My rat loves everyone
Been using them for year's. Excellent service for my dog. Friendly staff.
Lovely staff, great with my boy Arran when he visits
Excellent vets polite staff / and the vet herself was extremely helpful dog and I were both very happy.
Wouldn't take my pets anywhere else. The staff are always warm and friendly towards my cats. One really doesn't like visiting the vet and they are always very patient and understanding with him.
Lovely vet clinic. I loved the fact they have a special separate waiting area for cats, as they are usually more timid and anxious, especially around louder dogs. The nurses that helped us were so friendly and empathetic and took the time to listen and assure us.
Waiting time always at least half an hour after appointment time.
We had used st clair for a few years, as at the time when we first used them they had an opthalmologist available and our dog was diagnosed with glaucoma. The care in the beginning was great but somewhere through those years the ophthalmologist left and it was not communicated to us that they no longer offered specialised ophthalmology services. We did regular 6 monthly check ups for over two years and only on the second last visit was it mentioned they have an agreement with vet vision who come in and provide their services. This was quite some time after they'd stopped offering in house opthalmology services. On our second last visit, our dog had stable eye pressure in her remaining eye but redness, we received medication to reduce any inflammation that might cause this.
After a month we returned for a follow up and were informed her eye pressure was high and we should remove her eye as soon as possible. She also claimed that our dog had almost no vision (which turned out not to be true and she has almost full vision). The vet even stated that if she could do the surgery today she would. We felt pressured to agree to this as apparently she now had very little vision and was in extreme pain. We personally had always agreed to remove her eye once it became uncomfortable or unmanageable, as we understood the disease and the pain associated with it. So, given the seemingly urgent situation and rush we now appeared to be in we booked her in to have her remaining eye removed a week later.
On the day of her eye removal we received a call that her heart rate dropped rapidly and they couldn't remove the eye. We were referred to VSS and they recorded her normal heart rate at 40bpm caused by a 3rd degree AV block. She was put on medication which boosted her heart rate to 60bpm until we figured out her eye situation as that at the time appeared to be the priority.
We went to monthly check ups with Royal Dick in Edinburgh and their wonderful opthalmologist department.
However, we often wonder what happened, how was her very low heart rate not picked up? Why in the three visits in a month did this not flag something, even just a further check? We know her heart had been like this for some time, given what we know now were symptoms of the block and not her glaucoma as we originally thought (as those symptoms have now completely reversed with the pacemaker implant).
So, it really is concerning to us that the low heart rate did not cause any concern to the vets or nurses in the three visits prior and the pre-surgery checks.
Further, we are disappointed with the pressure we felt at the time to remove her eye. It felt almost condescending and very rushed.
We now know the equipment used to take pressure can be unreliable and requires many attempts to get an accurate reading and even then this reading can be incorrect due to other variables (such as stress, holding the dogs head with too much force, the dog squinting, movement etc). Given the vets at the time were not specialists in this department, this can also result in inaccurate readings. This is something you expect your vets to recognise and consider before rushing into a decision.
Our dog thankfully still has her eye and vision today, some 6 months later, and her pressure is stable.
She is also now fitted with a pacemaker and we are grateful the vet at St Clair reversed her anesthesia in time.
I apologise for the long review but it's taken some time to establish what our misgivings with the experiences we had are.
I'm sure anyone reading this knows that you rely on your vet for most of the information that makes up your decisions in an already emotional and often stressful situation.
We can only hope improvement is made when it comes to flagging concerning symptoms a pet may have and in the pressure applied, as well as the rash conclusions made, that may result in expensive and unnecessary surgery (yes, we did have to pay over half the cost of the surgery that did not go ahead).
HAD AN APPOINTMENT YESTERDAY, ALL WAS PERFECTION FROM THE STAFF TO THE WAITING ROOM! SPECIAL THANKS TO SHIRLEY WHOM MY FRENCHIE PULLS ME INTO THE BUILDING TO SEE ! SHE GOES THE EXTRA MILE EVERY TIME......
Have went to this vet for years never no problem until now I pay a monthly fee of £14 for all my dogs worm and flea treatment and yearly vaccine went online to order his prescription as they send out reminders they told me I could not get anymore till june as I have had the years lot I told them I only give my dog the required amount why would I give him anymore they send the reminders out even after you have picked them up said I could pay for one if I want so now looking to get my dog another vet they call theirselves vets absolutely atrocious
