Riverforest Veterinary Centre

I chose Riverforest vets on a recommendation from a lovely lady who just adored her dogs, just like me. I met Steve on my first visit for my girls yearly vacinations & I was impressed by the way he interacted with my dog. Unlike other vets I had used before he seemed to really care about his patients. Roll on several years to a few weeks ago & I had a very sick dog. I visited the surgery late on a Thursday evening & a young female vet was on duty. I said my girl was having trouble breathing, was very restless & coughing. She listened to her heart, gave her an anti inflammatory & a sedative to help her relax. I left that evening & spent the whole night up with my dog. I rang the next morning & spoke to the receptionist who said the vet from the previous evening was working from home & she would get someone to call me. I waited all day until 4pm when I called again & was told to bring my girl back down. I did & she was seen by another girl,Emily I think, she gave her an antibiotic having again listened to her heart & breathing. I said I was very anxious as my dog had been struggling to breath all night & was now quite ill. She assured me the antibiotics would work & if I felt that she was not improving over weekend to call the out of hours vet. I was then charged again for another consulation, even though it was less than 24hr since I had attended the surgery. I questioned this & was told that was policy & email Steve if I wanted to query it. I was angry at the lack of customer service I received & did email Steve. The next day my girl was no better & finally in the early hours of Sunday morning I rushed her to Summerhill emergency vets, were she was admitted with a bilateral pneumothorax( 2 collapsed lungs). The surgeon said if I hadn't got there when I did she would have died. He could not belive that neither of the vets I had seen in Riverforest had bothered to even xray my girl. I received a call from Steve from RF vets on the monday afternoon, as a follow up to my email the previous Friday. I told him what had happened & how i felt both vets had not listened to me. He preceded to explain the pricing system he had in place, apologised & said he would have probably done the same thing as Emily. I told him if that was the case I would have no confidence in his practice & would never use his services again. He asked if he could call in a few days to see how my girl was & I never heard from him again. So neither less to say, I wouldn't recommend these vets for anything other than basic vacinations if you have a really ill pet seek an alternative practice. Read Less