Not a visit you really want to make. But the staff really made it a lot easier. If you have to come here, then your pet is having some serious health issues. I had to bring my little one here. She was having some serious breathing issues. I seriously thought it was time to put her down. Luckily, the doctor told me not to give up yet. She was in complete heart failure. Her little heart was leaking at the valves. They gave her three prescriptions. She has been taking them for three months now. Our little one shows signs of herself and is doing great. We know we are on borrowed time, and we are very grateful for it. We've been back a few times for checkups and are very happy at how she is doing. They've been very helpful with everything. read more

Truly an outstanding pet care, and dedication to the pet welfare. The staff is welcoming, and understands your love pets love.

I had a great experience at Desert Veterinary Medical specialists. I have seen 2 cardiologists in the past (Dr. Church and Dr. Liggett) The cardiologist was extremely nice, compassionate, and clearly very knowledgeable. They took the time to explain everything in detail and were incredibly thorough with the exam and diagnostics. The office staff was also super nice--friendly, helpful, and made the whole visit smooth and stress-free. I felt like my dog was in excellent hands, and I really appreciated the care and attention we received. Highly recommend this office if your pet needs specialized heart care! read more

When your regular vet has numerous consultations with various specialists about your petulant papillon's problems, including one that says "This is a very interesting case!" that's something you never want to hear! My vet narrowed down the issue to potentially one of two diagnoses and referred us to DVMS internal medicine to "Dr. House" it out. The good news is there's no pill popping, cantankerous guy spouting out 3-4 diagnoses before figuring out the correct one in the span of 40ish minutes with ads. Dr. Riensche was awesome. Tricki has seen her before to diagnose some GI issues and she came in for an endoscopy at this appointment. She was very personable, and she figured out what was wrong at the appointment. She went through her findings very thoroughly, including a very "intimate" glance into Tricki's digestive system thanks to the wonders of endoscopy cameras. Mystery solved and hopefully treatment will help! The staff here too are also so nice and friendly. As for Covid precautions, the morning appointments are curbside only with numbered parking spots for you to wait at. Afternoon appointments are in room, but you do have to call to have an employee let you inside. All staff wear masks and socially distance. Masks are required to go inside and only one person is allowed inside with the pet. read more

Desert Veterinary Medical Specialist - "Shoot, they know what I've been secretly eating in the backyard now!" - Veterinarians Near Me - Gilbert, Arizona

