Between two dogs of my own, and two others in the family, I've had experience with nearly a half-dozen veterinary practices and more individual veterinarians than I can count. I've never had as wonder... Read More
Between two dogs of my own, and two others in the family, I've had experience with nearly a half-dozen veterinary practices and more individual veterinarians than I can count. I've never had as wonderful, responsible, respectful care as I have from Yorktown Animal Hospital. I've had such great experiences here with Penny and Maya that, now that I'm moving out of Yorktown, I narrowed down my home search by drawing circles on a map for acceptable commuting distance for work, and again for reasonable emergency run distance to YAH and their two Manhattan practices, and only looked in the overlapping areas. I don't ever want to have to search for a vet again.I'm shocked to see reports of other clients saying that they've gotten bills run up with tests unnecessarily here, especially by Dr. Raclyn, since what won me over so quickly was his and Dr. Kasanofsky's refreshing willingness to say, "Well, the test that would 100% answer this is really expensive, and she's not in any immediate danger, so let's not go there yet. Let's try this far less expensive option, and if that doesn't tell us what we need, or if you notice any of these more serious symptoms, then we can talk about other approaches." When a cheaply available human medication is suitable, they've repeatedly pointed me to that instead of selling me something themselves for significantly more, which other vets have done time and time again. If my dog needs to stay overnight, they'll tell me, but they've never pushed for it or suggested it when it wasn't strictly necessary. (On the other hand, I've had multiple vets in the past generate enormous bills by pushing for unnecessary overnights, and doing dirty tricks like taking a dog into a 24 hour office at 11:30pm, and then billing a second full day as soon as the clock hit midnight. I've never had anything like that here.)Of course, when it's called for, they've advised expensive treatments or diagnostics, if it's the only option. I trust both of these doctors, as well as recent addition Dr. Peta to do the right thing for my dogs and myself; I've never before felt so quickly that an office saw us as a person, and a dog, and not just a customer. I suspect that at least some of the folks complaining about high bills that didn't lead to cures simply don't understand the reality of medical care, whether for humans or pets. Sometimes the only option is the expensive one and, unfortunately, sometimes despite the best of care, the worst case scenario happens. That's horrible to experience, and we all as pet "parents" dread the possibility, but that doesn't necessarily mean the vet took advantage of you. I understand how grief can cause you to look for somebody or somewhere to blame, but it's not always the case that anybody is to blame. And I say this as somebody who has, very clearly, been taken advantage of by more than one vet in the past, and who specifically goes to this practice because they've never made me feel that way.The only exception to this, which was a huge and stark exception, was a doctor who is no longer with the practice, Dr. Weitzner. While she seemed like a wonderful person, I always felt the hard sell from her, pushing for things that weren't medically necessary, and like she simply didn't fit in here, an opinion at least one other client that I know shared. We made our feelings and reasons known to the office, though, and they were extremely accommodating in making sure to only schedule us with the other doctors, or give us a heads up if we had to see her in an emergency, and Dr. K would always follow up with us afterwards in those cases. I have no idea why she moved elsewhere, and it may well have been for entirely for her own reasons, but Dr. Peta, who replaced her, fits right in. On our first visit with Dr. Peta, I was cautious, after the experiences with Dr. Weitzner, but she was great about calling and emailing to talk me through any questions I had, and at this point I'm happy to see any of the doctors here. It doesn't stop at doctors...the rest of the staff is fantastic, too, techs and office staff both. They all know us by name and face, and did from pretty much the first visit. Special mention goes to Cheryl, one of the vet techs who somehow manages to be an incredible standout among an office full of standouts. After having such fantastic experiences here, contrasted with my in-laws' getting taken advantage of for literally years with their long time vet in Queens, we convinced them to start bringing their two dogs here, as well. They now happily drive the hour from their home to bring Sharli and Sienna here instead, and get far better, far more responsible care, and no longer feel they're just a line in a ledger like they did with their previous vet. I'm not sure what higher praise I can give than driving over an hour each way to a vet in a region with literally hundreds of veterinary practices, or choosing an apartment based on being able to stick with this practice. Read Less