-
February 2024 by Aedan Barnes
Professional, super compassionate, responsive. True partners in the care of our pets. We love River Rd Animal Hosp!!
-
February 2024 by Diane Crabtree
Dr.Kerby is great with Paisley & Avery's health. As well as, the staff are friendly, kind & caring.
-
February 2024 by Marc R
My best advice would be to turn around and run! Run as fast as you can from this practice. If I could give negative zero stars I would. I had a bad feeling about this place from day one. I can't for the life of me understand why a veterinary practice suggests (and prefers) you drug your pet before they opt to treat them. They adamantly state that it's for their safety and the safety of their staff. In my 40 years of being a pet owner, and at least a half dozen or more veterinarians I have dealt with in that time, NONE, not even ONE, have EVER asked or suggested that I drug my animals to be treated, for them to be able to "safely" handle them. If they are that worried about dealing with an undoped animal, then perhaps Veterinary medicine isn't really their calling.Instead of getting to the root of a problem, it seems all they have ever wanted to do is medicate my animals. Anytime we have ever left RRAH, we immediately called our old vet almost 4 hours away and asked their opinion on the treatment we received, or lack thereof. We trusted our old vet leaps and bounds above RRAH, and after speaking with multiple friends on the matter that have dealt with RRAH, we've found they have done the exact same thing with their old vets. Not a good look.We took our rather healthy pet in last Monday 1/22/2024 because she was panting and seemed like she was labored in her breathing. The vet checked her out, listened to her heart and lungs and said everything sounds fine, and she was panting because she had back pain. As usual, they decided she needed drugs, because, well , that's what they seem to do there every time we've ever set foot in there. No xrays, no ultra sounds, nothing! Just medicate as usual. So, after two injections we went home with the high hopes that this is what our pet needed. Looking back on it now how wrong we were. Two days later and multiple phone calls (many ignored for hours, while our pet suffered) they said she needed some sort of laser therapy for her back pain since the shots didn't work. Still no xrays, ultra sound, or bloodwork doc? C'mon. It sounds like they were just as clueless with yet another ploy for more money.We immediately sought out another veterinarian on Thursday, not only for our lack of trust in RRAH, but also because of the wonderful things we heard about this other practice. They seemed extremely knowledgeable, genuine, caring, compassionate, and didn't require us to sedate our animals to be seen. Perfect! After thoroughly examining our pet (they did bother to take xrays), the veterinarian determined that her spine was perfectly normal and healthy, but her left lung was obstructed with fluid, possibly due to an infection and administered a strong antibiotic. They said if she didn't show any progress by Saturday, to bring her back, or take her to the emergency vet in Wilmington. She seemed to be progressively deteriorating and struggling to breathe, so we ended up rushing her to the Emergency Vet last Friday evening 1/26/2024. The new vet actually called us at 7pm, while we were en route to check on her, like he truly cared. That spoke volumes to us.They put her on oxygen and said she was only getting 50% use of her lungs, and when they would remove the oxygen for more testing and labs, she was really struggling.Ultimately, we had to make that horrible decision to say goodbye to our sweet (perfectly healthy a week prior) girl and end her suffering. It really makes me wonder though, if all of this could have been avoided, had RRAH taken her labored breathing seriously and actually bothered to take some xrays. Perhaps we could have caught it earlier and treated the actual cause that was her demise, not back pain. It sure would have been nice, if we were less treated like a number, and more like a valued client, and pet. Like our new vet does!One may never see this review on RRAH, but rest assured if I had it to do all over again, and I could, I'd have listened to my initial gut reaction, and ran li
-
January 2024 by Brian Bolduc
River Road Animal Hospital is hands down the most attentive, caring veterinarian I've come across within 100 miles. Their Doctors and staff are absolutely dedicated to the detailed and correct care of my pets. I have never been let down by them when trying to schedule an appointment. I would 100% recommend them above any other veterinary practice.
-
January 2024 by Anna Bolduc
River Road Animal Hospital is hands down the most attentive, caring veterinarian I've come across within our area. Their Doctors and staff are absolutely dedicated to the detailed and correct care of my pets. I have never been let down by them when trying to schedule an appointment. I would 100% recommend them above any other veterinary practice. They are the best!!!
