Animal Referral Hospital

DO NOT TAKE YOUR PET HERE. We brought our cat to Animal Referral Hospital during an emergency expecting urgent care, answers, and competent veterinary treatment. Instead, we were met with uncertainty, constant pressure for more expensive procedures, and a bill of almost $3000 without anyone being able to tell us what was actually wrong with him. … Read more

The treating vets repeatedly pushed antivenom despite being unable to confirm a snake bite and without providing us with any clear diagnosis. We felt as though every conversation was centred around the next charge rather than proper assessment of our animal.

Thankfully, we trusted our instincts and sought a second opinion elsewhere.

Within a short assessment, another veterinarian was able to determine that our cat had suffered an insect bite — not snake envenomation — and advised that the antivenom Animal Referral Hospital was pushing was unnecessary and could have caused further complications. Our cat was treated appropriately with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication and was sent home.

To spend thousands of dollars at an emergency referral hospital and leave with no diagnosis, no answers, and recommendations for treatment that were later found to be unnecessary is beyond unacceptable.

After reading through many other customer experiences, it is deeply concerning to see a repeated pattern of owners reporting excessive charges, poor communication, lack of diagnosis, and feeling pressured into costly treatment plans. (ProductReview.com.au)

This hospital appears far more focused on extracting money from distressed pet owners than providing clear, competent and ethical veterinary care.

We left feeling taken advantage of, financially exploited, and terrified that had we agreed to everything being pushed on us, our cat may have been subjected to unnecessary and harmful treatment.

I would never return and would strongly encourage others to seek a second opinion before agreeing to any major treatment recommendations from this hospital.

Had to take my 13 year old cat here she was having breathing difficulties. When I got there $280 upfront they took her to an oxygen tank and kept saying she's comfortable. Vet comes out says she has no idea what is wrong. I agreed to a blood test with heart markers which cost $576 also paid upfront waited for results vet comes in says I don't know… Read more

what is wrong she found fluid on her lungs vet then gives me a quote for $7500 worth of tests all of which were heart related. I decided to have my cat put down and when they bought her into me she wasn't comfortable she was drooling and panting . They then told me I needed to pay another $280 on top for euthanasia which I paid. Vet didn't care showed no empathy and just after she checked my cat to make sure she was dead she said to me can you put her in the cage yourself? I have other clients. On the way out I requested the bloods to be sent to my vet they look at me then look at the cage and say given the outcome is there any point? I replied yes I own her relatives and I paid for the tests I want my vet to see the results they emailed them to my vet the next day after being requested three more times by my vet. My cats oxygen levels were 27 percent when admitted my vet said he would have euthanized her immediately they put money ahead of my cats comfort and dignity and treated her and me like an ATM. Don't go here this place is cold and uncaring all they care about is money.

Great service – Dr Monica and Dr Winny are fantastic. As are Brittany on reception also the lovely young man with the dark curly hair on reception, his name escapes me, they are so helpful and caring. We have had both of our golden retrievers at arh over the last week they have had the best treatment from Dr Monica and Dr Winny . Those who complain about the… Read more

price of treatment here should think about the amount of very well educated and trained team members are there. You don't often see the workings out the back, believe me there are alot of people behind those doors.I have had a pet in the critical care unit, it is as good as in any human hospital. All of this costs money, and also paying wages for people working 24 hours.

Professional, caring & understanding – They looked after my mama cat Tess and her 3 kittens when she developed diarrhoea and became dehydrated. The vet, the vet nurse and the receptionist were all so wonderfully caring and understanding and explained everything to me.

Great Care given – My little Tuppence become seriously ill on Boxing Day. Dr Mark and the team did everything to save his life. No human in hospital could have had more done to save them or be in better hands. Despite every possible treatment over the three days he fought to live, my beautiful little Tuppy passed away. Thank you to all who cared for my Tuppence. xx Yes, they are very expensive.

