If you ever want to see your pet again, do not take it here. We brought our dog in the day before her surgery to have prep for a polyp removal and never saw her alive again. Our happy, sweet, friendly doggie had many years of life ahead of her, which she will never see because the staff at Charleston Veterinary Referral Center do not know the difference between an esophagus and a trachea. In what should have been a simple procedure for a competent, experienced hospital, it took THREE TRIES for a tube to finally be inserted in our dog’s esophagus. The first two tries they inserted it into her trachea, puncturing her lung, and killing her. We have a report from the hospital confirming that this is what they did. They do not dispute that they made this fatal error. I am writing this review to let other families know what happened to our healthy 2-year-old dog so they can decide whether to bring their family member here or not. If I had read a review like this before going, I would have gone somewhere else. I wish she was sitting next to me as I write this. This was malpractice by an incompetent, overpriced veterinary hospital. Read Less

Dr. Shomper gave Bacon and myself undivided attention during our appointment. He was patient and answered all of my questions without judgement. I am so happy with the quality of care we received and would recommend this place to anyone. Read Less

My dog had a small laceration that needed attention to, however with it being a Saturday evening our usual vet office was closed. Upon arriving the staff was very attentive and took us to the triage room right away. I have a german shepherd that is very friendly, however he does take a little time to warm up to strangers, so with the fast paced environment we stepped into he became a little anxious. The vet tech took my dog to the back to take his vital signs and to place a new bandage for the time being (something I did not care for because my usual experience is to take vitals in the room with the owner as to comfort the dog). When they returned to the room my dogs leg was still actively bleeding and I was told they were not able to look at his laceration due to the fact he was "showing signs of aggression" and "tried to bite" the staff. I was also told they tried to place a large muzzle on him (something that is also very unfamiliar to him), and that they would need to put him under sedation in order to look at the wound. I am aware dogs' personalities can change under stress, but I have never known my dog to bite another person. I offered to assist them in order to look at the wound, and avoid putting my dog under unnecessary sedation at this time. I should also mention I am a surgical nurse, so I am very familiar with the process of treating and caring for wounds. After waiting 20 minutes, and my dogs laceration continuing to bleed all over the exam room, the veterinarian came in and approached my dog very abruptly, prompting him to bark at this unfamiliar person (just bark, no growling). She was able to explain in more detail what I should expect and that he most likely needed stitches. When I asked for a breakdown of the cost she could not give me a straight answer. This was also about the third time I had asked for a cost estimate of my visit and still was not given a number. She came back to the room this time with a write up of the treatment cost and told me to expect him ready to go home in an hour. About an hour later I received a phone call that my dog was ready, and arrived to the office 15 minutes later. After waiting 20 minutes I kindly asked the front desk assistance about how much longer she thought it might be, to which she responded "I don't know". To me this is unacceptable customer service. Working in the medical field I understand discharge timing can be unpredictable, but this response was not friendly or considerate of my time. I was also told they were very busy, which I also understand a busy day, however I do not express this to my patients in the hospital as to make them feel like a burden. After waiting for over an hour a tech finally came out with the discharge paperwork and went over it fairly well, but could not answer all of my questions, nor did she offer to find out the answers to my questions. When my dog came out he did not have any wrap covering his freshly stitched wound, and when asked why I was told "we didn't want you guys to have to do dressing changes at home". Again, being in the medical field, fresh stitched should be covered the first day at least to help prevent infection, as well as to absorb any drainage that may occur (and will occur within the first 24 hours). She did not offer to wrap the wound up, but told us we could come back within 24 hours to have the wound covered if we felt necessary, and it would be free of charge. Needless to say I did not ask for her to wrap it as I had already waited over an hour to get my dog back in my possession, and instead stopped at Walgreens on the way home to pick up wound dressing supplies. When I got home I also noticed they neglected to clean up the blood that had gotten all over his tail, back legs, and bottom, and was dried and crusted in his fur. Overall I was very displeased with how inadequate their service was due to the fact that this is an animal hospital and I would assume a laceration is a routine matter. Read Less