Vets Now (Gillingham)

We took our frenchie to this emergency vets at Gillingham on Sunday 14th December as he was very unwell. We was told it would cost £650 to hand the lead over and for a blood test we agreed as we wanted to get to the bottom of why our boy was so poorly. (While we were waiting another dog owner turned up as their dog attacked a fox and had sadly passed away the vets said that they’d take the fox off their hands and when doing so blood dropped across the floor and the receptionist just wiped it up with a tissue no gloves or cleaning products.) They then called us in to a room and told us he had a disease of the blood anaemia and that he needed to be kept in, for his treatment and a nights stay they charged us £1700, the vet was lacking in compassion and was very blunt and rude although she could see we were distressed. To my relief I got a phone call when I got home to say he perked up and he was doing better, 3 hours later at 2am I received another phone call saying his levels have dropped so much so he needed a blood transfusion and they had none in stock. This was at the cost of £1500 and the vet said he may need two as one may not work or they may not work at all and he’d have to be transferred to another hospital which would be around £1000 per night. Their advice was to have him put to sleep and that felt like the only option so we made our way back devastated in the early hours of Monday 15th December to hold him and say goodbye. It was the same vet and still this felt very rushed and before we could gather our thoughts they asked about payment. I left our beautiful boy wrapped with his blanket from home and asked if that could be kept with him and be cremated in that. The following day we decided to go with cherry tree to have him cremated as vets now Gillingham said it could take up to 2 weeks to have him cremated and returned to us and to be honest I had a gut feeling I didn’t want him there a minute longer especially over Christmas. We had him back within a couple of days but on collecting him I asked if he came with his blanket and they said no. I’ve since contacted vets now and they have no clue as to where his blanket is. As a vets surely you should know that these things matter! And if you’ve forgotten by mistake a curtesy call wouldn’t of gone a miss for us to come and collect it. Avoid this emergency vets at all costs they lack compassion and understanding and make you feel rushed in your decision making. They need to be a bit more tactical when communicating about prices and payment that’s for sure, I can’t stress enough how traumatising this experience was for us and I just feel if this was handled better by vets now it may have been that little bit easier, if only I read the reviews before taking our boy here as it seems like others have had the same experience! Absolutely awful!

We came in on the 28th dec and had our boy Davey sent to rainbow bridge. Just wanted to say a massive thank you to the young lady who treated Davey. With the upmost dignity and thoughtfulness. Bless you all for doing this job. Her name I can’t remember but my mum will stop by at some point to offer personal thanks. Thank you for making such a hard experience as good as it could be.

I had to take my poorly cat in on a Sunday. Unfortunately, his diagnosis is terminal. The vet was patient & caring, taking the time to explain the findings to his scan & what options were available. He gave me the option of palliative care which I decided to do & am glad I have. My boy is comfortable back at home with his brothers. I will know when the time to say goodbye has come & feel that support is there should I need out of hours help.The only part I wasn’t happy with was my pet being parted from me during the long wait in reception.

I took my poorly dog in and unfortunately they had to put her sleep, the vet offered me to have my pets paw print and a clipping of her hair. I rang today and they advised not done and it how rude to call my pet IT no care or consideration that I am Grieving accused me of shouting when I was crying she was extremely rude and no care given just rude x I am heart broken why offer this if you had no intention of doing this she said also that again IT will be scattered in Canterbury not she or your pet this woman needs lessons in customer care dealing with grief of losing there loved one

Not happy with the service provided by Vets Now at all. Brought my 18 year old cat in as an emergency on Sunday evening as her back legs had stopped working, she was walking on her front legs and dragging her back legs behind her to one side. The vet told us she wasn't in pain but that she had some numbness and loss of feeling in her tail. His advice after various tests was to go to our normal vets the following day. No pain medication was offered for her. We were assured she wasn't in pain. Spent the night with a very distressed cat. Took her to my usual vet the next day who confirmed she absolutely was in pain! Within 30 minutes of them giving her a painkiller injection she was up and about and walking so much better, was able to use the litter tray on her own and was finally able to get some rest. Back in August she went into the emergency vets as she was struggling with the hot weather in her old age. The vet told us she needed to be admitted for fluids and quoted us £3500 for the weekend which we just didn't have (this was on top of the £300+ we had to pay just to get her through the door and a few hundred more for the tests). We asked if there were any other options and they said they could try subcutaneous fluids which means they can place fluid under the skin to absorb at home, we would then take her to our normal vet on Saturday morning (literally 12 hours after this appintment) for them to make a decision on her treatment going forward. The vet was quite rude and said this wasn't the best option as she noticed she had severe kidney disease and was unlikely to make it to the next day without being admitted, but if that's all you can afford you'll have to take that chance. We left feeling so guilty and I spent the night inconsolable, preparing to say goodbye to my little girl. However, went to our normal vet the next day, they confirmed she does have kidney disease, but very early stage, nowhere near death's door. They repeated the subcutaneous fluid one more time and she was absolutely fine. I don't trust Vets Now at all at the moment. In my opinion they're very judgemental, do anything they can to bump up the bill and the emotional blackmail is shocking. It's disappointing that they're our only option for out of hours care.

Friendly and helpful reception staff and vet. We had a bit of a wait but we weren’t particularly urgent and so completely understood that sucker animals have to take preference. Vet was lovely, very friendly and put our minds at rest. Gave our pet meds to get him eating again and gave us a plan to move forward. Thank you.

Made to feel welcome and reassured by the kind receptionist. The triage nurse was very thorough and put me and my cat at ease. The vet was very skilful and identified my cat's injury, which was in a very unusual place and treated him straight away. All the staff at Vets Now were very knowledgeable and me and my cat felt safe and well looked after.

This review is for anybody wishing to use this service, our Dog developed a nasty infection on her anal glands and being a weekend felt we would take her to give us your money now (vets now) as didn’t want to wait till the following Monday as she was clearly in pain. Well we waited 30mins for a vet to become available, our dog was not examined and the vet said they feel some pain relief was the best action until we could we could see our regular vet. Now I do understand out of hours service for anything these days is going to be expensive but £435 for 5 minutes talking to a vet is taking the urine, I would never use this service ever again unless it was completely life or death, be warned.