Vets Now Reviews 

Prompt responses from call centre. Was communicated with clearly throughout. At the emergency clinic we were seen in a good time given that it is first come first served with the proviso that emergencies will be dealt with. Overall a good response with sympathetic staff at what was on a stressful time for owner and pet

The attentive vet and explanation of his issues and reassurance

They was really helpful with blackie really appreciated them getting her in for a appointment, the woman that seen to blackie was really good, gave good advice on what to do next

Everything was excellently except for the fact that it was freezing inside. A warm day outside, but surely no need for air-conditioning to be so cold. I was shivering for nearly an hour. Great vet though, and helpful staff.

I want to be fair, so I'll start with the positives. When our cat suddenly became critically ill at 2am last Saturday, we got an appointment within about 10 minutes of calling our own vet, who put us through to the on-call emergency service. That night it was Beach House, West End Road, Bitterne, the practice is Vets Now, not Beach House staff, I assume. The nurse was genuinely lovely and kind throughout.

Sadly, the vet was a different story. I was in pieces, understandably, this was a totally unexpected outcome for our beloved pet and she was cold and hard-faced. No sympathy, no warmth. A deadpan "I'll give you a minute" to my partner, as I stood there and sobbed; that was as much comfort as we got.

I understand it must be an incredibly hard job, I couldn't do it, especially in this heatwave with so many sick and dying animals being brought in daily. But in all my years of pets being at death's door, I have never experienced this coldness. Other vets would hold them, or stroke them, say their name, talk to them, just that makes the situation a little easier to bear.

Her handling of him upset me deeply. She got hold of him by the neck to pull his head back to look at his gums, he was fragile and, as it turned out, dying. All I could think was: please be gentler with him; he was clearly suffering.

When it came to decisions, there was no real explanation of the options; she offered a blood test or the dreaded other option, repeated medical jargon we didn't understand, and nothing else, no explanation of what it meant or what to expect. Just a flat "what do you want to do?" as I scrambled on my phone for the notes I'd made when our own vet called five weeks earlier with blood test results (emergency vets don't have access to your own vet's notes), hoping it would give her some idea of what could be wrong. He was on no medication, and in truth not much would have been known. So in one of the most painful moments a pet owner can face, we were left to make an impossible choice with little guidance and no compassion.

This isn't about the outcome, I'm sure nothing could have changed that, and the heat had clearly escalated whatever was going on inside him. It's about how it was handled.

We've sadly been to Beach House before in the middle of the night, when our 22-year-old cat was at death's door, and that was a completely different experience, gentle, compassionate, everything you'd hope for. So I know it can be done. The speed of the appointment and the nurse's kindness showed this service is capable of it. The vet's coldness made a hard night, much harder than it needed to be. Please whoever you are (maybe Tasha I cant remember) I hope you read this and know it is not ok!

Excellent care for our cat who was poorly and it was a Saturday evening.
Luna was assessed and given medication which helped her and she is now on the mend.

Poor service , rip off merchants , not transparent, poor after service DON NOT USE !

Very nice friendly staff and very efficient.

Vet was reassuring. Diagnosed stress haematuria rather than the “heatstroke kidney failure “ that I had diagnosed!
Vet gave me the option of blood screening for confirmation of her clinical diagnosis or just accepting clinical diagnosis. I opted for blood tests. Vets diagnosis was confirmed. Discharged with medications for stress and pain management.
I was impressed with the vet.

absolutely disgraceful service. I was unfortunately transferred to vets now when my dog needed urgent care and had to be put to sleep. Couldn’t find vein three times I had to suggest sedation to make it less stressful eventually another more competent vet came out and did it straight away then stood looking at his phone while the nurse checked for heart beat you couldn’t make it up. The paperwork for cremation details was shoved in our face before he had died. That is the lasting memory for us of our beloved Harvey and he deserved better and so did we. I’ve waited 35 days as suggested it would take for a response from Vets Now and nothing. Avoid them like the plague if you want the best for your pet at the end of his life. There is no compassion no care just absolute overcharge at its worst. i’ve had 3 dogs put down and thankfully the others have been peaceful and calm as it should be at end of life. Don’t risk it use someone else.

All of the staff were so kind, empathetic & helpful. Provided me with information every step of the way, explained all the tests & treatments and enabled me to make informed decisions.

Erick the vet on emergency services was very nice and professional. He was helping our cockapoo taking out a very deep grass seed from his ear without sedation. Thank you Erick!

Quick response. Lovely vet, very helpful staff.

Very expensive

Helpful staff but a customer toilet would be very useful. This is the only out of hours vet in quite a wide area and, door to door your visit could be several hours without access to a loo which could be extremely difficult for some. There are several signs clearly stating the toilet is staff only.

Friendly efficient and calming. My small dog was in a bad way when we arrived, I was terrified i may lose her. It was around 2.30am Sunday Morning.
My dog had been attacked by a stray or lost XL Bully, she had deep puncture wounds all over her body. The vet calmly shaved around them, cleaned them out with a solution, and stapled them.
He reassured me that no vital organs had been punctured, which was what I was terrified of.
I was so lucky that they where able to deal with her out of hours. I am grateful we have this emergency service.
I am very pleased to say my little girl is now fully recovered 🙏

We had a severe emergency with our dog an hour from home. Our regular vet urgently advised us to divert immediately to Vets Now Southampton, 15 minutes away.
From the start, the central call handler ignored the medical urgency. Instead of getting a critical animal through the door, he was entirely consumed by harvesting admin details and warning us of their £313 fee.
He actively obstructed us and wasted critical emergency time by:
• Refusing the address: Insisting on collecting admin details before giving us the clinic's physical address.
• Ignoring our reality: Repeatedly demanding the postcode of our moving car, ignoring that we were already close by and just needed to know where the building was.
• Following a script blindly: Not listening to my actual responses, failing to understand the situation, and just blindly reading off a script.
In total frustration with his obstruction, I hung up and drove the 40 plus minutes back to our own vet. Our dog passed away just as we arrived. While I am not blaming Vets Now for her death, I am utterly disgusted by the call centre's attitude.
I appreciate they are a business. An emergency service should (at least pretend to) put an animal's welfare above upfront administration and fees. Their obsession with following a script instead of focusing on getting an animal to emergency care is the exact opposite of what you need in a crisis.

Quite late afternoon/evening on a Sunday, reception/nurse on duty very friendly, reassuring care from the efficient vet who saw our greyhound, very happy with the whole service

Great friendly supportive service

Lovely vets, thorough with how my pet was checked.
Explained very clearly.
Very friendly vets, was given antibiotics for my little dogs eye and now my dog is better.
She's very happy and I'm happy and relieved with how they dealt with the problem promptly, and now my dog is back to her normal self so thank you.