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    El Cerrito Veterinary Care

    4.0 (217 reviews)
    Closed Closed
    Updated 3 months ago

    Services - El Cerrito Veterinary Care

    Pet physical or wellness exam

    Pet vaccinations

    El Cerrito Veterinary Care Photos

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    Recommended Reviews - El Cerrito Veterinary Care

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    Everyone's favorite season is upon us. Sigh.
    Meredith M.

    UPDATE: Dr Kriensky is gone, and wait times to be seen are far too long for me to recommend this place anymore. Where did you go, Dr. K?

    a post dental procedure walk, albeit a bit groggy, to wake him up. the vet techs here took such good care of Pepper too!
    Shashi J.

    I've been bringing my precious border collie Pepper here for 5 years - Dr. Fernandez is exceptional, very professional, and always takes time to explain what is going on and the various options. Pepper had a cavity which she treated with such care and precision, and Pepper being very picky about who handles him, was given extra special care and attention. I cannot recommend Dr. Fernandez and El Cerrito Veterinary Care highly enough. We are so happy that Pepper gets to experience such high quality, loving, and expert medical attention. Thank you!

    1 year annual visit with dr kriensky
    Makaela S.

    Dr Kriensky is a very thorough veterinarian. Her wellness visits are lengthily and she spends a lot of time focusing on every detail of the pet. I left the visit feeling overall really good about my puppies health and various ways in which I can keep her healthy. I like to go here for my annual wellness visits, however it is not a low cost vet so with certain things it is just too expensive to take my puppy here. Like getting her spayed for instance. I did not take her here for that because it was not affordable. General wellness visits are great though and competitive pricing on that

    Jose A.

    It is a bad place to take your animals there only will take your money and send you somewhere else the first visit was 500 dollars to check what's wrong and then $500 to the test and they said everything was good with my animals but she still have red spot on her skin and then I send them a email this doctor is no good and he shouldn't have a license Dr Buttar

    Poor guy
    Craig G.

    We unfortunately were introduced to this business because our Sir Winston was just not getting better. Having apparently exhausted the patience of the folks at our vet, who pretty much said their is nothing more they could do except have us visit the ER. Not willing to cave so easily, Bae set out to find alternatives. We liked it was closer, and had much more flexible hours. They were most accommodating and welcoming under the circumstances. We were able to squeeze him in due to the severity of his symptoms. I must say the doc was so warm and friendly. His first inclination was to do blood work which came back inconclusive. So we opted to do X-rays. That's when we heard the unfortunate news, that Winston had a multitude of stuff that I'll spare you reading. Needless to say he made special accommodations to help us have closure and put out little guy out of his misery. Since Sir Winston was such a huge part of our lives for 15 brilliant years, I doubt if we are going to get another dog anytime soon. However if we do... I honestly can't think of another vet we would consider. There isn't another vet I could possibly give a better recommendation to.

    Front desk/waiting area
    Cari A.

    I had to go to Hawaii unexpectedly and needed to get a health certificate to fly with my French Bulldog. My regular vet was booked out too far out, so I called everywhere that I could in Berkeley/Oakland/Albany/Etc. I finally called El Cerrito Veterinary Care and they were able to get me an appointment just in time. Pros: -very thorough -reasonably priced -staff were friendly Cons: -n/a

    Facility information
    Jane T.

    We had a consultation for our senior dog who has a growth on her head, as a medical person in human field, I almost 99% knew it's not a simple lumps. We Meeting Dr F. reasons also for the "lumps/wound care", if surgery removal aren't the options. this facility was ok, everyone was ok, but We didn't feel any positive energies around here, people are only doing their jobs. Dr F was ok too, from point one after she lay eyes on our dog, she gave only 1 statements-"quality of life..."if i wasn't asked her questions, her signals to us were only "the dog should be put to sleep for quality of life", even we told her our dog was eating well, walked daily for 30 minutes...DrF's mind was just locked, show no true feeling for us also how harsh her words. as a dog families, we didn't feel receiving any support from this dog care facility, so, no, i do not recommend this facility for your beloved dogs.

    Over 1 year later, happy and healthy
    Nathan M.

