Animal Health Services St. Catharines

My neighbor had recommended Animal Health Services and I am so glad they did. I was able to take my St.Bernard in to see them faster than any other vet I had gone too. The staff is very good in what they do I have no issues with them at all. I will definitely recommend them.

I agree that this place is very friendly but that's where the good news ends. I brought my dog to them twice, first for an initial visit with my 10 year old dogs sudden weight gain and extreme dry nose, I knew she was getting older but it still seemed odd for such drastic changes to happen within a very short period of time. We were told that she just needs to lose weight and she's getting older so her nose will be dry. We didn't take her back for awhile as we tried working on her weight with lots of exercise and managing her food more.. she lost a couple pounds but it did not come off. Brings us to my poor babies last visit with this vet about 6 months later, she had started throwing up in the middle of the night and based on the colour and that she had not been eating the day prior we brought her in, showed a clear picture of the vomit. We were told we should have been putting Vaseline on her nose (which was never recommend) and that her belly is very distended, and she likely has a tumor in her belly (again complete shock to us as this was not mentioned as a concern or something to come back about if weight-loss wasn't going well, nothing). So we take our pup home try to make her comfy while we try to do some research and decide what may be the best course of action would be. There was no rush or concern advised to us about starting to look into the tumor or treatments immediately, so we thought it's been a long day with the vet for her so we would decide within the next 1-2 days. This was about 4 pm that we got home. She continued to decline throughout the day but the vomiting had stopped because this vet gave her nausea and pain medication. She grew weaker by about 10 she was laying in bed struggling to hold her head up. Before morning came we had to take her to the emergency vet, where she died. The emergency vet told us the vomit was heart fluid, she was throwing heart fluid for almost 12 hours before this vet had seen her and almost 24 hours before she died. This vet failed to communicate any concerns or urgency with us at either appointment we had and we lost our baby. Maybe not because of her, we didn't get an autopsy done, so I am not sure if there was anything we could have done to save her but at the very least we could have been a little more prepared for the worst day of my life.

This is the first vet I visited in Canada since my arrival, last year. I went there advised by somebody else, but it was one of the worst choices of my life. The doctor (I don't remember the name) was very friendly, but the smile was only to hide the scam that happened after. Since it was our first time in Canada we asked for advices, thinking the doctor was a person we could rely on for our animal health (we have 2 dogs). She immediately tried to charge us to make blood exams and other tests, and I had to say no many times before she actually surrendered. I started asking about heart worm treatment, because it was May when we went there and we know that summer is the period you need coverage for. She started again with the blood exams, this time specific for heart worm, saying that is was necessary to be sure they didn't have anything. Once again I said no, also because we already did all the possible exams the month before (April 2023), before actually bringing them to Canada, so from our side no other exam was necessary. My dogs are healthy, why would I spend money on things that are not needed? But nothing, she continued to insist. In the end, not succeeding in what she wanted, she forced me to sign a release to obtain the heart worm medication for my dogs, because she didn't wanted to be responsible for anything (Is this professional for a vet? Not in my opinion). Total charge for visit (2 dogs) and 2 heart worm treatment for the summer: more than $700. I protested for the price but she told me that in Canada you only can take the medicine from the vet, and that anyway I wouldn't be able to obtain anything without a vet's receipt anywhere. Since we weren't fully informed about the rules and the only thing we wanted was to leave, we paid and took the medication, but we never went there again. After, of course, we discovered that you are not forced to take the medication from the vet's pharmacy, but it wasn't what they told us. We spent the money there because we were brought to think that we had no other choice. I think that calling all this theft is still little. Never experienced this level of dishonesty with vets in my country.

Incredible vet clinic that has been a great help to my dog who has chronic ear infections. We’ve tried a lot of different solutions. They are kind, loving vet with reasonable prices. Great with animals. The only difficult part is that it’s not very wheelchair accessible.

Vet does not know what she's doing. Had to take my dog to Hamilton emergency after her attempted care a year ago. I would not recommend this vet.