DWR Veterinary Specialists Reviews 66

Our boxer Ruby sadly had to have a double enucleation (eye removal) in October/November 2025, caused by an eye disease called lens laxation.
We can't express enough how well she was cared for by the DWR team through out the whole process. Ruby recovered well and is now a very happy boxer.
We would like to thank Lorraine, Amy, Hannah, James and the rest of the DWR team.
We would highly recommend DWR.

The first thing to understand is that DWR is now owned by the giant, global, American company MARS, of confectionery & pedigree pet food fame, who have bought up large chunks of the British veterinary sector in recent years. I wonder why ?
I asked my vet to refer me there after a great experience with a previous dog and the previous owners. Well, we all make mistakes.
The dog had a cancerous tumour (MCT). She underwent surgery and a course of chemotherapy - £12k +. Two months later the lump returned. DWR basically wanted to start the process again and were very resistant to any suggestions of any possible shortcuts that might, we thought, avoid the £2 1/2k initial investigation charge. The standard procedure for the dogs tumour (very routine & very detailed info. easily found online), because of the location of the lump preventing removal of a generous surrounding margin, is to follow surgery with radiotherapy to kill any remaining cancerous cells. This did not happen - she was put straight onto chemotherapy which, as said, failed. Now I’m sure they would argue “ clinical or professional judgment “ and who am I to argue. However, the fact is that DWR do NOT have the specialised equipment to carry out radiotherapy AND never mentioned or suggested it as an option ( which we could have found elsewhere. “Southfields”,a nearby sister company of DWR, also a part of Mars, does have the equipment).
We transferred to the nearby university vet school where repeat surgery followed by radiotherapy was performed. Touch wood, all is well, for less expense. Cambridge QVSH is very good.
On the more basic aspects of DWR service :- following first surgery she went for stitches removal : 3 sites on back leg. Imagine my surprise to find one site had been missed. Fortunately I noticed in the car park before driving 60 miles home.
At second chemotherapy appointment I was told that I had been undercharged for the chemo drug at first appointment, but that I would not be charged the balance. Very generous of you is first reaction, but then the other possibility occurs that the wrong dose was given and that you are only being told to explain the increased cost of remaining treatments. Either way, not the expected professional service expected at these prices.
On another visit they forgot to dispense a top up of her steroid tablets, which I did not notice until I was home. I rang & no problem - they would post. Well they didn’t and when I chased a week later they refused to send to me until I paid for pills (approx £12) PLUS £9 POSTAGE. At this point I must have spent £8k + with them !
All this was some time ago and I had put down to experience. Until a couple of weeks ago DWR emailed asking that I leave a review - well here it is.

Our golden retriever puppy was in the ICU for 2 weeks, the team took an amazing care of him, we’re grateful for all the efforts to keep our puppy alive!

Why is it whites only reply to good reviews and ignore the bad ones?
They was responsible for my daughter losing her very much loved Frenchie simba but after she complained everything has been pushed under the carpet and they have wash they hands of what they did wrong and now do not reply to her emails.
Really people is company only care about getting your money and if it goes wrong forget about getting the truth out of them......

From an inoperable polyp and a very ill cat to a new lease of life! I can’t thank DWR enough!

A very experienced and supportive group of professionals. They keep owners up to date every day and really care about people’s pets.
Our bulldog had to stay in for a week in January 2025 and we knew exactly what was going on with him every step of the way.
They managed everything financial and this took the stress off of us whilst we were worried about our boy.
Our boy is now 2 and very healthy. Thank you DWR.

First class service with everything explained

the level of care and compassion shown to Bali was amazing, the staff all cared for her throughout her treatment as if she was their own pet, she loves seeing the staff and we have been supported through a cancer diagnosis, an amputation and chemotherapy with such compassion we can not thank you enough. Getting the all clear was the best news ever, thank you all so much.