I want to let everyone that has there dog taken to Gosford animal referral hospital Gosford don't let dr vet [Name Removed] known as [Name Removed] is careless and advises people to put there dog to sleep like he did with us with owe do Teddy he is a lier as he said he spoke to us to stabilise owe boy and he did not ever ask or speak about that… Read more

keep away from him as he did no tests and told us that he would put him to sleep if it was his dog something u should not say . So we have no real proof of why he was put to sleep I reported him to the board and they all stick together not happy remember his name he has two names that to me is a problem [Name Removed] and other name is [Name Removed] he is a vet with no feelings and didn't do examination that should be a problem to all pet owners

Forget this animal specialist hospital and go somewhere else. After almost 10 years of trusting this hospital to various pets (cats & dog) of mine I was really disappointed with my recent experience. I took my cat to ARH in good faith a few months ago for the treatment of a serious bowel condition which required long term treatment. I was not… Read more

advised when booking the initial consultation that the specialist was going to take 6 months of leave shortly - because if I was - I would have asked for someone else. The specialist assured me that my cat would receive treatment and care while she was on leave. The hospital advised this week that they are not able to treat my cat any longer because their specialists are too busy - they said to go elsewhere. In addition, each time I called to speak with an intern they gave me the run around, and there was no after care. The experience was very stressful. In summary, they took my money (approx $10k) and then told me to go away without resolving the cats condition - because we are exactly in the same dilemma we were before attending the hospital. My experience was MISLEADING and it was UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR on the part of the hospital. Don't take your pets there - they don't care about their patients. The hospital is very badly managed.

I attended ARH on Saturday 8 March 2025 with my dog after being advised to take him immediately for medical attention by the ARH online vet after a consultation. We arrived at 1am, I rang the doorbell seven times over five minutes, but no staff attended to the door. I was eventually let into the waiting area by another pet parent and spent the… Read more

next hour variously waiting in the waiting room, searching the accessible areas for a staff member, phoning the clinic (no response), and calling out for help to no response. After an hour, given no one had come to triage my dog, I decided that he would be more comfortable at home given he was so unwell. We left at 2am, so one hour of no one bothering to check on the front desk.

I have contacted the vet clinic to advise them of the lack of service but have not had any acknowledgment of the issues I experienced. I can understand if there was some sort of emergency that attending to new patients might not be possible, but they didn't come to triage my dog; imagine attending with your dog who had been hit by a car or bitten by a snake but they didn't check on you and just continued with whatever routine task they were working on? I don't understand how they don't have processes in place to attend to late night presentations, particularly given it is a 24 hour practice.

This place puts profits first, pets second. 0 care factor or empathy, the type of sociopaths that will take on cases that they know they can’t do whilst delaying life saving treatment that could have been provided else’s and prolonging suffering to line their own pockets. They do this while leaving pets in excruciating pain in abhorrent… Read more

conditions, unmonitored, un attended and without fluid or pain relief while putting their hand out for 10’s of thousands. If they put as much effort in to taking care of animals as they do taking multiple payments first or actually provided the care that has been prior paid for, maybe animals may not suffer so much or have a chance at recovery.

Proper sociopaths. Do not let them kill your pet for profit.

Go literally anywhere else – AVOID AT ALL COSTS - GO TO SASH NEARBY!!! sorry for the long read. Similarly to the review's previous to mine, my advice would be to go elsewhere. The vets at this clinic are not only incompetent, they are dangerous, money hungry, fear mongering thieves. - Dog taken in for exam 4am Sunday (24/11) due to multiple bouts of vomiting after we… Read more

suspected she had swallowed a beef bone the day prior. - X-Ray consented to, completed inadequately (later confirmed by our regular vet) - Advised that there was no boney matter found in the x-ray however, still advised to admit her for a minimum of 12 hours...? - We had refused this as to be completely honest, the Vet just made my husband and I extremely uncomfortable. Moreover, the squealing dog locked in a tiny cage out the back furthered our discomfort. - I asked to view the x-ray, to which the vet could not read it. Advised that a gas pocket was faecal matter... Advised that her intestines were clear, no boney matter. Didnt actually know where her intestines were... - Pushed again for admission telling us it could be Gastroenteritis, pancreatitis, a bunch of other uncertainties (fear mongering). All while continually pushing for 12 hour min admission costing anywhere from $3500 - $4500 - We took her to our regular vet that morning, where she reviewed the x-ray and explained that it was not completed correctly. A follow up x-ray was completed (at a quarter of the price) to which they found boney matter in her large intestine. - Bloods were completed, she was given fluids for a couple of hours and came home our sweet, loving, excitable angel girl within a few hours and not exceeding $1,000.

