Pet Doctors Reviews 56

I had a appointment with pet doctors this morning for my ageing dog and feel I was over charged. My dog is old and had a sore eye .the vet I saw was very nice and she put some eye drops in his eye and wrote a prescription. I was presented with a bill of £171.97 .Are pet doctors putting profits before welfare off our pats? What do you think?

Avoid unless you have all day to sit around. Waited over an hour n still wasn't seen so we left and will be putting all of our animals under a different vet. We also waited over an hour for them to bring out cat out after she was spayed. A friend of mine got a solution for his cats eyes, cost him £29...turned out to the saline. Years ago tried to charge me for putting my cat to sleep.. It had been run over and died, I was happy to pay the cremation fee but she wasn't put to sleep so I refused to pay that bit. Broke my cats toe getting her our of a cage a few years ago too. Only interested in money.

I would give a zero review but I can't, we had the healthy pet club for a new pup but after 6 months the practice closed down, and the closest one was 20 miles further, which is not viable... They are demanding we pay the whole contract out even though the practice has gone which isn't there customers fault, the manager at the soham branch is rude and sarcastic and by the sounds of it has never been to manager school and should not be in that position . Use the vets at pets at home, more professional and a lot cheaper with our charging different amounts depending what vet are on their shift .
BE WARNED STAY WELL CLEAR

This review is for PetDoctors Newport Isle of Wight.

Our experience with PetDoctors Newport Isle of Wight stretches over 10 years.
Initially great!

But unfortunately under CVSVET ownership went from a 4 star business to a 1 star (if that).
Our beautiful goofy girl required TPLO surgery and we decided to go for a brilliant specialist vet in the Wye Valley.

PetDoctors staff (not their vets I believe) decided to punish us (and by implication our puppy-girl) by withholding medication (I have a massive email trail that documents this).

PetDoctors (IoW) TPLO costs are 250% more expensive than can be found elsewhere. Xray costs are 7 times more than elsewhere, and have been offered when they are not appropriate.

When someone loves their pet and particularly when they have fully covered insurance, they will sign off the vet advised treatment. This is something that corporate vet business's prey off, and thankfully the CMA are investigating.

My advice, for what it's worth, is find a good local independent vet.

Awful company. I have had a few bad experiences from them as they misdiagnosed my dogs leg problem which they suggested needed to be amputated. They have tried to defend themselves by saying they advised me to get a CT scan and i said no as its the most expensive CT scan i have found on the island but i went to another vets on the island who said they were 99% sure what the problem is without a CT scan and now my little pup still has his leg! The pet doctors and still demanding £150 from me even though i have had these issues and the money is for flea treatment and jabs which shows that they only care about money. Avoid this company, there are much better vets in newport which actually care and are better priced.

If you value your pets life do not take them to pet doctors. I took my beloved labrador to them for a bad cough they asked me to leave her while they sedated and x rayed her.when I collected her later nothing had been done other than prescribe he anti inflammatory tablets.
Two days later she was still coughing but when I phoned up I was told they were to buisy and I would have to bring her in two days time for a xray.
I took her in at 10 o’clock and at five phoned to ask progress to be told she hadn’t been seen yet.i pointed out that by then the dog had not been fed for 24 hours and was probably traumatised.
30 mins later they phoned me so say the dog had died while they were looking down her throat.
Pet doctors are only interested in making money and the animals welfare is secondary.
It is obvious that the nurses are dedicated but the few vets are straight out of school and the ethos is let’s make as much money as we can.

Not about my pet but my daughters. Pet doctors keep get her dogs prescription wrong . They write it out she sends it off goes to collect it and they’ve not got it as they’ve said prescription is wrong . Pet needs it as it’s for his seizures. My daughter has to keep driving there which cost money getting the prescription which cost money sending the prescription off which cost money you can’t keep doing it. Why can’t they get a simple thing right?

Lots of negative reviews but I have to take as I find. Pet Doctors were amazing with my lovely old cat and tried very hard to help her, they could easily have taken my money by charging me for bloods, scans etc but instead were honest and advised me not to. We saw three vets throughout her visits who were all amazing, compassionate and kind, when the time came to say goodbye they couldn’t of been more understanding, along with the vet nurses/reception staff they made an awful decision a bit more bearable.