Being referred to a specialist when our dog Bear was in heart failure was so scary! But the team from the onset were helpful, friendly, professional & without doubt they saved our Bear’s life. The operation was full of risks but nearly 2 years on she’s with us & living her best life! With regular heart check ups Bear gets excited going in to see everyone! They remember Bear with such a personal touch & I will forever be grateful for the care provided at DWR. Thank you. You are all AMAZING!

Dwr saved my best mate i can never thank them all enough for what they done from the reception team surgeons and after care totally outstanding in our eyes not all heroes wear capes all at dwr are heroes in our eyes

My dog simply wouldn’t be here without the amazing team at DWR! We’re around 16 months on from him being diagnosed with a very large cancerous tumour, and without the surgical skill of Rachel I. Soft tissue surgery and the expertise of Ed in Oncology; we wouldn’t have had all this extra precious time with him. He’s back to his normal self and you’d never know he’d have been ill. We will forever be grateful!

Bought my beautiful boy in a Tuesday evening for emergency disc surgery. Only to have to say goodbye to him by the Friday morning despite being told Thursday morning he was recovering well and I thought he was coming home. He died from something he did not enter this place with and I’ll never understand what the hell happened or why. And despite rushing to him in the early hours of the morning I was told despite saying I would pay whatever the cost for someone to come in and find out what was wrong with him as no one could give me any answers. The intern on ICU said no one was willing to come in on call and waiting wouldn’t matter. He suffered the most awful ending as it turned out he was suffering and I had to make the decision to let him go or there was a 70-80% chance if we tried abdominal surgery that he would die on the table. What kind of odds are those? My heart is broken forever. I only wonder if I had taken him somewhere else would he still be with me now.

Rudy visited DWR after battling with a painful eye on and off for a long time and our local vets not being able to get to the bottom of it. We have had an absolutely brilliant experience with the ophthalmology department, Rudy has come into contact with 3 different ophthalmologists at DWR and the level of care he received from each of them is out of this world. Rudy is usually petrified of vets but happily walks into DWR. Since his minor surgery and treatment plan of daily medications he’s like a whole new dog, he’s enjoying his life to the fullest again and I’m so pleased with Rudys progress and the fact we now only need 6 monthly rechecks. We can’t thank DWR enough. 🐾🐶

Cancelled and booked elsewhere. 45 minutes after my allocated telephone consultation time, which had been confirmed 20 minutes before call due, I received a call from Jane who explained why the appointment wouldn’t be kept and could I make tomorrow. She says she apologised but if she did I totally missed it. When I said this she said I could always go to another vets!! Very entitled and clearly do not value the human customers at the level of reception. Spoke to their competitors who are half the price and very caring.

I’ll try and keep it brief,

Our French bulldog went in for what they described routine spinal surgery for a slipped disc.

The surgery went great that’s not where the issue lies.

The issue is in the aftercare or their so called 24/7 emergency care. Once our beloved boy had his surgery he was making a good recovery and had to stay over for 3 nights under their supervision to ensure a healthy recovery. In this time under their apparent 24/7 supervision our boy managed to get pneumonia and sepsis with in 2 days the moment we herd the news we rushed down there at 4am to be at his side and to find out how it’s taken such turn. Please bear in mind he was fit and healthy before the slipped disc.

On our arrival they had informed us they had identified fluid in his bowel area but they were unsure of how and where from or even what it was but it was septic. We asked them to take action immediately to prevent his condition getting worse but in the 24/7 emergency care they only had basic nursing staff who wasn’t qualified or experienced enough to do anything for him other then pump him full of drugs. We had to wait until 9am for a surgeon to arrive to actually take a look at what’s going on. We had to wait over 4 hours before anyone could even take a look at him while he was fighting for his life because no one would come in even tho he’s paid to be staying in their 24/7 emergency care??

Long story short it was too late for him and we had to make the decision no pet owner wants to make and put him down as it was just too late.

So please bear in mind when they state your pet is in the best place…. Think twice as they have no surgeons on site past 7pm and no one is willing To help out of hours so I dare say the aftercare consists of locking them in a cage and forget about them and god forbid anything was to happen to your pet between the hours of 7pm and 9am then they have no hope of the correct help.

