CARE | Charlotte Animal Referral & Emergency

I would absolutely not recommend this animal hospital. We came here at midnight after a referral from another animal urgent care (they called to alert the staff we were on our way) to get my cat the critcal care he needed. He just recovered from a diabetic crash and we were told by the other place he will crash again soon if not given proper care. When we arrived, there was only one other person who came and went the entire time we were there, and one other person waiting in the lobby. So, they were NOT busy. Staff was non-chalant about is being there, giggling to one another about this or that, almost as if ignorning us. After waiting patiently for almost a half hour, I reminded the people at the front desk that we were referred from another care center and were on borrowed time with a looming diabetic crash. I was told to take a seat and someone will be with me "soon". Another 20 minutes goes by and we are FINALLY told to come to a room to get admitted. We waited ANOTHER 10-12 minutes before a tech comes in to get information and take our cat into care. We were then instructed to wait in the lobby. Another 90 minutes passes and we were given an update. By now we've been here almost 2 1/2 hours. We were advised to leave the cat for overnight observation and application of dextrose and insulin to stabalze. So, we did, and signed a waver that admitting him meant his bill would run between $1500 and 2500. Calling for status in the morning is a JOKE. NO ONE can give you status until the techs do their "rounds" of checking, feeding and cleaning, which means they MIGHT call "sometime" after 10:00am. When calling I was told a tech would absolutely call me back "no later than..." which NEVER happened. When you call back you are put on a long hold and then they'll come back saying someone will call me back. By then, a morning call turns into an evening call. One day turned into two and finally four days. FOUR DAYS IN AN ANIMAL "HOSPITAL"!! There isn't anything they accomplished here in FOUR days that could not have been done in one day with follow-up care at home. Very disappointing.... This business is a scam and money grab on your wallet, knowing you have NO CHOICE and are willing to hand over the cash that you signed-up for on day one. Of course, we hit the maximum of the estimate. ironic, isn't it? On top of this, they advised me to get a Libre glucose continuous monitoring system, which is a patch adhered to the skin. It's supposed to last 2 weeks and lasted 2 days. Too bad, no refund. This is the most unorganized, unqualifed vetinarian place I have ever been to. They are not customer or patient focused. I honestly do not know how they stay in business. Go at your own risk.

We were referred to CARE Charlotte Animal Referral & Emergency when our dog, Mr. Sprinkles, started showing signs of a possible neurological issue, and I honestly can’t say enough good things about our experience. From the very beginning to end , Anna in the neurology department stood out. She was calm, kind, and incredibly helpful during a really stressful time. We actually missed our initial appointment, and with their schedule being booked nearly a month out, I thought we were out of luck. But Anna went above and beyond to help us get back in much sooner, which made a huge difference for us and for Sprinkles. She also checked in with us at the end and ensured we had everything we needed for our pet insurance. The neurologist we worked with was just as impressive. He took the time to walk us through everything, what could be going on, treatment options, and costs without ever making us feel rushed or overwhelmed. During the MRI and surgery, we were kept updated the entire time, which gave us a lot of peace of mind. One thing that really stood out to me was that the doctor addressed an additional issue he found during the MRI. It may not have been directly related, but he took care of it to support Sprinkles’ long-term health and prevent us from having to come back later. That level of care really meant a lot. On top of everything, the cost ended up being less than we expected, which was a nice surprise. At pickup, the team was thorough in explaining medications and next steps, and the front office staff was just as kind and welcoming as everyone else. The facility itself is beautiful and well-maintained, which also adds to the overall experience. Most importantly, our dog is recovering well, and we’re genuinely grateful for the care he received. We would only take our pets here from now on!

I'm a little late in writing my review as our experience happened in December 2025. At the beginning of December, we had a gut feeling that our dog had relapsed his anemia (IMHA) diagnosis from 2018. We took him to his primary vet, who gave him a shot and started him on medication until we could get to his internal medicine specialist at CVS - he did not have an appointment for a couple weeks. His symptoms got worse, and we decided to go to VEG urgent care because we absolutely love them and think highly of their urgent care services. They decided to refer us to CARE as they thought he needed more treatment than what they could provide. We walked into CARE, and they were clearly very busy, but we were able to be seen as I was filling out the paperwork, so very quickly. They confirmed he had declined and would need a blood transfusion, meaning he would be staying overnight for a couple of nights. We weren't sure he was going to make it through, but he handled the transfusion very well. Throughout all of this, most of the people we came in contact with were very friendly and thoughtful of our concerns and issues with the different treatment options - not pushing us to do more than what we wanted as we only wanted to do one transfusion due to the prognosis and his older age. Some of the reception staff were the only ones that we found not as caring or compassionate during this stressful time, came across more annoyed and unfriendly. Aside from the reception staff, my only complaint was multiple times we were told we would get an update by 12:00 PM the next day or something of the like. They were NEVER on time with any of their updates. It came hours later, even after our follow-up calls. When you are going through a stressful time, updates at or near promised times are important. It is expensive to put your pet through emergency care and services, but we are very happy that we have a dog currently in anemia treatment with his specialist at another provider, and we got him to that point because of the care and treatment CARE provided.

Absolutely the worst level of care ever. Our cat had ataxia and they did blood work, asked us if we had recreational drugs in our house and referred us to poison control. After leaving here we immediately took her to our regular veterinary office. They said look under her neck, she has a gash almost an inch long and has clearly fallen or gotten her head stuck somewhere and hurt her herself trying to get free. Our vet said these people should be ashamed they missed this. They were so focused on accusing us of drug use or leaving chemicals open around our house they didnt even look for the obvious, and a common cause of ataxia, trauma. I guess it depends on which vet you get, but I strongly recommend not to waste your money, hundreds of dollars in our case, to get a vet that doesn't even look at your pet carefully with their eyes. Shameful.

The care and love for my animal. How much they value that relationship.

Dr. Fauber and her neurology team are the absolute best. They gave my dog Stoli a chance to live a full life after he had spinal surgery. They are kind, thorough, and explained everything in detail. I would recommend her and her team at CARE to anyone needing neurological care for their pet. The front desk people are also very kind.