See all

Listening to Dr. Riensche would have severely hurt my dog, and I'm so glad I went somewhere else after our first visit. This doctor just wants to ignore your pets real problems, make you believe everything is fine when it's not, and if I were to have trusted her, my dog would be in an immense amount of pain & in an incredibly precarious health situation. My dog had a positive SNAP-CPL, and I asked if he needed further testing for chronic pancreatitis. Dr. Riensche said she was absolutely positive my dog didn't have pancreatitis, she hated the SNAP-CPL tests, and she never trusts them. Dr. Riensche said that she was sure my dog didn't have pancreatitis b/c those dogs can't walk, vomit, aren't eating, etc. When I went elsewhere I got the more in depth (TX GI Panel) GI testing and found out that my dog does have chronic pancreatitis. I also found out that Dr. Riensche, who is supposed to be the specialist, was only thinking about acute pancreatitis and neglecting chronic pancreatitis as an option. I also found out that SNAP-CPLs are actually reliable for what they are meant to do. SNAP-CPLs are just a screen, and they are never meant to be diagnostic alone. They are very sensitive tests, so they do have false positives sometimes, but Dr. Riensche withheld ALL of this information, which made it impossible for me to provide any degree of informed consent. I work in healthcare and this would be overt neglect/abuse and medical malpractice if I did something like this at my job. Chronic pancreatitis requires increased pain meds, as it can still be very painful, and a strict diet. My dog would have continued to suffer significantly under Dr. Riensche's care due to having his pain ignored alone, among other issues. It's also really shocking to see a doctor diagnose the absence of a disease process so absolutely without any testing at all and do so while ignoring the fact that there are two types of pancreatitis -chronic and acute; I mean, there are only two types.....it's not that complicated....how she messed this up is beyond me. Dr. Riensche then said she thought my dog had atypical Cushing's caused by a hormonal imbalance. She wanted to go ahead and treat for that, and when I asked her if we could do testing first, she said it's really expensive and she doesn't even know how to do that b/c she's never done it. I pressed her on finding out the cost, and she just stated she doesn't know b/c she's never done it again. Messing with my dog's hormones in error has already, and can continue to have, extremely negative health outcomes. My dog was misdiagnosed with Cushing's before, and the treatment nearly killed him. Dr. Riensche knew this and still refused further hormonal testing prior to treatment. Guessing diagnosis and refusing testing b/c she's too lazy to look it up then treating based on your guess is beyond reckless. Then, she recommended an ultrasound just for maintenance.....soooo, she refuses GI tests after there's evidence indicating a potential GI problem, she refuses hormonal testing even though she believes that a hormonal imbalance is actually the problem, and she wants to do an ultrasound just as a follow up but it won't have diagnostic value towards the hormonal imbalance. I later found out my dog has a heart murmur which the cardiologist thought was just a Grade I to II but she said she thought it could be much worse. The cardiologist said my dog has a thick layer of fat on the outside of his heart, so she couldn't see well; but the valve looks terribly deformed. The heart murmur could be a lot worse, and if I'd done an ultrasound w/ anesthetic, instead of what was needed, it could have really hurt my dog. It really looks like Dr. Riensche just chooses her testing recommendations based on what's easiest/most profitable instead of what Dr. Riensche herself states the dog actually needs. I reported all this to management. They are a big part of the reason docs like Dr. Riensche are so harmful to animals under their care. They claimed that since Dr. Riensche's opinion was that the SNAP-CPL is not a valuable test, Dr. Riensche did nothing wrong, even though she was wrong and my dog did have chronic pancreatitis. Management completely ignored the fact that Dr. Riensche ruled out chronic pancreatitis with no attn or testing, completely ignored that Dr. Riensche's manipulative dismissal of the SNAP-CPL obliterated any/all informed consent and caused my dog harm, etc. With every mistake I brought up w/ management, they just patted themselves on the back harder. This clinic is not interested in helping animals at all, and their doctors are extremely reckless and dangerous in my experience. If you love your pet, stay far, far away from DVMS. Edit to add: I gave a tech my meds to record. They brought it back w/out a 6 mo supply of heart worm meds. I didn't say anything b/c it's tragic that staff aren't payed well enough to buy their own, but don't ever let them leave the room with your pet's meds. read more

I took my cat to Desert Veterinary Medical Specialists after he had some bad teeth removed and had gone through 2 rounds of antibiotics and was still congested. My vet didn't know why his congestion kept coming back so they wanted him to see a IM specialist. We saw Dr. Casandra Jacobs and she noticed that 2 of his lymph nodes were enlarged. She did a CT scan and collected samples from them and sent them to a lab. She said that it might be lymphoma. When the results from the samples came back, she called and told me that he has lymphoma and asked if we wanted to start him on chemotherapy or do palative care. We picked palative care, so she said that he had about 3 months to live and sent some steroids to start him on to keep him comfortable. I was devastated. The next day I received a copy of the lab results and read through them, googling some of the doctor terminology to fully understand it. I found that it said it was probably lymphoma but they couldn't rule out a virus or bacterial infection. I called her and asked if there was any other tests she could do because I didn't think it was cancer. He didn't have any of the lymphoma symptoms. She ordered a PARR test to make me feel better. About a week later, she called and said it wasn't cancer but most likely a virus or bacterial infection. I was so glad I had asked for them to do that test, especially after reading the side effects of the steroids she had sent me because they were the same symptoms as lymphoma. If I had started him on the steroids, I probably would have thought he was getting worse and we might have had him put to sleep if he got so bad we thought it would have been time. So she had us try another round of antibiotics to see if it would help with the enlarged lymph nodes, it didn't so she had us try a week of steroids to see if that would help and said if that didn't help then they would need to remove one of his enlarged lymph nodes and do a bunch of testing on it to try to find out what was going on. I asked if they could just run some blood tests but they said no, they would need to remove the lymph node. After the week of steroids, his lymph nodes were still enlarged. At this point, I didn't trust anything Dr. Jacobs said so we took him to another location to get a second opinion. I am very glad that we did that because after she had read through all of his test results and paperwork, she noticed that nobody had ordered blood work to check for viruses and other things it could be, so she decided to start there. A few days later, she called and said that he had tested positive for the herpes virus, one of the side effects of that can be enlarged lymph nodes. She is putting him on a medication for that and he should be fine. He didn't have cancer and didn't need surgery to remove a lymph node, he just needed a simple blood test. I am very glad that I double checked her original diagnosis and also got a second opinion. I would never trust her with any of my pets again. read more