We then emailed ARH to request a refund of the x-ray as it was quite literally useless. We were more than happy to pay for the consult and the anti-nausea medication. 2 weeks later we received the response that they were satisfied with the work completed on the night. That is simply put, not the point. We do not care that you as a manager are satisfied, we are not and we have been told that your location is known for things just like this. Judging by the reviews, the other professionals consulted were correct.

We are reporting you to the Syd. Vets practitioners board as well as proceeding to NCAT for a full refund.

Absolutely disgraceful behaviour and actions from all involved.

[Name Removed] keep your pet away from him – Vet [Name Removed] is a careless vet always stay away from him he advised me to put my dog to sleep with no real check up on him and no evidence then I reported him to the board as he advised us to put teddy to sleep and then found out it was just a guess what he thought was wrong with teddy . He did no tests . Then when I reported him to the… Read more

board the head staff stuck up for him as they wrote on the discharge forms to the board that [Name Removed] offered us to stabilise my dog Teddy and that was a lie completely as he never once said to us would we like to stabalise him clear lies from head staff as [Name Removed] did not once say that if he did we would have done that he straight out told us they could do nothing for teddy and best to put him to sleep as a vet we thought he was telling us the truth but he was not .be very carful of him the director of the hospital stuck up for him and he is heartless even when he put my boy to sleep , he left us with him in a room with us and never came back to say I am sorry about teddy we had to leave teddy in room on table as he never came to see us or say anything we had to leave and tell reception we was going . He had no care . We found out after that teddy might have just been having a seizure and he would come out of it . But [Name Removed] advised us to put him to sleep before teddy came out of sedation so we couldn't even say good bye . But they all lied to the board and said he offered to stabilise Teddy and that was never mentioned but they said that to cover them selves . If he had said that he could stabilise him to see how Teddy went then why did he force and advise us to put him to sleep so quick don't ever put your pet with him unless he has another vet with him we wasn't that lucky for another vet to be there to intervene. I am suffering every day for what he did to my boy and blame myself for listening to him as he had nothing else on his mind but to put him to sleep as work is to hard for him to do full examination or tests yes [Name Removed] no pets should be next to him . You will see with his record that he isn't anywhere for long as I have been told by others in places he has worked

for after hours emergency treatment go elsewhere – These people advertise as an after emergency service but are not. We phoned before we took our dog but when we got there they couldn't even x-ray our dogs broken jaw. They wanted us to leave her there overnight and treat her the next day at 9am. That's not an after hours service.

RUDE AND NOT MEMBERS OF THE A.V.A CAUTION – Firstly we was not allowed to take medication home and the bill was over $800 remaining how does medication cost around $200 when katana seen her vet and the antibiotics and pain relief was less than $40 how do you justify the mark up of prices I had paid $1000 which was more than the $750 deposit and I advised staff and not just one or 2… Read more

members I even told ash vet the who spoke to me that night before he operated on my dog. As well as the 2 girls on reception desk that I wouldn't be able to afford to pay the rest in one hit and I Was told over the phone when I was contacted on brief on my dogs wellbeing which iv wittness that the vet would contact me to arrange a payment plan and I could pick my dog up at 230am Sunday morning. Upon collection of her I was told by reception that there's no such thing as payment plans and she said she was unsure of any medication and the vet would call later on in the morning So then we called clinic around 1pm and i was told that again no such thing as payment plan and that the person I spok to (sue,) refused katana medication until the account was fully settled. I then after explaining all this asked her if it was fair to let a living soul suffer with pain because they couldn't afford the entire amount. She then stated that that is our policy and I then argued the point that I was told that I would be signing up to a payment plan and the then she stated she would get the manager to call me which still iv not received a call and still waiting given its Wednesday. I then said to her hypothetically "well you mean to say that if u went to a private hospital paid for the surgery and couldn't afford to pay the account fully after it that it is ok for the dr and hospital to refuse you pain medication and antibiotics or even cancer medication?? She paused and and then I continued to tell her that it was utterly disgusting that any hospital no matter if human or veterinary would let a living soul suffer in pain that's animal cruelty.