-
October 2023 by christi cobble
Staff and vets are extremely friendly and helpful. They call the day after appts to check on your pet and that means a lot to me
-
August 2023 by Faith C
If you’re thinking about taking your pets to River Road Animal Hospital, please reconsider.Back in May of 2023, our 10yr old cat Mykie suddenly became sick and was running a very high fever. We weren’t able to get into our regular vets office, so we called around and River Road was able to get us into an emergency appointment. We saw Dr. Calley Steelman. We needed to find out the cause of Mykie’s fever, so they were able to give him an ultrasound. They kept him there for a few hours to reduce his fever, and told us the doctor would call with his ultrasound results. When Dr. Steelman called, she told us that Mykie had a tumor in his lung, and that his lungs were so completely filled with fluid that he couldn’t breathe. This didn’t sound right to us considering Mykie wasn’t coughing. We asked if there was any possibility it could be something else, and she said no, it was most definitely cancer. We did not see the ultrasound results ourselves. Dr. Steelman told us that he didn’t have more than a few days left to live and that there was nothing we could do. She recommended we put him down right away, even before we could say goodbye. We informed her that we needed more time with him and she said fine, but it was selfish of us. Apparently the most she could do was give Mykie steroid shots to reduce the fever, and hopefully prolong his life for a few more days. We took him home and luckily we were able to see our regular vet at Southport Animal Hospital the next day. Our vet was surprised by Dr. Steelman’s diagnosis considering Mykie was still very lively and acting normal. She did her own ultrasound and also x-rays. She showed us the images and where the mass was located, but Mykie’s lungs were not full of fluid like Dr. Steelman said. Our vet told us that there was a possibility of the mass being cancer, but there was also a chance it could be some sort of infection instead. She recommended we try antibiotics along with oral steroids for two weeks to treat it as an infection, before we came to our final decision. We agreed and told Dr. Steelman that we were going to try the antibiotics. She called our regular vet unprofessional, said that we would be “torturing Mykie by shoving pills down his throat” and that we would “cause him to suffer during his last few days.” After two weeks on antibiotics Mykie went back to see his regular vet. She did another ultrasound and more x-rays. The mass was completely gone so the doctor determined it was some sort of infection. Mykie is completely healthy now and back to his normal self. If we had listened to Dr. Steelman At River Road, we wouldn’t have our sweet boy anymore. The fact that she wasn’t willing to do anything to help him, and was so quick to want to put him down is disgusting and completely unprofessional. I highly recommend you stay away from here or at least get a second opinion before listening to that doctor.
-
June 2023 by Terry I
River Road Animal Hospital is an amazing place. The vets and techs truly love and care for any and all animals. I do place my babies well being in their hands with total confidence. They do everything humanly possible for their clients.Recently we unexpectedly lost one of our puppies at an early 10 years old. She had a mass growing inside that rather quickly ended her life. It was devastating.But we know the mass was not detectable due to where it was. While we mourned our loss, never would we blame River Road. There were no symptoms. A normal senior dog check up could never find it.The people (not just "staff") at River Road mourned with us. They do indeed love their 4 legged clients.I think this beautiful Southport area's growth is exploding. My concern is not with the excellent quality of care we get, but with the long hours and endless days, are high quality organizations such as River Road going to burn out? I hope everyone treats the people in these businesses around here with kindness, as they are the best around!P.S. zephyr looks so adorable!!!
-
June 2023 by Quinn Steinbrecher
We were out of town on vacation when our dog had a diabetic emergency. They were able to fit us in quickly. Dr. Derby was a life saver. She was attentive and followed up regularly to make sure our dog was doing well. She made a very difficult time much more manageable.
-
June 2023 by Danielle Cain
Dr Travis and her staff are the best people. They are all amazingly Caring, and have seen all of my pets (several through cancers and old age/ diabetes etc) for years. Love them!!
-
June 2023 by Kattie Spies
We just moved to the area and were recommended to the office by a friend. Dr. Steelman and staff were so kind to our newest rescue dog, who needed a little TLC in this new environment. Great place to take your pets!
-
June 2023 by John Lowder
Eager to pad their pockets with a $500+ dental cleaning. Forget having your pet seen for a problem; "we are booked, you need to take your pet to the emergency clinic in Wilmington". They will no longer be my pet's veterinarian.
-
June 2023 by Kyrsten Piatt
Absolutely love it! The staff that work there are amazing, so friendly, and they care about each and every animal that comes through the front door!
-
March 2023 by Karen Pope
The voicemail indicates that they would pick up my pet in the parking lot. And they texted a message but never called. It's cool though. New to the area and found a vet.
-
September 2022 by Justin Stiffler
Dr. Derby and all of the staff at River Road Animal Hospital are amazing. They mad my pup and I feel welcome and cared for. Excellent communication, clean facility and a streamlined intake process. I can't recommend them enough.