    Dr. Buttar and team saved our cat's life a couple years ago, and for that I am eternally grateful. It's interesting to read the negative reviews that seem to have come during COVID, before that, I remember all the reviews being excellent. As usual with any review of a vet clinic, read them closely and judge for yourself if you agree with them. I am writing about my experiences from 2019 to 2020. Our Lily had multiple health issues that required detailed diagnoses, and for that Dr. Buttar gave his expert advice over and over again. She was losing weight, eating less, and just not herself. The first issue was bladder stones that needed to be surgically removed. This was immediately diagnosed with an ultrasound at the clinic on the same day (+1 for on-site diagnostics), and we scheduled a surgery just a couple days after to remove them. At the same time, dental extractions needed to be done due to cavities. Dr. Buttar skillfully removed them all, and while the bill was certainly high, it was nothing that I didn't expect and in the range of what any other vet would have charged. Lily recovered amazingly well after these surgeries with no complications at all. Half a year later, a couple cysts were appearing on Lily's jawbone and near the base of her tail. The jawbone cyst was especially concerning because it was a hard, bony mass. Once again, Dr. Buttar communicated his thoughts clearly - by the way, there's basically nothing online about this type of mass (an "odontoma") for cats - and recommended it be observed for potential growth, and later removed for biopsy. This looked like an extremely tough surgery but luckily, all were removed and found to be benign. I was very impressed by the skill needed to correctly diagnose and remove this mass. Since then, I have moved away from El Cerrito but Lily has been happy and healthy since her operations. This is why I highly recommend this vet. In my experience, I never had any mixups at the front desk and everyone including Dr. Kriensky (who I interacted with for one appointment) was very kind and willing to explain their thoughts. Thank you a million times Dr. Buttar for your help!!

    Email from dr Fernandez

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    Thank you for the 5-star review, Meredith! :)

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    2 years ago

    Once I found out they were marking up our dog's prescription by 900% I stopped going and never looked back.

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    3 years ago

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    Thank you for the 5-star review, Melanie! :)

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    5 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    Thank you for the 5-star review, Angie! :)

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    2 years ago

    Warm and friendly, with good staff and doctors. They are our "local vets " that we go to for ordinary care

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    Thank you for the 5-star review, Suzie! :)

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    Page 1 of 6

    Ask the Community - El Cerrito Veterinary Care

    How are their prices?

    Hi, Sue. Dr. Buttar's prices appear to be well within the norm. When I brought my cat in for what turned out to be a serious infection, I was surprised at the low cost of exam, diagnosis, treatment (which included minor surgery), and take-home… 

    View All 3 Questions

    Review Highlights - El Cerrito Veterinary Care

    Dr Buttar is extremely knowledgeable explains everything clearly takes his time and most of all he is kind.

    Mentioned in 54 reviews

    Read more highlights

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    Kind staff, but a frustrating and disorganized urgent care experience…read more Our visit took about 1.5 hours. Even though we completed intake over the phone, we were asked to fill out the same information again on paper, and we weren't seen until ~15 minutes after our scheduled time. We also spent a long time waiting due to a lepto test. We were initially told results could take up to 30 minutes and that the assistant would check with Dr. Holliday to see if we could leave and come back. About 20 minutes later, we were told we only needed to wait 10-15 minutes total--by then, we had already waited most of that time unnecessarily. Follow-up was the most frustrating part. The front desk was responsive through the online portal, but not helpful--they repeatedly said they would "leave a note for the doctor" or were "waiting for the doctor to finalize their notes." We later found out test results were available on Tuesday but weren't released to us until Thursday. For an urgent care visit, this delay felt unacceptable. We requested SOAP notes and lab results on Monday for insurance purposes and had to follow up multiple times to get documentation that should have been readily available. The medical care itself seemed thorough, but the administrative side was lacking. Given the cost (urgent care exam alone was $147), I expected a more efficient and timely process. Overall: kind staff, but poor follow-through and delayed communication. For urgent care, I expected a much greater sense of urgency.

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    University Veterinary Hospital in West Berkeley is a fantastic clinic with a really nice, clean,…read moreand well-organized facility. They have a small parking lot, but there's usually decent street parking nearby. They're open Monday through Saturday by appointment only. I saw Dr. Schaffer for my cat Sophie and she was amazing. She was incredibly thorough, compassionate, and clearly very good with animals. The entire staff was great--professional, friendly, and attentive. I felt very comfortable here, and I think my cat, despite it being a new environment, felt relatively at ease as well. They're very transparent about pricing and never pressured me into getting any specific tests. They answered all my questions clearly and made sure I understood everything. The clinic gives out free treats for both cats and dogs, which was a nice touch. Their prices do lean a little on the higher side compared to some other clinics I looked at nearby but they provided close estimates over the phone beforehand. They offer basic blood/urine work and have an in-house pharmacy for some medications. They also do basic bladder ultrasounds, but for more advanced imaging, they refer out to other nearby clinics they trust. Overall, I highly recommend this clinic. The level of care and professionalism is excellent, and Dr. Schaffer especially was wonderful with my cat.

    Best.vet.ever! Dana Schaffer was the most patient, competent and caring vet we've ever had - and…read morethere have been many! She took her time making Genesis, my German Shepherd, calm and comfortable before doing a very thorough exam. She explained her thinking clearly, gave background literature and was also very cost conscious in her treatment recommendations. So grateful that she's just around the corner! A++

    El Cerrito Veterinary Care - vet - Updated July 2026

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