They are not members of the Australian vetenarians association therefore they don't feel the need to follow the veterinary professional code of conduct

Money grabbing – As soon as your in the door there is a vet charge of over 200.00 Be expected to wait your turn so if your pet is in pain and need releif now to bad wait your turn and let the pet suffer more. Charge separate fee for any blood work even thou they own all the machines your just paying hire now so they can buy another one and get tax brakes on it… Read more

also. 4 customers would buy a new machine for them in a night Dont expect to walk out before paying 1000 dollars for 20 minutes. Was also told that my dog needed to be put to sleep and we where being creul keeping him in pain. Funny that they never found what was wrong with him which goes to show your vetenary experience and money grabbing skills instead. I suggested steriods they said no bad for his heart .They suggested 6000 brain scan which we can do for you of course.I said know im on a pension . So took my dog home 1000 dollars cost later with no meds given no results as to why he was yelping in pain So i treated him gave him 1mg steroids and baby panadol and he is still with us 1 year later lucky we didnt put him to sleep on there advice another fee money grabbers ripoff prices have a number of practices and no problems in keeping them running with the fees you pay so they can buy another one and get more money.

Very rude and stupid receptionists and nurses - do not go there at all - they just want your money – arh should not be allowed to operate as a vet hospital: - bad staff at the reception desk to start with - no customer service at all - rude and on top of it totally incompetent . I have observed first hand, how they treat a customer bringing in a stray cat (or escaped cat ?) asking them politely to scan the animal for a micro chip. - They told… Read more

this customer they will do a micro chip, which is not what the customer asked them for at all. . They want just to sell any customer 'services' to get money - what a shame and appalling, disgusting you name it attitude or business ethic. . Do not go there - they do not deserve to look after animals at all

Overpriced not about animal health – Visited this place after our dog was attacked by another dog on a public holiday and understand surcharges but with almost $330 for a consult and some pain relief we left for our vet who also opens on public holidays and charges surcharges, which cost us just under $1000 and included anesthetic, stiches, hospitalization and all drugs dog plus… Read more

minding for our second dog, but Animal Referral Hospital quoted over $2800------------just about ripping pet owners off. No concern at all for anyone or any pet there is no way you can justify an additional $1800 for a couple of stiches, two hours in their hospital and antibiotics and inflammatory drugs. My vet also offered free phone consult over the next few days.....be warned this is a money making clinic.

ARH Baulkham Hills & Homebush – After our 15 year old British Shorthair suddenly developed mobility problems, and our usual Veterinary Clinic was about to close, we took her to the Animal Referral Hospital (ARH) at Baulkham Hills. The Veterinarians there were affable, polite, and informative, and after receiving an estimate for their assessment of our “Old Lady" including an… Read more

overnight stay, we paid their required deposit and left.

The following morning a phone call from the treating Veterinarian advised that as neither pathology tests nor x-rays had shed any light on our Cat's condition, that we agree to them transferring her to the ARH facility at Homebush.

We agreed, and we later that day received a phone call from a Customer Care representative from ARH Homebush acknowledging our Cat's admission, and requesting a payment towards the cost of their services.

The promised follow-up phone call didn't occur until 1am the next day, at which time the treating Veterinarian requested some information about the onset of our Cat's current condition, that we expected would have been provided by ARH Baulkham Hills (?), and advising that as the pathology and radiography hadn't revealed anything untoward, that a CT/MRI Scan was recommended.

Naturally we queried the costs and were told to budget for between $5,500 - $6,500 including a review by a Specialist Veterinarian, but as that amount exceeded our budget we declined, and asked for alternatives.

After the treating Veterinarian then attempted unsuccessfully to “guilt” us into doing what he insisted was the only course of action for our much loved pet, he suggested some IV pain and anti-inflammatory medications, and a further review after another two (2) days hospitalisation.

We then asked if our Cat's condition had improved at all since her admission, and when he informed us that as “she's quite cranky", nobody had removed her from her cage in order to assess her mobility, and even though that's largely confined to her hindquarters they hadn't checked for tick paralysis because "they're such little critters" (!!), we took the decision to bring her home.

After some further attempts at “guilting" us into leaving our Cat in their care for one more night, it was agreed that ARH would commence the IV medications immediately, and that we'd collect her that afternoon together with a Care Plan and Prescriptions for whatever home medication/s they deemed necessary.