Yesterday we had to put our 15 year old cat Cleo to sleep. She was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. The vet at Newport. Isle of Wight branch. Demetrios was wonderful and very supportive and caring and treated Cleo with care and respect. He explained our options and helped us to make a difficult decision. The young lady on reception, don't know her name she had long dark hair, was lovely and caring too. Thank you all at Newport Pet Doctors. Finally my faith in these vets has been restored after the last visit last month when we had to have our other Cat Puff put to sleep which was in total contrast.

I took my beloved boy cat into the vets, they had prescribed two tubes of liquid Gabapentin having not weighed my cat for a year, now my cat went into a stupor with all the signs of Ataxia brought on from gabapentin, he had never had the liquid only pills.

All the vet said was he was very "high and seeing Dragons" and said "we may have given him to much" Not reassuring they gave the cat a blood panel and a injection for arthritis ignoring the fact he had not drunk liquid for 12 hours and could not stand up at all and was shaking and laying on his side trying to walk even though he couldn't get up, it was brutal to watch my beloved pet act like that and to have no support. Also the vet should have known Gabapentin can cause Ataxia, and even if he had liver or kidney issues this was not the state he should be in as it only takes 12 hours to get out his system, I was told the second dose was 'safe to give him' but it must have done more damage, pet doctors did nothing to help the state he was in and just carried on like nothing was wrong.

I feel like Pet doctors just did not care about my cat, after my pet urinated himself at home and still could not walk I took him back in and he was put to sleep, this should never have happened if they had treated his Ataxia!

Pet Doctors still charged for the blood panel and arthritis injection on my insurance even though the blood panel was never done, and we never found out about the injection helping, because he died 4-5 hours after it was administered. I feel like they left my beloved cat to die and did nothing to try and save him. Apart from the diagnosis of "seeing dragons!" and admitting. they gave him to much.

The staff there have always been top notch I will say that, apart from one member of staff who accused me of not paying when my pets ashes were picked up, a very upsetting moment and not one where you have to defend yourself about payment which had been made the day my poor little cat died.but At least the kind staff sorted things out and explained that the person being rude was a new to the practice, still not an excuse really when someone is grieving a beloved animal.

Avoid pet doctors like the plague, all they want is money and they don't seem care about your pet, and their vets don't seem at all on the ball, I had a locum tell me my cat had a tumour in his mouth once and was going blind, that all turned out to be twaddle when I saw a proper vet, not the one that I still believed helped my cat on his way to his death I may add. Oh and don't ask to speak to the Veterinary manager I never heard as thing, never received a letter they said they sent me, and frankly thought over such a sensitive subject they could have bothered to make a phone call.

I have left this vet and now moved on, I suggest other people thinking of using them read these reviews, its not people in grief lashing out, its a list of genuine issues with what feels like a run down business struggling to get decent staff.

unprofessional and inexperienced vets who fixated on a wrong diagnosis and ignored questions and concerns about my dogs blood results and his symptoms. Even when it was proven they got their scan interpretation completely wrong no apology or refund given because it was all about extracting as much money from me as possible by preying on my anxiety and love for my dog -every test and scan was urgent, every time I hesitated I was told if I did not do it I should destroy my beloved dog- Suspicious I took my dog out of this vets and got another opinion from a specialist and guess what they had got it wrong. I will always regret going to these vets and putting my dog through unnecessary distress when he trusted me. Please do not let your pet suffer the same fate. If affected do not waste time complaining as it is not an independent investigation and seek legal advice. Above all find an experienced vet and not one employed by the big pet doctors vet chain owned by CVS group. Read the one star reviews they are all saying the same thing about pet doctors.

