Chester Valley Veterinary Hospital — Veterinary Care in Anchorage

ALL reviews about Chester Valley Veterinary Hospital

• Rebecca

  Added 2013.09.22

  I selected Chester Valley to treat my cats chronic itchy ears due due to the proximity to my home, choosing to give the benefit of the doubt when it came to the other negative reviews I saw prior to the clinic visit. This is something I consider to have been a mistake, and I feel it is very important to provide awareness to other potential visitors/patients on the level of care that they might receive. During the clinic visit, the vet was very verbally pushy in regards to scoping my cats ears that day, despite concerns about the invasiveness, cost, necessity, or planning of this procedure. This was not reflected on the paper records that were provided to me, but I assure you, the verbal conversation was quite different. In addition, this same vet also insisted verbatim that cats cannot sneeze. Yes, you've read that correctly. She did not say this as a joke. That is the wording she used verbatim... "cats can't sneeze". In follow-up communication, the clinic blatantly refuses to acknowledge that this was said, and instead refers to the paper records which do not reflect the verbal conversation that took place. She prescribed medication, which I used according to her directions. However, we did not return for the "recommended" follow up care as I did not trust the clinic based on their insistence that cats are incapable of sneezing. I put "recommended" in quotes to further highlight how pushy/aggressive she was to have a scoping of the ears done right then and there. For me, these two things alone call into question the level of care and professional knowledge of the vet and associated clinic. In addition, this clinic's communication when faced with a negative review has been nothing short of poor. Instead of actually addressing the issue at hand, they have repeatedly had my reviews removed on a technicality and went out of their way to send a personal email informing us that we were not welcome back at their clinic. Luckily, and I'm sure it goes without saying, we had absolutely zero intention of seeking treatment here again. The handling of the clinic visit on top of their management of social media/handling negative reviews doesn't bode well for me in regards to their professionalism or reliability. The staff members have taken care of my (parent's) geriatric pets with true compassion. We took them to a "big" hospital only to be told to do the same tests over and over and not listening to the real problem. No improvement and paying hundreds of dollars for nothing. Dr. Kesting took the time to really pay attention to the concerns of my dogs and goes over the plan with care. When one of my pugs passed away, we notified them of her passing, and out of no where we get a card of condolences. The staff members felt our pain and were compassionate about the whole situation. We still continue to see them for other dogs and they continue to take care of us each time. I love that they are a local business and also do volunteer work for the community. I've also seen staff members off of work and they were just as kind. Thank you Chester Valley! They also have a good deal for a bath, anal gland expression and nail trim, but I'm pretty sure not in that order (lol). My pug and Chihuahua go there about almost monthly for that! Support local business! Aw man some of these reviews are horrible sounding but I thought we had a great experience here! We moved to the Anchorage area last summer and after making the long drive from Georgia to Alaska, we had to bring our 1 year old French Bulldog to a vet immediately when we arrived. I loved our vet in GA and was so worried about finding a new one here. I called around to see who could get us in and they told me to come on in whenever. They were very accommodating and also worked very hard to make sure she was taken care of even though we did have a budget that day. The most assuring thing was when the vet mentioned before I could, her being a brachycephalic breed and making sure to follow the correct protocol should there be any need to sedate. Phew!! Sigh of relief that I didn't have to worry about her breathing issues and I immediately felt comfortable. All in all, great experience and we will be back in a few months for annual check ups! Your reply to my comment is very wrong. My dog yelps every time you even try to pet her in where you did your hacket job!! Your a horrible vet! Not sure when the ownership changed on this place, but it did. The staff here does not care about the animals, it is all about the money to them. The Vet does not do a complete job or exam of your animal, just what she was asked to do, nothing above and beyond. My dog just had surgery, not even a week ago and this is the worst job of stitches I have ever seen. They did a hatchet job on my Blue Nose. Whatever lab she uses can't tell by the samples she takes if it is cancerous or not. So either she doesn't take a sufficient sample or the labs just are horrible. So I had to pay for a second lab. They are over priced and not willing to work with you...I had 1,000 for the surgery, but was not flying back into town until the next day and was possibly going to be 147.00 short, the office manager said they would "withhold" doing something that would cost that amount until I could pay for it, oh by the way....this was the second lab fee the office manager was not willing to wait for. The surgery ended up only about $860.00. They do not follow very good instructions and do what they want anyway, regardless that you as an owner might know your dog a little better. I would not recommend even a stray animal to go to this clinic, they'd turn it away because it couldn't pay!! I am just sick over this clinic and what a horrible job they did on my dog, both the Staff and the Vet. My vet of 30 years just retired and I was trying to find a new vet that was as good and loving with animals.....this is not the place for me and I am sorry I ever tried it. I will be moving on to a new Vet. Brought our Mastiff in because she wasnt eating or drinking. They gave her a hydration pack and in 24 hours she was back to normal. The staff was very nice, and they didn't keep me waiting. They are now my vet and I will bring both our mastiffs there.