David Gonsky, DVM

Dr. Gonsky is by far THE most compassionate, fair minded and thorough vet that I have ever encountered! The manner in which he trains his staff is equally impressive. I recently had to send my beloved cat CoCo Chanel to kitty heaven and Dr. Gonsky and his wonderful staff eased my sorrow and made my decsion easier to overcome. They even sent a sympathy card! Again, the level of customer care is outstanding. I refer W. Loop Veterinary Care to all of my animal loving friends and when I am ready to give my love to another furry friend Dr. Gonsky and W. Loop will be his/​her primary care vet!

My wife and I highly recommend Dr. Gonsky — as does our Welsh Terrier puppy — Jasper!
Dr. Gonsky was referred to us by a friend and we liked the in-​home service although he is opening a clinic in the West Loop shortly. He is great with our dog and responsive with test results and follow-​up care. Highly recommend him to anyone with a dog or cat.

David takes the whole «going to the doctor» (or vet) experience, and turns it on its head: He has built a practice around making house calls with his assistant.
He is unbelievably knowledge, available, and patient– He spent 1+ hour with my wife/​I examining our new lab puppy, taking the time to answer every imaginable new-​dog owner question we had for him. For example: What vet would ever take the time to demo and then coach/​supervise us through cutting our dogs nails? He explaned the treatment nuisances like the logic behind using de-​worming med’s and taking a stool sample. He patiently answered our newbie questions: Would the dog freeze outside in the cold Chicago evenings? Can/​when is she ready to go jogging with us?
While we’re a new patient, I am 100% sold already. Beasley has her vet for life. My only dig is that now I want my regular physician to start offering house calls.
This is old-​school service and quality.

I learned of Dr. Gonsky from a neighbor. He provides comprehensive veterinary care in your home. The minimization of stress on everyone makes it worthwhile. His approach is relaxed and interactive and his fees are more than reasonable. There is no need to look anywhere else.

Two years ago yesterday, we adopted our dog from the Anti-​Cruelty Society. There she was, in the last kennel in the back corner, dirty and matted, black and grey coat, with a card that had no history, except that she had been transferred from the city pound three weeks earlier. Somehow no one seemed to see her in the back… she was alone and not making a single sound amid the din of barking and howling. She just looked up at us with a sweet face that almost said she was resigned to whatever would happen to her.
Thankfully, we happened to each other. An hour later, this 50 lb. sweetheart was on her way home with us. Her age and breed were a mystery, but she seemed to be about 3 – 4 years old and a terrier poodle mix and she was soon named Maddy.
Maddy had kennel cough and a known ear infection, but unfortunately it turned out that her health problems were much more complicated and only going to get worse. Although ACS offers vet treatment for a month after adoption, we wanted to get settled with our own vet right away. Which leads me to the Dr. Gonsky portion of this story… after all, this isn’t supposed to be a review of our dog or ACS, though I love both.
Two couples we know independently referred us to Dr. Gonsky — a good sign right away. Even better were the whole «house call» thing and his flexible hours, both a great fit for our schedules.
To make a long story epic, Dr. Gonsky uncovered multiple issues that all clearly needed treatment. A different type of aggressive infection in each ear, skin problems, respiratory issues, etc. Over the course of several months and lots of meds and attention from the good Doctor, we got our girl back to health.
This turned out to be temporary because Maddy seems to have some new problem pop up every few months. To date Maddy has confronted cancer, allergies, digestive issues, the list goes on, and Dr. Gonsky is always there for us. There is very little he can not do himself — for example, he has a partnership with a vet clinic for use when he must conduct an operation. But when we have needed a specialist, such as for Maddy’s cancer treatment, he has helped us find the best in the area.
We have a «whatever it takes» mindset about Maddy’s health. But Dr. Gonsky is always sensitive to the costs associated with all of this treatment, and he always gives us the information we need to make informed decisions.
On top of everything, Dr. Gonsky is one of the most caring veterinarians you will ever meet, and that’s coming from a major-​league animal lover. Despite all of the unpleasant medical experiences Maddy has had to endure, she has developed a real bond with Dr. Gonsky and is thrilled when he comes to see her.
My advice: if you’re in Chicago, and you need a vet, this is your man.