Once we arrived and paid ARH's final invoice totalling over $3,600 for services provided at both Baulkham Hills and Homebush over 42 hours, including take home medications provided at twice the cost of that charged by prescriptions at a Veterinary Pharmacy, we took our “old lady" home with the promise of a final follow-up phone call that afternoon from her then treating Veterinarian who was at that time in the operating theatre.

That phone call occurred at 11pm that night, by which time we'd administered the first doses of their prescribed medications, and done our best to settle our Cat into her usual environment.

We don't know if IV medications is the cause, but our “old lady" was literally starving this morning, and while we've refrained from giving her too much food, she's eating, drinking, and walking around, albeit like a crab.

So in summary, we've marked ARH UP for the caring attitude of their Veterinarians at Baulkham Hills and Homebush, and marked them DOWN for their unpreparedness to even handle our Cat who was understandably “quite cranky" in a strange environment, and in pain, and marked ARH Administration and Management DOWN for the manner in which it encourages the “guilting” of pet owners in an obvious attempt to extract from them as much of its exorbitant fees as possible.

Before posting these comments, we called ARH Homebush Customer Care to pay them the courtesy of a discussion, and a Team Leader was going to call us back......but after 4 hours that hasn't happened, so we hit the GO button!

rude service – rang arh wollongong and said i was making an inquiry i did not get any further the woman said she could not hear me it is a bad line and hung up i rang back and first word i said was ratsak she did not hang up then said i should come i got there and the two woman attitudes seemed to be very cold and i felt i was not welcome the vet was ok when i… Read more

saw him i consider the treatment from the staff rude and unprofessional and they charge but hard to find a vet a/h that does not send patients to arh they have a/h sown up here

Absolutely disgusting place ! – This clinic is not about animal welfare I urge you all whoever picks up strays do not bring them here ! If you have a sick animal at night this is the last place you want to come ! The people are horrible ! They have held my dog hostage and given it away to a stranger! They won’t tell me where my dog is ! These people have so many horrible reviews !!!!!

Disgusting service, terrible staff who are arrogant . Almost left my fur baby suffer – I prefer to give them “0” rating because they left my fur baby to suffer and until condition deteriorates to what they term as “critical”shame on you and your staff .Rude, poor service and disrespectful for a emergency vet. Almost killed my fur baby who was in so much pain and in terrible state, she consumed sand while on the beach. By night her… Read more

condition deteriorated significantly from significant pain, repeated vomiting and diarrhea, she was visibly dehydrated. We were made to wait for more than 2 hours without any nurse attending her vitals to determine if her condition is emergency or not, they took my details then vanished telling us it won’t take long, there is only one vet and attending to serious emergencies. No one attended or even spoke to us, we felt ignored and discriminated, while, our baby threw up couple Of times at hospital and visibly restless. I had to ask the nurse multiple times, she came back and told me it’s upto you and can take her to SASH. The most arrogant disrespectful female in this profession which needs empathy to stressed owners. After making us wait for close to 3 hours midnight until morning you tell us to take our suffering fur baby to SASH? Glad we decided to not avail treatment at this crappy ARH and took her to SASH. It saved my dog, staff at SASH are life saving angels and service is top notch. Wish we never went to ARH and wasted time and let our baby suffer waiting for 2 hours . Her Blood pressure was low, heart rate was high and she was almost about to collapsed when we rushed her sash north ryde due to ARH staff negligence who didn’t bother to even check her vitals upon arrival at emergency vet. SASH Ryde immediately took her in, nurse came and attended and she was taken for monitoring until vet attended her at first availability and started treatment. I seriously regret opting for ARH for emergency, PLEASE PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THESE RUDE, UNEMPATHETIC, PATHETIC CUSTOMET SERVICE PLACE

Buyer beware , they will take advantage of your emotions and rip you off – They charged $12500 for a emergency GDV operation , which I found out next day could have been done for $1000 by one vet, Or $7000 by another , very rude staff , caused us family issues by undermining my relationship with my daughter with secret phone calls , The Practice manager Carolyn Tonkli would not talk to me on during that time ,. i … Read more

had to write many follow emails, I finally received a phone call a month later . She apologised for the delay but no apology for the way i was treated , or offer to reduce the price to be closer to other hospitals, She just tried to justify their actions because my emotional wife and daughter signed an agreement to save our family pet . I would recommend getting 2 quotes first before going to ARH homebush , and make sure you are someone not vulnerable to being taken advantage of , I wish I read all the bad reviews first , Will not go back there , ever ,

