Small Animal Specialist Hospital

my cat had clear cancer signs but they thought it was just an eye thing. after FIVE appointments without any real tests, they still had nothing. towards the end, it was very clear that my cat had nasal cancer but these “professionals” were too blind to see it. we spent thousands at this place just for our cat to lose his life after only 11 years as an indoor cat. never had a good experience with any of our animals before this specific cat either.

Our dog died because the specialist at SASH North Ryde failed basic assessment, used a medication dangerous to kidneys but did not correctly assess kidney function and has no idea what effects this has had on our family or the suffering he inflicted on our dog. We are not ranting. It was inexcusable, negligent treatment. The other staff at SASH… Read more

are caring and competent so dont judge SASH by this one individual but be aware that if you use this surgeon he could do the same thing to your fur kids

Our Labrador underwent surgery at SASH North Ryde. The surgical wound wasnt healing after three weeks so we suggested to the surgeon that there could be an infection because every other possible cause had been excluded. The surgeon ignored our… Read more

advice and kept resuturing the wound each time it fell apart. Finally we gave up and got our local vet to check the wound and he said it was obviously an infection and took a wound swab. It came back as a multi antibiotic resistant bacteria. The surgeon then started giving an antibiotic that can damage kidneys and the manufacturer advises frequent check of kidney function. We checked and theres a massive amount of information on this antibiotic and universally the advice is to check kidney function every couple of days. The surgeon ignored this and as a result our dog died from kidney failure. After weeks of trying to get an explanation from SASH a manager called and terminated the conversation when we asked why the surgeon acted against advice. We cant figure out why a surgeon would act in a negligent manner and why management is not interested in finding out why our dog was killed. There are many caring staff at SASH hospitals but the behavior of this surgeon is inexplicable. Our advice is do not go to SASH North Ryde for surgery. Go to any of their other hospitals unless you want to have the same experience as us.

Avoid SASH North Ryde for surgery. Their negligence killed out beautiful Labrador and they pretend to care but they dont. The failure in duty of care… Read more

by the surgeon lead to the rapid decline and death of a family Labrador. The surgeon refused to explore why our Labradors surgical wound wasnt healing. He just re sutured the wound over and over. We told the surgeon its got to be an infection. The surgeon just ignored this advice. My dad took a wound swab and yeah it was an infection. My dad, the client, had to take action when it was the responsibility of the surgeon to do this we were paying a lot of money to have a specialist surgeon. Next the surgeon prescribed a antibiotic that can damage kidneys if kidney function isnt checked at least 2 to 3 times a week. The surgeon dismissed this and continued to give the antibiotic. Our dog died from renal failure directly because of the actions of the surgeon. No apology, no explanation. The surgeon should be held responsible for destroying our family. Big questions to be answered by SASH. Why would a surgeon deliberately not check for the most likely cause of a surgical wound not healing? Why would a surgeon deliberately ignore my dads advice and the warnings and clear instructions of the manufacturer of the antibiotic?We checked and theres a lot of literature that says kidney function must be checked frequently, meaning every 2 to 3 days when using this medication and more frequently if theres known kidney disease. Our Labrador did not have kidney disease; lab tests confirmed this and he was looking well and no signs of issues with his kidneys. Either the surgeon is not familiar with basic vet practice or he deliberately ignored all the safety rules and basic training. Finally after weeks of emails a manager called us. The conversation indicated that SASH North Ryde has no interest in finding why they allow a surgeon to break basic assessment rules, ignore clear instructions about medications and make multiple breaches in duty of care and this negligence killed out dog. They have not apologized and the manager did not like us asking why the surgeon broke every rule on evidence based practice. The manager terminated the conversation leaving us wondering why they even called us. There are some caring staff at SASH but dont take the risk with their surgeon. Go to Western Sydney or Alexandria where there are competent surgeons

Initially, I was really impressed—friendly staff welcomed an injured brush turkey I brought in, and I truly appreciated the care and compassion shown at the time. However, I was left quite disappointed when I called later to check on the bird and was told that, due to policy, they couldn’t disclose the outcome. I understand the importance of… Read more

privacy in some contexts, but in this case, it makes little sense. I’m simply a concerned person who helped an injured wild animal—surely some basic update could be offered to give peace of mind? The girl on the phone was polite and empathetic, and I don’t fault her at all, but the policy itself feels cold and unnecessarily secretive.

If anyone from SASH is reading this, I’d ask you to please reconsider this aspect of your policy. Offering a simple update about the wellbeing or outcome for wildlife that good-hearted people bring in would go a long way in encouraging more of this kind of community care. Who exactly are we going to tell?

Disappointing end to what started as a hopeful interaction.

Meant to be specialists but can’t diagnose anything without stating they need to complete highly expensive tests. I went for a second opinion at a completely different vet after twice being quoted (at 2 different sash clinics) upwards of 5k just for tests and my cat has been diagnosed, treated and is now better for 195 dollars. I was charged 2… Read more

consultation fees because 1 sash vet didn’t know what was wrong so referred me to another sash clinic. The minute I said I didn’t want to spend so much on tests, the second vet shut down and was rude and dismissive and effectively ignored me while I was still in the consultation room. Outrageous behaviour for vets who are meant to be there to help my animal. Would not recommend unless you like to spend a lot of money needlessly with no real care for your pets outcome. In the last 6 months, I have spent the best part of 20k with these guys for one cat to have ‘nothing wrong with it’ and another to have to be euthanised.

Appalling – Absoloutely appalling customer service. Take a $4,460 deposit but DO NOT return phone calls or provide updates about our very sick dog. Avoid them like the plague. I would give ZERO stars if that was an option. Go elsewhere! Here's an update. I was understandably livid when I wrote the above review. The following day the communication from SASH… Read more

Adelaide improved (after having been almost non-existent). I was considering adding an extra star or two and editing the review. However that all changed when the Operations Manager of SASH Adelaide called my wife and threatened her with withdrawing treatment from our very unwell fur baby unless I removed my Google review. Absolutely disgusting behaviour her. Instead of taking on board criticism of the appalling service provided and the lack of customer support/service, her only concern was protecting the reputation of SASH Adelaide by having a negative review removed. Absolutely no regard for the duty of care to look after our critically ill dog. She is one of 3 rescue dogs we have at home. She was admitted to SASH Adelaide as she was extremely unwell. There are limited 24/7 emergency facilities in Adelaide. She was at death's door. She's 11.5 years old and had severe acute pancreatitis, pneumonia, diabetes and her kidneys were failing. We chose to do whatever we could that was reasonable to see if she could pull through instead of euthanasia. 24 hours later, after collecting our money the Operations Manager threatened to stop treatment, prioritising a Google review over the care of an extremely unwell pet. On top of that, she mistakenly left a voicemail on my mobile, where she was talking to one of her colleagues making very derogatory comments about me and my character. Clearly demonstrates her integrity, or lack thereof. I challenge the owner(s) of SASH Adelaide to contact me directly regarding the disgusting and unprofessional conduct by their Operations Manager. A face-to-face meeting is required, not an AI generated response. I strongly encourage anyone with unwell pets to go to another 24/7 facility (if feasible) if the current Operations Manager remains at SASH Adelaide. The environment she has created there is extremely toxic, and in my opinion it is quite clear that reputation and income generation is the priority, not duty of care to the unwell pets, otherwise there would not have been the threat to withdraw the care of a very sick dog based on a Google review and after collecting a sizeable deposit.