I found Dr. Gonsky after reading his reviews here on Unilocal.We recently have taken over the care of one of the cats in the co-​op where we live because of the previous owner’s chaotic schedule. we knew Jerry (the sweet tabby) had a lot of issues that hadn’t been dealt with and we have been trying to get him back on the healthy and happy side. In addition, we have been trying to curb him of some bad behaviours, i.e. peeing in inappropriate places and excessively loud meowing (like someone may call DCFS thinking there is a child screaming loud).
anyhow, Dr. Gonsky was very thorough and patient addressing each and everyone of our concerns, giving helpful suggestions and different options on treatments. He and his assistant both had a wonderful demeanor with Jerry. Turns out that in addition to the thyroid condition we knew about, Jerry also had an ear infection and HUGE amounts of tartar build-​up, both of which were likely causes to some of his strangely loud meowing. We will be finding out in the next few days the results of the comprehensive senior kitty screening he gave him. The screening isn’t cheap but since we knew we needed a urine test (to rule out a bladder or urinary tract infection) and a thryroid test AND there were other questions out there, we thought it was the best route to go. But since the senior screening is pricey, Dr. Gonsky went through each test he thought was really important and gave us the option to just test for those as well.
I would highly recommend him to anyone! He’s worth the extra cost.

***Dr. Gonsky is an IN HOME VETERINARIAN… HE ONLY MAKES HOUSE CALLS (hence the lack of an actual address in this listing)***
When we noticed, on a Friday night, that our beloved cat, Clara, was experiencing labored breathing, rather than take her in to the Emergency vet (’cause it woulda sucked to pay $ 300 to find out it was nothing), we called a couple of in-​home vets. Dr. Gonsky called us back within the hour. We described her symptoms and he said that he could already tell that she would require testing and care that he could not provide in-home…so why pay the fee for the visit? He suggested we take her to Veterinary Emergency Services (on Clybourn… whom we’d been to before and LOVE… but that’s another review).
Sure enough, about 200 ML of fluid were surrounding her lungs. They drained the fluid and, with all of the pressure alleviated, she ate for the first time in 3 – 4 days. They ran tests. She ended up at McKillip Animal Hospital (again, another review) for treatment. She seemed better, but we still canceled a trip to the East Coast to keep an eye on her.
Fast-​forward to 1 ½ weeks later: the symptoms are back. We take her back to McKillip. More tests. We are presented with options for treatment. Clara HATES the vet. Hell, Clara HATES being anywhere beyond her yard. We are faced with a series of REALLY difficult decisions. We know, in our hearts, that we are about to lose her. We decide that if we are going to relieve her of her pain and struggle, if we are going to euthanize her, we want to do it at home, with us, where she is comfortable.
2 weeks to the day of our original call to Dr. Gonsky we call him again and give him the history of her treatment over the past 2 weeks. In a nutshell he says, «I’ll come over tonight and have a look at her and you can decide then what you want to do». He didn’t come over with a goal in mind, he came to our house, at 8:30 on a Wednesday night, to give us a second opinion. It was as we thought. He waited patiently in our living room while we went on the back porch, teary-​eyed, to make our final decision. He explained the procedure: he will give her a shot of valium to relax her. Then he will give her the shot that will end her sweet and beautiful little life.
I sat on the couch, with her in my lap, petting her, as we’ve done a million times, my husband next to me, when she was given the valium… and then she just went.
She just went… looking at me.
He didn’t even need to give her the second shot. Dr. Gonsky said he’d never seen this. It’s almost as though, in the moment we gave her the option to just relax, she made her decision on her own. I don’t even think we realized, until that moment, how much she’d actually been suffering.
For what it was… and it was awful… it was the best, most comfortable and most beautiful way it could’ve been done.
Doctor Gonsky took Clara with him and said that she would return to us (we’d opted to have her cremated) within the week. She did. One week after that we received a card from the Companion Animal Memorial Fund (of the College of Veterinary Medicine, UIUC from where Dr. Gonsky received his degree) informing us that a monetary donation had been made to them from Dr. Gonsky, in Clara’s name, to further companion animal research at the school. WOW. He hadn’t mentioned he’d be doing this.
I cannot recommend Dr. Gonsky highly enough. He was informative, responsive, attentive, cautious, professional, personable, conscientious, compassionate (and then some)…the list goes on.