmed and concerned, we gave the go-​ahead. When I picked her up, the procedure estimated at a few hundred dollars was now over $ 1,000! Then I saw my dog. The «mass» they had removed was a small unraised spot that I had observed several years earlier. Our previous vet had diagnosed this as a benign mole and nothing to worry about. In my mind, ODAHC tricked me into paying several hundreds dollars to remove a mole. I was furious, and that was it.
These folks are not just more expensive for a higher level of pet care. They are outright shady and deceptive, and they won’t see another penny of my money.

«Capitol K9 Club» or should I call it” Capitol Happy K9 club”!
My two dogs home away from home when I have to travel, or just have a very busy week that makes it impossible to attend to them properly is Capitol K9 Club at Old Dominion Animal Health Center.
I trust them, I trust their passion, and I cannot say enough great things about Paula. A true trainer, and dog whisperer who after only one day with my dogs, knew pretty much everything that made them tick. She watches these dogs play and interact like an eagle. They are the best and there is no one that even come close to them in this area.
Thanks for all you guys do, and I am very grateful. The staff at their court yard are all in their own class of excellence. They are great people before being great at their jobs and I truly feel that makes all the difference. I also like to say that you pay for what you get here, I don’t want a B level service, I want the best and I get it here…
Many thanks,
Azitta C

I recently boarded my two dogs at Old Dominion Animal Health Center in McLean, VA. Although the cost was high ($ 78 per dog/​per calendar day) I paid to have them boarded in Old Dominion’s Penthouse facility. I researched boarding places all around the DC area and I felt this was the only place that met my high standards of cleanliness and comfort for my dogs. I don’t have kids and my dogs are my babies — Period. Money well spent for peace of mind as far as I’m concerned.
Normally I have friends, family or neighbors watch my dogs while I am out of town. This trip was just too long of a trip to ask for that much of a favor so I left the dogs in Old Dominion’s care. I am happy with their service as far as the boarding was concerned. I called to check on the dogs once or twice while I was away and the staff was always polite and assured me they were doing great.
The one concern I have came about after I got home. On the day I picked up my dogs from Old Dominion I received a letter in the mail from them stating that my older dog had been given a «Complimentary Oral Exam». He is a big dog, 8 years old, head-​shy, easily stressed out and had never been boarded before, ever in his entire life. If I had known they were going to give him a complimentary oral exam I would have politely declined. I feel that my dog was under enough stress to begin with and did not need the added pressure of having an oral exam (whether complimentary or not). The letter I received even included photos of my dog’s mouth/​teeth being held open/​exposed so the photo could be taken. I am certain my dog did not enjoy this and only added stress to his boarding experience.
I regularly vet my dogs at my own veterinarian and they check his teeth and gums for me bi-​annually. I even once asked them if he needed his teeth cleaned and they said, «No. His teeth look great for a dog his age.» This is contrary to the letter I received from Old Dominion stating that my dog needed dental care. I’ll review their findings with my own vet but I really wish they had not subjected my dog to their «complimentary oral exam» without asking for my permission first.
Will I board my dogs at Old Dominion Animal Health Center again in the future? For longer stays, yes. But I will make sure I tell them not to subject my pets to any additional examinations unnecessarily. The «Complimentary Oral Exam» was completely unnecessary and it made me mad to think that my already stressed out dog was subjected to that exam and most certainly increased his stress level.

I can review two aspects of Old Dominion Animal Health Center — the vet services and the boarding.
The vet services are simple enough. I actually stopped going there because we moved to Vienna and found a cheaper vet. Every time I walked out of Old Dominion my bill was upwards of $ 200 + for a simple checkup, a shot and a year of heartworm pills. I realized that I could get out of the vet I go to now here in Vienna for a lot cheaper. I did like the staff though. Dr. Newman is especially good. Personable and you can tell she loves dogs. My dog had an issue once with sneezing and wheezing and I called to see if I should bring him in and the woman who answered the phone transferred me to a tech I think who told me a quick solution after telling her symptoms my dog was having. It worked and she saved me a vet visit. I really appreciated that. Again, if we lived in Mclean I would possibly still go here, but since we moved to Vienna our new vet is much closer.
The boarding — I was in a bind with my dog this past weekend. I wanted to take him to one of those doggy pet spa’s that have daycare and treats and fun activities, but my dog can be a little people nervous right off the bat and the places I took him to were not willing to take the time to let him warm up to them in order to pass their evaluation. I completely understand. My dog can take a while to warm up to strangers. So can some people. I was really upset, thinking something was wrong with my dog, and I remembered Old Dominion boarded dogs, so I made one last effort to see if they could take him. The woman on the phone was so sweet and nice she assured me that they had professionals that handled the dogs and they handled difficult dogs every day. I remembered, the places I took my dog to get evaluated, there were teenagers and people who looked like this was their summer job taking care of the dogs and doing the evaluations. So I booked at Old Dominion. When I dropped him off i was so nervous, but the handler came out and let me say goodbye to Kevin and whisked him away. When they came back to the front to settle up with me they said he was fine and they would bet he would adjust just fine. I called once over the course of the weekend and the 24 hour staff person called me right back and left me a message saying Kevin was still a bit nervous, but all in all was eating and getting out for his walks. You have to pay a little extra for walks, but i was willing to do this, it was a no brainer! I liked the staff and I hope the staff liked Kevin. When I picked him up he was happy and not smelly or anything. He seems unscathed here today at home, no diseases or any of the issues other reviewers mentioned, no bad habits, he actually seems better. He didn’t growl at the yard men this morning. Maybe it was good for him to be in a different place and get use to different people other than his family and his neighborhood dogs and friends. I will definitely use them again for boarding. I’m not sure why the reviews are so bad here. It almost deterred me from taking him here, the reviews, but don’t let it sway your decision. Go in, talk to the staff and get a tour, it was a great experience for me and not expensive. Kevin is a Shih-​Tzu and he was $ 35 a day with a small fee for an extra walk a day. Pretty cheap and friendly professional staff.

My dog has seen Dr. Robinson and Dr. Newman and both of them are on top of their game. They knew my name, the dogs name and the medical history before the exam started. I highly recommend their services.

The staff here is VERY friendly, as I think almost anyone who works with pets all day should be, but they do it in a genuine manner. The vet seemed very knowledgeable and took the time to check every possible problem with our dog even though we just brought him in for a routine check-​up.
As noted in the other reviews the big drawback to this place is their prices, they are just obscene. Having owned a dog nearly my entire life I am very familiar with the expenses related to their care, and I was blown away with my first bill here. Not only are the fees astronomical, but they only offer the most expensive forms of heartworm and flea preventative, so if you are going here do yourself a favor and just get the prescription so you can order something cheaper and just as effective online.