Ridiculous, its about money not the animals – My beautiful doggo was mid labour, we came into complications with pup #9 and I called to get some advice ... the "woman" I spoke to was putrid to say the least, actually broke my spirit, within the first 3 mins of TRYING to explain what was wrong I was being quoted between $3,500 and $5,000 to help my girl. I arrived a couple hours later and she… Read more

picked up exactly where she left off, the proceeded to slag me off after yanking my poor girls leash (mind you she had puppy feet poking out of her little hoo-haa). The vet was a little nicer but told me that my "dogs uterus had ruptured, she required surgery to remove the last pup, she would be spayed while in there, she needed a transfusion, she was anemic, she needs a shot of oxytocin to shrink her uterus but that can't be done as it will surely rupture her uterus and she make react poorly to the anaesthetic and the oxytocin".... so when I asked if her uterus had already ruptured or not, I got a response of: well, look, it appears that way but it could also just be the intestines doubled over. (In short, not true at all - my vet was mortified when I told her all of this). $580 for an xray and LESS than 40 mins there, I got a semi apology from one of the other vet nurses there. Do not take your loved animals there!

Professional Surgery – I am long term client with ARH Homebush. In October 2021 my dog Jack has had surgery to close dog attack wound on his back. Luckily the wound was not very deep and the hospital was able to debride the non-viable tissue and close the wound. The surgery was done so perfectly and stitches almost not visible. The Highest Standard! The Discharge… Read more

Instructions were very clear and Jack recover well with the prescribed medication. Our pets are part of our family. They need professional hospital care when saving their precious lives. The same as us. Are we going to have a surgery with the local GP? Definitely not. I can't understand why some people spend thousands and thousands of dollars for themselves but when it comes to their beloved pets suddenly they become so mean.

All about money! – If you want a place to take all of your money… then this is it! They charged me $6000 for 2 scans plus an overnight stay at their clinic. On top of this, the required surgery was estimated to be $12,000… and they required a $6000 deposit upfront. I rang around to other vets and found one other location who did it for $3000. It’s disgusting that they take advantage of the patient and charge unnecessary prices. Absolutely ridiculous!

Never EVER again – This visit found them to be arrogant & condescending. their customer relations leave alot to be desired On my last visit, my 17 year old dog needed surgery and i was told they cannot guarantee that he will make it through the surgery, but it will cost you $1800...here have 1 minute to make your decision. They are very desensitised and the main… Read more

concern is the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR$$$$$$$$$$$$ In fact my vet did refer me to advanced vet care i think i know why now

Appalling PR – The only thing they are interested in, is the money. Very quick every morning to send an email requesting another $2000 or $3000, but will not respond to queries as to how the pet is faring....sometimes took 4 hours to get any response , apart from...they are busy..will ring you!! No empathy, poor diagnosis, incorrect reading of xrays resulting in a major op, which turned out was not required!! Incompetence & greed would be my summation.

Left me waiting for days for answers for a terminally ill cat – Very disappointed overall with the service received, due to waiting for days for results for a terminally ill cat. Visited the Animal Referral Hospital in Essendon Fields VIC. I took my cat in with breathing problems on a Saturday night. At first, the vet was good in calling me back with 4 possible illnesses, and texting me during the night… Read more

once. They kept my pet overnight and stabilised him, returning him to me on Sunday afternoon. This was all during a COVID lockdown, so you had to hand over your pet and wait for them to call.

The first and second vets l talked to were good, but when l picked up my cat, l wasn't told what was wrong with him, just symptoms and that they had ruled out one of the possible causes, heart disease. I was told his blood test results would come in on Monday afternoon and to see my vet in 3 to 5 days. I paid just under $1800 for treatment.

I called on Monday afternoon, but the blood test results had not come in. I called again on Tuesday lunch, again no results. Meanwhile l had my cat at home, struggling to breathe. I called Tuesday night and was then told the results were in, but the vets were busy and they would call me back. I did not hear back from them.

I called on Wednesday morning and asked his for tests results. These were inconclusive and the third, new vet, then suggested he had heart disease (previously ruled out) and blood tests didn't point to cancer.

From Saturday night to Wednesday morning, l had no answers as to what was his underlying cause of breathing issues. Why didn't they do any x-rays or ultrasound scans when he was there, to find out what was wrong with him? They have the facilities!

I took my cat to the vet on Wednesday morning, after the long wait for the test results from the Animal Referral Hospital. When l saw my vet, she told me my cat was very sick and most likely going to die soon. I wanted to know what was wrong with him and if there's anything l could do for him. So l went to a different animal hospital recommended by my vet, where l got answers in 3 hours, after an ultrasound showed a cancerous growth. Whilst I was devastated, I was given answers, but most importantly, the new hospital used their facilities to find out what was wrong with him and gave me advice on palliative care. They also charged a hell of a lot less.

Unfortunately, I had to put my much loved cat to sleep the next day, which broke my heart.

Where I am most upset with the Animal Referral Hospital is: 1) the window of time from Saturday night to Wednesday morning, to receive his blood test results. This was way too long and unacceptable. Plus I had to keep ringing them, they never rang me. 2) how long they had him in care for, but didn't do any investigative tests, other than a blood test. They did help him by draining fluid from his chest, with bought him a little time. 3) The last vet I spoke with then contradicted the first vet about what he had, leaving me confused, and with a cat that had no treatment plan and I had no answers.

As stated, the first 2 vets were good over the phone, whilst the third was poor. In the end, I didn't get a diagnosis of what he had, but paid a lot of money. The Animal Referral Hospital need to improve the communication between their vets, for the benefit of the patient's care and treatment. Please don't leave animal owners desperately waiting for answers for DAYS, when an animal is so sick. The end to end process was disgraceful, slow, costly (happy to pay for true care). My cat was left hanging for days and if I had of known there was no hope earlier, would have actioned his care differently.

I won't be coming back, nor recommending them I'm sorry to say. I really felt like I was ripped off, as once they took the payment and handed back my pet, there was no after care service. I had to to keep calling to find out what was wrong, and didn't get that answer, despite paying for urgent care.

I did find a subsequent animal hospital in Kensington, to be much more helpful, where the vets took the time to call me and explain the situation in detail over the phone, after doing prompt tests to find out about my cat's illness. So the service I expected, can be done.

Bad experience overall - it's about the money – Surgeon Sarah. Good luck if you receive a call you deserve for your pet after surgery or her precious time. The reception staff need to learn to smile and one gave me inaccurate information regarding my insurance claim, clueless. I was told I had to do lodge the claim when the ARH clearly could, I found out later. I also made it clear to the… Read more

surgeon to call me back with a quote as I was given a range which was well more than I ever expected, of course it didn't happen. Very costly and charges are over the top. From my interaction I believe the interest and care is financial rather than the welfare of your pet. I was waiting for results and of course, they do not call you despite advising otherwise. Leaving you stressed and concerned. I had to follow up on everything, Communication is appalling. Make appointments to see the surgeon and all well and good in emergencies, however, a courtesy call would be appreciated to be given the opportunity to rebook! Appointment after appointment post surgery with no information or time from the Sarah. In place, she sends out her nurses who give me no information whatsoever as to why I need to keep returning week after week. Rather than just show up and be told come back next week. Infuriating! Despite voicing my opinion, basically, you get the tough luck look with no care. If I could avoid this place, I would and certainly will in the future trying Uni of Sydney. ARH Homebush needs a touch of empathy that's for sure. My suggestion to you would be to try and get it done through your local vet or visit another hospital! Terrible... I gave this feedback to the nurse who clearly couldn't even apologies or acknowledge what I was saying. Total ignorance.

Great veterinary care but poor administration – Great care for my border collie [Name Removed] from [Name Removed] however still waiting over a week later for a refund of just over $2000 owing to me - despite many calls and emails - very disappointing administration requiring an overview to ensure such problems are addressed promptly

Duty of care? – Do ARH have a duty of care to animals if you can't afford the excessive charges?

Way over priced – Two dogs 36 hours, $11,000 enough said. Complete rip off.