Tried to book routine boosters for my cats, kept waiting on the phone for 20mins only to be told, the bookings don't open for next month until the 20th - please call again. Called at opening time on the 20th, again kept waiting on the phone for ages, all slots taken (apparently) but you can go to our branch in the next town because "they do the vaccinations". 9:30 appointment but kept waiting for over half an hour claiming they were busy (no apology). How could they be excessively busy when all this branch (apparently) do is vaccinations and if it takes 3 weeks to get the appointment, how can they have a rush on? Vet suggested blood tests because the cat's heart rate was fast. Stuck in cage for over an hour, going to the Vets and having injections and Vet wonders why the cat's heart rate is a bit fast, I think mine would be too. Blood tests - £90 if booked today, £180 if we book them later. Even the vet agreed that that made no sense. Praying on people's fear, sheer corporate greed. It was at this point I made the decision to find an independent Vet. They quoted me £60 for the blood tests, not that my cat needs them as I've measured her non stressed heart rate at between around 140 which is spot on.

Sadly, this is not a positive review. Recently my dog was injured with a deep cut to his leg. I explained this over the phone to the surgery and was told to come in for an appointment. On arrival it turned out that the vets had run out of surgical staples that morning. They omitted to wash out my dogs cut, simply bandaged him up and said he had to come in the next day for sedation and sutures, in spite of me reminding them that he has allergies and that sedation is a last resort for him. Thankfully I found another vet who was able to simply and quickly and with no need for sedation staple his cut. It took all of 5 minutes (probably less).
The failure as I perceive them are this: that Pet Doctor’s Godalming knew when they told us to come in that if he needed treatment that afternoon that they wouldn’t have been able to provide it, they failed to clean and wash out the wound, they bandaged a dirty wound which put the dog at risk, they were prepared to sedate and suture a dog purely because of a lack of basic equipment rather than offering for us to attend a different Pet Doctors. They were misleading and unethical in this action. They also have no proper access to a complaints procedure hence me writing this long negative review or something I would much rather have taken up with the practice manager if they had been willing to speak with me or had their email available - as it was I was told I had to complain in writing to their address.

Reception staff need to have training for all eventualities and questions asked by customers.
I rang up asking for a home visit to have one of my dogs put to sleep.
My boy has always hated going to the vet's and as a family we want him to be comfortable with his family in his own place of safety.
I was asked what do you mean by a home visit to this l replied a vet coming to my home. I was told "oh we don't do home visits"
I challenged this as l have had dogs put to sleep in my own home in the past.
Her response was. "I'm new and will find out"
On returning she gave me a phone number of a vet that does home visits and a phone number for a company called Cloud 9. I asked what was cloud 9, the receptionist said, "l don't know l've just been told to give you these numbers:
I am absolutely disgusted with her lack of compasion and ignorance and yes, Pet Doctors should ensure proper training and more importantly they recruit the right people who have compasion and empathy to support their customers expecially when they are having to make the painful decisions to say good bye to a much loved member of the family

The monthly 'Healthy Pet Club' subscription feels like an absolute scam. After querying why we'd had nothing for 18 months the 'computer says no-type' receptionist said we'd 'opted out of reminders'. I seriously struggle to understand how any company/brand can place someone with such appalling people skills in the front line of customer engagement!
As we have 2 dogs registered with them, I struggle to understand how they had no option to make contact. The receptionist's response (to 18 months of 2 monthly debits taken and nothing whatsoever done by Pet Doctors) was extraordinary; she had no interest in what had happened, took no responsibility whatsoever - it was all my fault, nothing to do with her and Pet Doctors had no responsibility to respond at any point in 18 months of taking payment for no service. She even insisted that I couldn't even just have a pack of the flea treatment that I'd paid for a dozen times over; she needed the vet to 'authorise' a supply of flea treatment ... the same product that I can buy instantly from any pet shop or supermarket.

I fully accept I share responsibility too - but I'm not the one being paid while failing to address my responsibilities! Luckily for PetDoctors owners, they are much more efficient at taking payment.

What a license to print money. My grandparents are retired so don’t have a lot of money floating around. Dog had to go in for X-ray/ultrasound and 48 hours of supervision (unlikely to have been necessary) to treat a potential blocked stomach. Well we get the confirmation no restriction but probably an infection. Course of antibiotics. Oh and we’re told he might have a heart condition?! (Just like my uncles dog supposedly did - only he didn’t but they wanted £800 for the investigation, ching ching - he can no longer get insurance for his heart now even though it’s proved to be fine by another vet). Anyway back to the original problem, we end up taking him home, not before being billed £2900!!!!! Unbelievable. To give you some indication of the breakdown costs: a bag of saline drip was priced at ~£170 each! Baring In mind we’re talking about salty water to boost their electrolytes. A friend of mine had their dogs stomach operated on to remove a stone last year and that cost him £3000. So £3000 for tests and surgery vs our £2900 for simply having a couple of tests and a couple of nights stay. I cannot fathom how anyone can afford these greed-ridden prices. Pet Doctors unfortunately aren’t independent, and as such require vast profits for their share holders above and beyond what profits an independent surgery would need. We would NEVER touch a non independent veterinary clinic ever again. They are ruled by greed. Absolutely atrocious. Stay well clear and do yourselves a favour - seek out independent local vets. The biggest losers will be the pets unfortunately when the owners simply can’t afford routine surgery. And to think these practises are widespread in America on Humans! I am so disgusted my grandparents have had to pay such greedy prices out of their retirement fund.

As a pet owner for decades, and in recent years also a Licensed Professional Dog Home Boarder - I would never recommend a chain of vets to care for pets. They have short term and junior vets. Should they ever manage to employ a skilled or experienced vet - the vet would eventually move on to start their own practice here or in their country of origin. Its always best to find a good partnership of experienced vets who will offer continuity and a wealth of experience. I recently had an 18month old dog arrive to stay in my home in an emergency situation where his owner had to fly abroad with no notice. He came to me via their friends and a visit to Pet Doctors for is vaccinations - which were 5 months over due. It seems they did look at his 18 month old teeth - but they did NOT weigh him or listen to his heart or lungs. They did not ask about or record his worm flea and tick treatments - of which there was no record (I sorted that out on the same day he arrived (24 Oct 2022) and went to collect what he needed from the vet). They did NOT notice (if they did they did not care) his cockapoo coat was dreadfully and painfully matted, or that he was significantly underweight. The fact his vaccinations were 5 months overdue might have alerted them to do a more extensive health check - they did NO health check. I took him to the groomer on day two, who had to remove most of his coat. He's now pain free. I took him to the vet for a weigh - and of course he had lost weight since he was castrated (and weighed) at Pet Doctors in May. Im now feeding him 4 times per day and hoping to improve his situation significantly before he goes home. As I am professionally bound to do -as a Licensed Dog Home Boarder - I will educate his owner re the amount of nutrition he needs and how often he needs to be professionally groomed and how to manage his poodle cross coat between grooms. This could have been helpfully and importantly backed up by his visit to Pet Doctors before he arrived here. I did speak to the Pet Doctors Practice and they told me I couldn't talk to the vet in question as she was a locum who wasn't always there..... An annual pet vaccination is the opportunity for a health care professional to check an animals health and welfare. This annual check is THE most basic thing a vet and vet practice can do. They are legally duty bound to care properly for animals. At my own wonderful high quality private vet practice ...my dogs are weighed as they arrive. The receptionist NEVER misses this...to ask for the dogs weight and record it. I will be reporting this to the Veterinary Client Mediation Service and if necessary the RCVS.

Today Suki my cat had a healthy check at spencer road isle of wight.
Jessica the vet nurse was incredibly good with suki and explained everything. Suki was relaxed with her.
Thankyou jessica for your care

I have never experienced a company who’s service had got so bad so quickly.
Considering we pay a monthly premium for a service this practice is a total joke, zero service.
These should really have their licence revoked until they can prove the service levels they offer are fit for purpose.

Newport Isle of Wight.
Unprofessional checkup by unprofessional nurse, Blunt and uncaring receptionists, no consistency ever, Nurse who spent way to long repeating herself ( 20 mins of the same words, only hearing her own voice) watching my dog get more and more anxious, eventually asked her to stop chatting and get on with the checkup, to which she decided she did not want too.. To be honest i was glad to get out of there, and have now found a Vet which is amazing, kind, caring, professional, all nurses, Vets, and reception staff are helpful and compassionate,. After sticking it out with Pet Doctors for 4 yrs my only regret is i did not leave sooner, Laziness on my side. I do Not recommend under any circumstances. Once you see how other veterinary services behave you will realize how sloppy & uncaring & Unprofessional this place is.