This is a great facility and complex, they have everything you could ever need for your pet. Our eye doctor is fantastic. They have a great process for continuing to care for our pets during the coronavirus epidemic. They call it curbside service. The veterinary technicians continue to come out of the various offices and take the pets from the owners who are waiting in their cars outside. they take them back and give them what they need, then call your cell phone with updates and to take credit card information. They have really adapted well to continue to care for our families and seem to be taking all the right precautions to keep everyone safe. Could not ask for more! Highly recommend this place! read more

Desert Veterinary Medical Specialist - Still taking care of our pets during the epidemic with curbside service. Love it! - Veterinarians Near Me - Gilbert, Arizona

See all

Dr. Whit Church is the epitome of a professional. His very presence exudes a level of expertise that is unparalleled. I was incredibly anxious about my animal's surgery and was unnecessarily disrespectful to Dr. Church; he was understanding and compassionate to my emotions. If you want a consummate, dedicated professional taking care of your animals, take them to Desert Veterinary Medical Specialists. Thank you Dr. Whit Church. read more

I want to thank the entire staff from the first phone call booking my baby's appointment all the way to the check out when we left. The compassion and your kind hearts you all have during difficult times truly means a great deal to me. My baby girl doctors Melissa Riensche truly has a special gift! She loves animals and her kindness glows! My girl is sick and the staff gave me all the time I needed and her took the extra time to explain everything that was going on with her. Dr Riensche gave us options so our precious girl can stay can stay with us just a little bit longer! Thank you all for your kind heart and compassion. Update! Thank you everyone at the Desert veterinary medical specialist. Your thoughtfulness, kind hearts and prayers during this sad time for Bobby and I. Last April Sydney was diagnosed and struggling with colon cancer. With the amazing internal doctors at the Desert veterinary Medical specialist hospitality Gilbert AZ who found her disease after we've been going to doctor to doctor to doctor for a year trying to find out what was wrong with our baby! We knew something was not right and all her doctors misdiagnosed her and kept trying to put her on medication for allergies. Bobby and I refuse to give up until we found the team at Desert veterinary Medical specialist. The entire facility was amazing kind and treated my baby as one of their own pets while she was there. They were so good to her and to me and my husband Bobby carefully explaining to us what was wrong with her. This facility has a heart and gives their patients the time they need to absorb the sad new they are receiving about their fur baby. They gave her happiness that was pain free for 4 wonderful months until her little frail body just could not take it anymore. Her favorite thing to do was to play ball. And be with her dad. She loved her dad so much and loved her tennis balls. Bobby was playing ball with her early Wednesday evening and she collapsed in the grass. She rested for maybe 20 minutes or so then got up. She was groggy, moving extra slow but was up walking around. She did make it through the night but then in the early morning things turned for the worse and she passed away with her favorite person by her side( her daddy) at 4:45 am on Thursday. Sydney definitely chsnged our lives for the better. She was born deaf and has overcome her deafness. Most people who knew or met her never knew of her disability. She was so smart and understood sign language. She knew how to heal, sit, lay, speak, give her paw,each one when asked, and hand signals. When we first got Sydney, we did not know she was deaf and when we discovered her Disability we were like oh god how will we ever be able to communicate or care for a dog who cannot hear. Thinking having a deaf dog in our lives would be the most difficult thing to do but actually, it was the easiest! Deaf dogs are so smart and they pay so much attention waiting for their owners to give them the next command. deaf dogs are not a problem to own. They are the outmost best dog to ever own!! We are so proud of our baby and we love her and she loved us more then herself. She gave us 9 1/2 wonderful loving years. She lived for us until her last breath!! Our baby crossed the rainbow bridge and I know she will be waiting for us on the other side! Today this facility went far beyond what I ever expected from an animal hospital. This place is truly amazing. Be truly honored to take your animals there for help. We receive A sympathy card in the mail with the entire staff signing the card including my baby girl 's doctor. The entire staff cares!! God bless you all!! Again thank you from the bottom of our broken hearts!! read more

See all

Regarding the review recently posted about my dog's sneezing & choking issue, I failed to mentioned originally that 3 short videos were shown to the vet, Dr. R. so she saw exactly what the issue was. My question is: Since she is a Specialist?? why did she not recognize the Reverse Sneezing immediately instead of ignoring it and giving this $4K estimate? read more

