Capital District Veterinary Referral Hospital

My pet and I had a great experience working with the Capital District Veterinary Hospital. We brought our cat in at 4:00 am on a Monday morning thinking that he would need to be euthanized. Low and behold, the vet probed and found that there was some hope. They were very upfront, explained all the variables, and the guidance helped us to make a decision to treat our cat. It was an extremely difficult medical situation and they worked very hard to stabilize and treat him. During a week’s time, there was incredible communication from the vets and staff. We were welcomed at any time for a visit and never felt like we were in the way, they actually encourage people to visit their pets. As for the staff, every single person was always friendly and helpful to us, but what’s even better is the way they truly care for all the animals. Over a week’s time, I had plenty of interaction there to form my opinion and highly recommend this vet hospital.

This hospital showed me they only care about money. They knew my dog was not going to make and they allowed him to go home only because I didn’t have the money to pay for hospitalization. Well… he died that night and they never told me how sick he was, his x rays showed he was very ill. They should be a shame of themselves. I was expecting a call from them the next day and they never called to find out how he was.

The staff is responsive and the facility is very nice. Two different vets saw our little pup, and had different opinions about the cause of his muscle contractions; one said topical spray, one said rotten food. Regardless of the cause, the staff cared for our dog quickly and gave us pricing before they performed any services. Our dog stayed at the hospital on meds and an IV for about 8hrs. The two office visits and partial day stay cost about $ 650 total.
We greatly appreciate the wonderful care the vets and staff provided our dog. Thank you!

Did a very good job at explaining our options and managing expectations. Although they weren’t able to save our boy, the staff was very compassionate and understanding and made a very difficult time as bearable as possible.

I have used this vet for my own animals needs as well as pet clients more recently. All of their hard work and dedication was exceptional! I arrived most recently with a very sick kitty whose owner wasn’t available to make decisions. The vets who worked on the kitty made things easy to understand and allowed me to ask questions. It was extremely helpful! I was able to relay info I received to the kitty’s owners. The treatment was very helpful and I was able to take the kitty back to her home with a much better grasp on how to make her comfortable! She had an existing condition that apparently flared up. I was able to get her back on track before her owners arrived home. Fantastic service and so convenient!

I went here twice. Both times they tried to convince me to leave my cat overnight for «tests,» and pressed me to do this even when I patiently explained my pet gets very stressed away from home. The first time this happened they were pushing overnight tests as soon as I walked in the door. Instead of examining my cat, they were like «you can just leave your cat here and pick her up later…» This set my scam alarm off. I took my cat and just walked out without seeing the vet. The second time was more urgent. My cat was having a serious episode of vomiting and very lethargic behavior. After a long wait in a mostly empty waiting room, the vet saw my cat. She said she was in shock and that she would give her a shot to counter the reaction. Then she left me and my cat sitting in an exam room and never returned. After an hour, I went to find her. The staff avoided acknowledging me. They were literally walking past me pretending I was not there. I guess they could not deal with the incredible onslaught of one other customer. Everyone in the office seem to be pretending to be preoccupied by something. No one said «can I help you?» I discovered my vet was in the process of seeing the only other customer. She had just abandoned my cat. How long does it take to give a cat a shot? When I got her to finally treat the cat, they kept me waiting around — for hours. I got home at around 5:00 AM, after walking in the door around 12:30 am. They tried to convince me to leave my cat overnight. When I refused to let them keep my cat, an assistant just kept coming back and talking to me as if I had agreed to leave her. She was either totally not paying attention or attempting used car salesman tactics. I kept repeating that I was not leaving her. Boy was I glad when I finally got out of there. I saw another vet a few days later and he told me they had diagnosed her wrong. I will avoid this place even if I have to drive miles out of my way.

Our cat had a urinary blockage late last night and the staff did a great job of diagnosing, testing and not gouging my wallet. They examined him, got a urinary sample via ultrasound, gave him antibiotics and subcutaneous fluids. The total bill was $ 239… much less than I expected. Despite being busy, the wait wasn’t long. The longest part of the wait was in the analysis of his urine. The staff is friendly and helpful, and the other clients in the waiting room were very supportive of each other and whatever emergency their pets were experiencing. A great sense of family there, in and out of the examining room. Even though the clinic is 45 minutes from our home, if I had another emergency with my pets, I’d go without hesitation.

Yes, they get you for $ 105 when you walk in the door, but I believe it was money well spent. My cat has urinary blocking issues. On Sunday he started displaying the signs of blockage so we took him here. Sure enough our suspicions were correct and he was blocked. It didn’t take very long to be seen and the vet and techs were superb! We saw Dr. Gavin who apologized for us having to wait a little while (the cat was taken back first). She explained our options, what surgery would entail for our boy, and the risks. We decided to get him unblocked and would talk about surgery with our normal vet. She was very supportive. One of the techs came in soon after with an estimate and allowed us to turn down xrays (as the cat has had them before for the same issue). Since they weren’t going to be open on Tuesday morning, we decided to pick him up on Monday morning and transfer him to his normal vet (Dr. Gavin also explained that would save us some money). She let me see my boy before we left, which I really appreciated. On Monday, we arrived early and another vet came out to the lobby and sat with us to let us know how our boy did overnight. I didn’t catch her name (I think it was Dr. