Animal Referral & Emergency Centre

We brought our four year old male kelpie in om a saturday night. As he was having partial seizures, potentially due to his behavioural medication. As having experience in the industry already from the RSPCA and behavioural training. I cannot express how highly impressed I was with the professionalism and level of care that is provided to our boy Timmy. There is also an impeccable level of bedside manner, which should not be overlooked. Dr Christopher, thank you for your outstanding help.

Our golden retriever, Dexter, was brought in to the emergency vets one Saturday night. We left him there for the team to run some tests and had a call to say he needed surgery. Without hesitation, we opted for the surgery. I want to say a huge thank you to the vet, Maya Boxler, who saved my dogs life. It is a week later and Dexter is doing very well. I admire the skill this vet showed in being able to treat Dexter so successfully. Thank you Maya…it is a joy to see the kids being able to cuddle Dexter again. You’ve given him another chance in life and for that I am so so grateful. Thank you!

Quoted my partner and I one price and once we called again to clarify before travelling an hour to get there they upped the price another few hundred. Honestly it’s not about the money but the unprofessional experience we had only over the phone to this ‘emergency vet’. I’d pay anything to help my pets but it’s the sheer lack of compassion and only wanting the money that made me realise this business only does it for money. Disgusting.

The staff were very caring and understanding when we arrived in the early hours of the morning with our very sick dog. They made sure she was comfortable so we could spend some time with her before our final goodbye. The vet and nurses showed great compassion towards us and our dog, Moose, in what was an extremely difficult time.

Saved my parent's beloved daughter" Daisy

Our dog came in today with issues with his eye. The vet was clearly inexperienced, recommending that our dog go to his usual vet tomorrow because they didn’t ‘cover eyes at uni’. Instead was more interested saying the eye pressure machine cost $10k. She didn’t know what the low pressure in one eye meant! This is disgusting service and complete mismanagement, she should have been supervised by a qualified vet or at the very least conferred with another vet to get the right advice and care for our dog. Being charged $400 to be told to go to your own vet is horrendous. A refund and a review of these business practices are needed.

Tried to make me pay thousands to keep my cat over night for a “tick” he could possibly of had, despite showing no symptoms, and they checked him and he had none so they wanted to shave him and admit him to hospital over night? I took him in for heat stroke. Then tried to guilt me by saying I’m going against vets advice by not admitting him while I was already extremely distressed, trying to take advantage of people who are under distress, I’m glad I read the reviews.

AREC saved this dog’s life. No question. I was referred by my local vet and drove my (mother’s) dog 4 hours to Broadmeadow. She was in progressed keto acidosis and I arrived at 3.30am. The staff were so lovely and compassionate and did absolutely everything they could to allay my concerns. She was in hospital for four days and phoned twice a day with updates as part of their service.Is it expensive? Sure. Healthcare, surgical and other staff wages when not subsidised are very expensive. Right from the start however they gave me a quoted ceiling cost and then would always check back in during one of the phone call updates if they thought there was a chance the quote could go higher. They left it in my hands the entire time and it allowed my mother and I to weigh up the cost. Ultimately, this was her best friend and we agreed to it and she now has a happy dog living with diabetes, all thanks to the incredible efforts of the AREC team in saving her life and getting her stabilised.

Our regular vet referred us here as they couldn’t fit us in yesterday and our cat couldn’t walk and was in a bad way. We suspected another cat had bitten her but we needed to see a vet for treatment.The staff were attentive but the vet was in experienced and didn’t give us any convenience. She failed to diagnose the problem and wanted to charge us $1500 just for X-rays which we declined. $440 later we left last night with our cat.We went to our regular vet today. Paid another $164 which included a consult an injection and antibiotics for 1 week. Our vet quickly confirmed our cat had been bitten by another cat and showed me the bite marks.I get that this facility is for emergencies and I’m sure they do an amazing job, but just know their fees are outrageous and you may not be getting the highest level of treatment and correct diagnosis you’re paying for. The vet was afraid to touch our cat for fear of being bitten. Seriously our cat was in a lot of pain but never once hissed or got aggressive. I thought vets were trained to handle animals?

I am thankful for all staff whilst my Luna was in AREC care. A special thank you to Elizabeth Napier who was Lunas first point of contact when entering AREC.In regards to communication - unmatched.All staff rostered on at the times Luna was admitted in AREC care I was made sure we understood everything that was happening step by step to keep myself and partner up to date.Sadly my beloved Luna girl did not make it out of emergency and passed on Wednesday 14 June.I thank all staff at AREC for the amazing care and support during one of the hardest times of my life. ❤️Luna was so loved and I am grateful for the care during sadly her last moments here with us.