I've been here twice for major issues for my 17-year-old cat (both times recommended by my Primary Vet), and both times they were professional, thorough, polite and completely accommodating. Dr. Riensche took the time to show me over a dozen photos from my cat's ultrasound, explaining every body part and why it looked the way it did--and pronounced the cat healthy, with only the one issue we knew he had (slightly elevated kidney levels.) THANK YOU DR. RIENSCHE, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! read more

I flew in from Hawaii so my cat could see Dr. Whit Church for the second time in 5 years (my goodness Phoenix is hot!) as he is one of the nation's top veterinarian cardiologists and I was so happy I did. My cat is a pure breed Cornish Rex and heart issues can run in his breed, so it is important he get evaluated from time to time. Dr. Church takes the time to provide each pet owner with detailed information and is really easy and friendly to interact with. His staff is super professional and it's was a pleasure talking with them via telephone from the car due to the covid-19 safety measures being taken. read more

See all

I have been going to Dr. Church for over 7 years. There is no other Dr. that I would trust to care for my Cavalier's. The compassion of this Dr. is amazing. My second Cavalier now has MVD disease as my other fur baby had. I will be having another appointment to see if my has improved. She had MVD much sooner than my other dog. Have an appointment soon. Great office and it is worth the effort to book with them. Marilyn A. read more

I originally wrote that review while my second dog was dying. Nearly the same thing happened to him as it did to my first dog I spoke about in the review, and now I understand what happened to my first dog because I went through it again with my second dog. I brought my first dog in because he had had a seizure, which I now know was brought on by giving him enalipril and furosemide, which he was prescribed because he had CHF. For so long I would ask the doctor, why can't be breathe, why is his chest big. Years later (now) when I looked it up, it's because he had fluid building in his chest which is readily available info online but for some reason, the doctor never told me that's the reason why. No one ever explained this to me and when I look online now, it's super easy to find. Now the day I took him in and he died, I kept asking what happened to him that morning, and no one would tell me!!!! Now years later I know he had a seizure because the mix of the medications they prescribed and I never knew until now when my second dog was going through the same thing. When I took my first dog in, they said they needed to remove the fluid form his chest and they did. The whole time I was devastated and scared. Then they come back and tell me just to put him down and I didn't know what to do. I could have taken him home that night and said good bye to him before he passed, but they pressured me so much to put him down. I have so much PTSD from that day. Being left in the dark and not being explained why things were happening to be pressured to put my baby down. Literally the worst day of my life read more

Love Dr. Riensche! Honestly, she is better at communication and time spent with "the patient" than most human doctors. She spent a lot of time with my Cricket, listened to what was going on and came up with a good plan for her GI issues. Did not push for unnecessary testing and the prices were reasonable. Dr. Rienchse explained the ultrasound organ by organ. You can tell the entire staff loves what they do and they treat and love on your fur baby like they were their own. After almost a year of Cricket being continually sick every 4-6 weeks, I am seeing improvement and she's feeling better. Will continue to bring Cricket here and recommend them to others! Very appreciative I found them! read more

Dr. Church is my dogs cardiologist and let me tell you he is amazing! He explains everything to you in such a detailed way, which is not something my last cardiologist did, and I appreciate it. I really respect the way he talks to me and treated my pet so I would highly recommend this practice and Dr. Church in particular. read more

Dr. Reinsche and the Amazing Tech, Megan have been helping my dog, Buddy who is dealing with liver issues. I could not be more pleased with the care Buddy has received. Everyone at Desert Vet has been very caring and compassionate. I am grateful my Vet in Prescott referred me to Dr. Reinsche. Sue Brown Prescott, AZ read more

We have absolute confidence in Dr Church and his staff. Knowledgeable and kind. Well run office, go out if their way to communicate and accommodate. Dr. Church is great at explaining complex medical issues, takes his time, and has the interest of our pet at heart. Listens to our concerns. The very best! read more

I was referred to Dr. Reinche by our vet in the White Mtns because our little dog needed diagnostics that were not available up there. The staff was very helpful accommodating our travel schedule and the tech who helped us was professional and friendly. Dr. Reinche met with us and explained all the results as well as her recommendations for treatment. She was thorough and very knowledgeable. I know that our local vet has been consulting with her as needed. Very happy with our experience and will go there again if needed. read more