The biggest mistake we made was taking him there in the first place. 😔.

DWR has show compassion and care throughout the process of looking after my dog after she was diagnosed PIMA in December, it’s been quite a long road and one that still continues. With Simona’s quick diagnosis and introduction of a strict drug regime we are now beginning to see real improvement. It has been a difficult journey that has been made a little brighter by the expert care we received from Simona and the internal medicine team and wider DWR team. Thank you.

(DWR) is an incredible establishment with top of the range facilities. But the facilities available come at a price. Insurance is used up very quickly to pay their charges. Unfortunately for my dad, he used his life savings (£10,000) on top of the insurance to try and save his beloved dog ‘Lucky’. After two weeks, of trying to work out what was causing Lucky to be so poorly, and letting them know my dad had used all of his savings, we were informed that they had exhausted all avenues and it would be kinder to put Lucky to sleep… heart breaking!

We took our 10 year old Staffy, Max, to our original vets in June due to his abdomen looking swollen. At this appointment, the vet had a feel of his stomach and advised they weren’t concerned but we could have scans if we wanted to. As the vets stated they weren’t concerned, we didn’t bother.

In early December, Max wasn’t himself and was being sick quite often. We took him back to the vets and they advised he had a mass on his spleen and the kindest thing we could do for him was to put him to sleep as he wasn’t going to make it until Christmas. We brought him home and were all devastated. Despite Max being sick, he was fine within himself. Playful, running around and energetic.

A couple of days passed and we all decided to get a second opinion. We took him to another vets who advised he also didn’t think he would make it until Christmas, surgery COULD be an option however they didn’t think he would survive it . We paid for an ultrasound where the vet was 90% sure his mass was cancerous. A referral was mentioned but again, we were devastated at the thought of putting Max to sleep so we weren’t paying too much attention. I come home and was doing some research on Facebook whereby someone mentioned a specialist vet in my area (Essex). I googled it and DWR was the first place to come up. I emailed them and was advised it was referral only - therefore I contacted the second vets and they confirmed they were referring to DWR and a referral was completed .

A week later, we were in the hospital where Max was seen. They advised to have a CT scan with contrast to look for any signs of a spread. We received a call to advise there was nothing obvious. Max had surgery straight after the CT scan as the vet wanted to perform it under the same anaesthetic. Max stayed at the hospital for 2 days and we were called 1-2 times a day with updates. Christmas Eve, Max came home.

Today, New Years Day, Max is doing better than ever and we have received a call advising the spleen came back as benign and some other biopsies they performed in the surgery.

The first 2 vets and the vet at DWR all stated it was the largest mass they had seen.

We couldn’t thank DWR enough. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the cheapest of surgeries as Max isn’t insured, but they have essentially saved out his life - especially after being advised to put him to sleep and I would pay it all again for the same outcome .

Thank you so so so much to vet Paul who was very thorough, explained everything in detail and guided us through a scary time! I would recommend DWR to anyone who ever come across a similar situation to us and we are so so grateful for everything they have done for us. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to end 2025 and enter 2026 🤍

After my cockerspaniel ran into a wall and smashed is jaw we were referred to DWR. From the minute we engaged they were incredible. The surgeon dealt with us personally and explained all the options before giving his recommendation. They updated us throughout, calling us throughout the evening post surgery to reassure us. Their admin/finance team were incredibly helpful navigating the complexities of the insurance claims process and a process that could have been stressful and time consuming was fully handled by their team. A great service and many thanks.

This specialist vet hospital is the best you can get for your dog. The level of care & compassion, the professionalism of the vets & staff were off the scale. Our dog Jaffa was in for a tumour removal and in for 5 days, they vet/surgeon kept us updated phoning us twice a day, and took us through every step of the way. Yes, it’s expensive but this is what we pay insurance for and the love we have for our dogs.