This is my local vet, walking distance from my house. I've taken injured native animals here in the past and they're pleasant about it. Our dog also attended puppy pre school some years ago and the trainer was friendly.
However, over the years we eventually had too much of poor veterinary services to go back. Firstly a vet harassing us that our dog was not purebred and was a "mutt". What kind of shit person skills do you have to have to say that about someone's family member? And not to mention the fact that purebred dogs are genetically more susceptible to problems given inbreeding. If people are handing you hundreds of dollars to perform a standard service, you think you could be pleasant and hold off on rude, pretentious comments.
Secondly, when my dog was in to get her nails clipped, the vet or vet nurse came back out with her, angry that we had not warned she may try to bite. It's a dog. Dogs can get angry when you do things they don't like. I've known that since I was a child, and was shocked that someone supposedly trained to work with animals was too ignorant to realise a dog getting upset was a possibility when clipping their nails.
Thirdly, several years ago my dog was bitten by a spider. We took her here with classic symptoms, showed the bite mark, and were told the two issues were not related. They would do bloodwork and fix the bite (or in their case, mystery mark) after. We are unsure if this blatantly incompetent judgement was due to us suggesting the connection, or because it meant they could squeeze more money out of us. As our dog was extremely ill, we looked for another vet.
It's been a number of years since we found the Blackwood Vets. They aren't a chain like this place. The vets and vet nurses care so much about every animal that comes through their doors. I will never ever go to a chain vet again, and certainly not my local one. Vets who genuinely care about the animals they see are worth their weight in gold. read more