Very Disappointed and frustrated. My cat had an ultrasound and blood test in August. It took several weeks to get a copy of the results. They claimed they sent me an email, which they didn't. They also said they sent a copy to my regular vet. I checked and they didn't. Finally my regular vet had to request a copy and I got it from her. It's been over a month since my cat's ultrasound, I've called about five times and I still can't get the specialist to call me to answer my questions about the cat's new diet. I keep getting directed to technicians who can't provide satisfactory answers and who can't write prescriptions, anyway. My cat has two conditions: She has pancreatitis and also kidney issues. Both conditions need to treated and she needs to have a diet that addresses both. They don't seem to get that and despite telling me they will have the specialist call me it still hasn't happened. Meanwhile my cat remains untreated. read more

Dr. Church is wonderful. He took the time to explain everything. Everyone was very kind.

It was a pleasure meeting with Dr. Riensche, and all the staff at this wonderful facility! Dr Riensche went above and beyond during her consult before and after the ultrasound for our dog Dixie. She is very kind, knowledgeable, detailed and well informed. The front desk specialists and the technicians were all so friendly; informative and on top of running a busy scheduled facility. I would highly recommend these specialists! Everyone did an amazing job! Also, I think the way the office is set up is great! Semi private areas to wait with your pet in the lobby and specified exit doors to leave; eliminating traffic at the front entrance. Very impressive all the way around! THANK YOU DVMS! read more

Dr. Church and all of the staff are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. You feel like they love and are happy to care for your pet. When Dr. Church gave us some good news he sounded very pleased -- happy that our dog was doing so well. read more

Dr. Church was very thorough and informative regarding Hops echocardiogram. His vet tech, Katie, was great as well!

Skyler went in at 8:15am, 2-16-2016 for surgery for an injured salivary gland. I was told last Friday at the visit with the doctor that she would go in for surgery in the morning...that the doctors schedule was free for Tuesday.... Skyler finally went in for surgery at 1:20pm Tuesday afternoon. I'd also asked the vet tech if they could remove a dew claw on her left paw that was coming back and bothering her. The vet tech left the room to ask the doctor and came back in and said the doctor said yes, no problem. Note to self...always get it in writing.... Skyler got to come home this afternoon, Wednesday, 2-17-2016 at 2pm. Poor Skyler stinks like urine. The doctor called this morning and told me Skyler's morphine drip that was in through the night gave her too much fluid for a 10 pound dog....& they never took off her dew claw!!!! Still cost over $2,600..... I was just to beside myself to say anything.... I just hope the doctor did a better job of operating on her...time will tell:( 1-29-2018... I must say I did not know that there I 3 different businesses at this address. The medical side, the hospital side and the surgery side...all 3 different businesses. I have delt with all 3 several times. The medical side is 5 stars or more...the hospital side is 5 stars... but the surgery side still stays at 2 stars...dog is alive. read more

We visited Desert Veterinary Medical Specialists to have an abdominal ultrasound done on our dog. Dr. Heffelman and her team were wonderful from start to finish. She was honest with us about the results and what the next steps should be, yet did not pressure us to do anything and in fact told us we were welcome to go home and think about it for awhile. She even recommended that we visit our regular vet for one of the tests because it would save us some money. We decided to go ahead with further testing, and they took great care of Lucy. She even came out and explained to us why it was taking longer than they originally estimated. I appreciate the time she took to explain everything and answer all of our questions. I would highly recommend. read more

I have only had one encounter with Desert Veterinary Medical specialist and it was awful. A couple days later I received a letter from them saying they thought it would be in everyones interest to part ways. This is what happened all because we do not leave our pets and feel the need to be with them. Another vet referred us here to have an ultrasound of our dogs liver due to elevated liver enzymes. We were instructed to bring our dog in a certain day after 8:00am, but really did not have an appointment time. I arrived, checked in, and a tech came to get my dog. I ask how long this would take, her response was "we will call you it could be a couple hours or 5-6 hours". I also ask where my dog would be and who will be with her, response "In a kennel until it is her turn" "we will be there with her". I wanted to stay with her and was told I was not permitted back there. One of the vets got involved trying to explain to me that I did not understand how this works here and if my dog is not back there in the kennel they will skip over her and go on to the next animal. I did not want to leave her and ask for other vets that offered ultrasounds, they gave me a list. Please reconsider taking you pets here to be caged. We found a wonderful place in Gilbert that let us stay with her through the procedure. read more