Vets Now (Gillingham)

Vets Now is a corporate out-of-hours emergency-care provider within IVC Evidensia, and its website says the group operates in 60+ locations across the UK. The Gillingham clinic offers urgent treatment and video consultations, with owners describing triage on arrival, diagnostics such as blood tests and scans, and treatment decisions ranging from pain relief and medication through to hospitalisation, palliative care, and euthanasia. Recent feedback remains mixed, with praise for compassionate care in some cases alongside concerns about communication, costs, and the waiting-area experience.

Services

•Out-of-hours emergency care for small animals, with triage on arrival and prioritisation of more urgent cases.
•Video consultations are listed on the website.
•Diagnostics and assessment, including blood tests and scans; reviews also mention vets explaining scan findings and discussing treatment options.
•Treatment and stabilisation, including pain relief or other medication, immediate treatment for injuries, medication to encourage eating, and discussion of fluid therapy, including subcutaneous fluids as an alternative to admission in one case.
•Hospitalisation and overnight care are mentioned in reviews, along with discussion of blood transfusion options and possible transfer to another hospital when required.
•Palliative care discussions and euthanasia are both clearly part of the clinic’s work, with several reviews describing end-of-life visits.
•Website-listed specialties include neurology and oncology.

Pricing

No published pricing information is currently available for this clinic.

People

No individual clinicians are named in the available information. Reviews mention reception staff, a triage nurse, and vets, with recent feedback ranging from welcoming, thorough and reassuring support to mixed experiences with vet communication and bedside manner.

Reviews

Google reviews show 4.1/5 from 512 reviews. Recent feedback is mixed

•Positive reviews often praise the reception team, triage nurse and vets for being kind, thorough, welcoming and calm in stressful emergencies; some owners say they felt reassured and that treatment was effective.
•The triage process is mentioned repeatedly, and some clients specifically note that more urgent cases are prioritised, although waits and being separated from pets in reception were upsetting for some.
•End-of-life care is a major theme: several owners describe euthanasia being handled with dignity, thoughtfulness and compassion, while others felt rushed during goodbyes or were unhappy with follow-up handling after a pet’s death.
•Negative reviews also raise concerns about high out-of-hours costs, blunt or insensitive communication, occasional disagreement with later diagnoses or pain management, and poor cleanliness in the waiting area in one account.

Reviews for Vets Now (Gillingham)

Note: Showing the 10 most recent Google reviews out of 512 we track in total. Recent reviews may not be representative of overall sentiment.

Robert Paul

4 weeks ago

great service

Sue Campbell

1 month ago

£313 just to walk through the door, before any treatment is ridiculous, i totally understand paying out of hours but £313 is totally praying on poorly pets, knowing people literally have no choice but to paying, it's an emergency vets, so the only people using this service have extremely unwell pets that can't wait till the morning to see there own vet. £420 I payed and they wasn't sure why my dog was bleeding from her rear end, she went straight to her vets in the morning who had one look and said her anal glad had ruptured, just by looking. The worse part was a very poorly puppy who was refused treatment because the owner couldn't afford it. Such a shame money comes before helping an animals these days.

Samantha Pollock

We used this emergency service for our beloved dog Mags , it was such a difficult morning and they treated us both beautifully. Thank you .

John Newton

I can not fault the 2 ladies on reception the nurse who took Buddy to be treated and the vet who looked after him till he went to sleep needs a medal never have I met such a wonderful team of people thankyou so much

Karen hyde

When arriving at the centre we were met with blood on the floor and over the seats on the waiting area , alongside a foul smell of urine. There were around 5 pets awaiting to be seen at that time. The staff were sufficient in logging us in but didn’t provide us with any reassurance or care. When we asked about the process it was a fairly matter of fact attitude we were met with. There were individuals with dogs which were barking , whilst our cat is used to having a dog around others were clearly getting distressed with no intervention by staff. We were very distressed and considered leaving however our vet assist through insurance suggested we stayed. Once we saw the vet the service was second to none and he gave us a clear understanding of what was wrong and what the best best steps weee , he was kind , considerate and very caring towards us and our cat !! This vets should be recognised for a fantastic job. So despite the conditions the care from the vet was exemplary

Dave Duncan

3 months ago

Faye

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!

Danny Smith

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.

Emma Dawson

Amanda

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.