Countryside Veterinary Hospital

Let me start by stating that I've taken my dogs there for the past 10 years and they provide fantastic pet care. Seriously, they are top notch.\r \r Now the not-so-great stuff. Their business is a MACHINE. They overbook constantly. I've waited to be seen, by appointment, more than an hour, far too often. If I'm in under half an hour of my appointment time, it's probably with a tech to deliver a shot.\r \r They also do not like discount pharmacies. They'll give you some bs about not knowing where the meds are coming from, as I wanted to buy them from petmeds. I contacted Heartgard after Countryside refused to offer me a scrip for my dogs to use with petmeds, and Heartgard said Petmeds is their number one distributor!\r \r Also, and this is my biggest peeve, they will nickel and dime you to death. My dog had surgery, which had a verbal estimate of $500. The bill, however, turned into $900. Why? Nothing extraordinary. They just failed to mention they charge $20 for gauze, $5 to put more

This is a wonderful hospital. The doctors are extremely knowledgeable, caring, and very gentle with our pets. Although it is on the more expensive end, I believe they truly have the pets best interest in mind and that's why they suggest so much, but remember YOU have the right to decline tests/treatments etc. so the price is in your control if you don't want it done there, go somewhere else. It is very clean and nice inside, and although some tests have taken a little while I understand that they are working with animals - not humans - who wiggle and avoid and wrestle, so it is not easy to draw blood etc. more

We took our crazy lab puppy there for some training, she is still crazy! But the place was very nice and always clean! The staff were friendly and knoweledgable. The training class wwas very packed and I believe that this had something to do with her not getting the right amont of training. But all in all this place is a great place! more

I had a very short and unpleasant experience with Countryside when getting my 2 cats spayed. They gave me hell over accepting discount spay certificates from the MSPCA and were going to charge me $750 combined (WITH the certificates included!) to have both cats spayed. I argued with a manager and a vet on the phone as to why they would not honor the certificate (which states that the surgery and all things relating to the surgery are to be half price.) I ended up finding a much nicer, friendlier and more affordable vet in Chelmsford who I now reccomend to everyone without question. They spayed both cats for $370 combined and no problems whatsoever. They were happy to help and thanked me for fixing my cats and not contributing to the pet overpopulation. It's nice to feel like you are appreciated and they don't just see $$ and money. more

We took our 2 Burmese kittens in to have them spayed when Angell Memorial couldn't give us an appointment for over a month. Everything was great - Dr. Churchill was wonderful, the surgery was done by laser for quicker healing, they gave us pain medication for the kittens and called to see how they were doing. We live about an hour away from them, but think the quality of the care is worth the time. more

They have a shop, hospital, kennel and of course the vets. So they offer a wide range of services, which is convenient. But being so large, you may not see the same vet for a follow up, communication may not be as quick or clear as you'd like and you may not get that 'family' type feel (if you like that sort of thing). \r \r But what really turned me off was how badly they mishandled an accident my pet had. It took 4 visits to resolve something that was obvious from the get-go. Time and again mistakes were made, the obvious was overlooked, the job was not thoroughly done. Once I could understand. But to me, this speaks to a larger, systemic issue. more

Countryside Veterinary Hospital is a great place to take your pets. We have one cat who puts up such a fight every time we take him that he needs to be sedated! They have always handled him so well and even call the house after he has had procedures to make sure that he is doing ok. They have a separate waiting room for cats and dogs so that the animals do not get scared of each other. We have moved away from the area and still drive the extra distance to take our cat to Countryside. more