Vets for Pets - Biggleswade

Previous run in with this vets, my dog was sedated for a dew claw removal? And we was told she flinched when they cut it… meaning they didn’t wait for the sedation to take place properly before removal. We also took our family bulldog there earlier this week. To which he had blood work as his stomach was swollen , we was worried he was anemic, and then we were told his bloods were fine? Took him to sandy vets, to which all his bloods came back red, he had anemia, kidney failure, bleeding internally and that he had a huge tumor. Vets for pets wanted to charge us £800 for X-rays and deepdale charged nothing. So our dog was bleeding internally for over a week. And we was told he was just over weight because he’s a flat nose breed. Disgusting. There is not a single sorry strong enough in the world to rectify the damage done.

On Sunday we brought our 9 month old cat in with symptoms of vomiting and lethargy. We were initially told the symptoms were caused by a blockage. We left Florence at the vets for fluids, pain relief, X-rays and scans. We got a call to say good news can’t find a blockage but your cat has acute kidney failure prognosis 50/50. She must be transferred to Davies for dialysis. We arrived to collect Florence and was told that Davies couldn’t take her instead we were transferred to Hatfield and quoted 3-5k for treatment. We needed to decide if keeping her alive or letting her go was the fairest thing to do - particularly with such a bleak prognosis. When we arrived home she appeared so so sick and I was scared I called the vets immediately and said I was going to take her to Hatfield but bring her in to Biggleswade on route so they could check her again, I was told they could help her on her way. When I arrived I was told she was ok but hard to tell if she would make the journey. We took her. When we arrived she was immediately taken to be stabilised at a cost of £500 which nobody discussed. We then were pulled in to a side room where we were told she was likely to have a blockage and then the kidney issues on top and treatment was not what we had been quoted but actually 12k which vets4pets did not pass on. I queried the price and was told they would need to complete all tests again because vets4pets had closed without sending bloods, X-rays and scans. After 4/5 hours and discussions about euthanasia it was agreed they would keep her comfortable over night £1000 and review everything in the morning. Vets4pets were chased 4 times before the sent everything which upon review along with bloods that morning Florence had a different diagnosis- no kidney problems but a blockage which could almost be made out on the X-rays but the vet had failed to X-ray high enough. We were given the option to take her to another vet who may be cheaper. We found a vet who was able to operate immediately and sure enough found Florence had swallowed an ear plug! This was removed and she was sent home after a few hours where she is expected to make a full recovery! There are too many failures to mention, Florence isn’t just a cat she is our family and we could have put a healthy cat to sleep due to their negligence. Even more frustrating it’s impossible to access their complaint procedure which I have been trying to do since Monday - further failings so now I am going public. I have all of the vets notes etc to validate what I have written here. I urge vets4pets to contact me directly to get this matter resolved.

Worst experience ever. I had to make an emergency appointment as my dog was ill and our usual vet was closed due to it being Christmas. I was charged out of hours although the practice was open. The vet hardly looked at my dog and didn’t carry out any checks that I would have expected with my dogs symptoms. Then I was told that it could be one of a few things however was more likely cancer due to his age. wanting me to pay £700 extra for tests. I also payed for a full health check that wasn’t done. I declined the extra tests and said that i wanted a second opinion but id like antibiotics to rule out one of the conditions that it could have been. The vet was rude, uncaring and treated my dog like an object. I was told he will die faster because I didn’t want the tests. Today I’ve been to my regular vet and he doesn’t have cancer. He has an infection and a degenerative condition that affects his back legs.

Vets for pets can be hit or miss. This one seems to be worse than the last. Booked my dog in for bloods under the vet's instruction. We turned up and they informed us that we were supposed to bring her in before her morning medication dose, and so we would need to book another appointment. They charged us £50 for that appointment which lasted 5 mins and then charged us again for the next appointment. Bearing in mind we have been taking the dog in for bloods for years and this has never been the instruction of any other vet. It seems to me that Vets for Pets are one of the main big companies that are responsible for the massive inflation in costs. This in turn has pushed up the insurance cost to own a pet. You also dont often see the same person at this vet, meaning the vets rarely have any knowledge of the medical history of the animal.

Unfortunately I’ve had multiple issues with Vets4Pets Biggleswade which have resulted in me having to raise multiple complaints with the head office. Firstly, my dog is a blood donor and any anomaly results are sent to the registered vet to review. One time I was told about an anomaly on a Friday and despite repeated attempts to speak to the vet, it wasn’t until the evening when vet Karen called and rudely commented on the fact I had been trying to get into contact and refused to discuss the results of the blood test because they weren’t carried out by them. This caused unnecessary stress and anxiety over the weekend as I had to wait to speak to the charity Pet Blood Bank to find out what the anomaly was. I complained about the handling of this and a different vet called me to discuss the results which weren’t concerning. Given my dog donates blood to help save other dog’s lives, the attitude of vet Karen and unwillingness to disclose the blood test results of my legally owned dog registered at their practice causing undue stress and anxiety was unacceptable. Secondly, a prescription was issued so I could order medication online rather than pay Vets4Pets extortionate prices and they failed to put all of the required details on my prescription which lead to a delay in my order being processed. As a result I had to pay an extortionate amount for a few days supply to tide me over until the order arrived due to an error they were the cause of. Thirdly, when trying to order the remaining issue of prescription I was told the practice had dated the prescription longer than legally allowed (over six months) and that my vet would have to authorise issuing the final amount. When asking the practice to do this they initially said the vet wanted to see my dog (which would have been an extra cost) to review despite having seen him only 2 months prior. This again caused much stress and left me raising a complaint to the practice manager and head office. The result of which they agreed to issue a new prescription free of charge without requiring another appointment given my dog was seen only 2 months prior. They will respond to complaints generally in the customer’s favour but the stress this causes and having to resort to complaining to get something rectified is unacceptable and has truly broken my faith in the ethics and working practices of this veterinary practice and the veterinary industry writ large which seems focussed on profit rather than animal welfare and customer service. Let’s hope the Competition and Markets Authority review into unfair practices by profit hungry veterinary practices results in some positive changes for pet owners. Other than these instances which have caused much stress, my experience has been generally fine.

We took our cat to vets for pets as anxious pet owner as he was having some minor problems, Dr. Emma Beechener was brilliant! She made us feel so at ease and came up with a solution to ease our boys discomfort :) so greatful and couldn't have asked for a better vet!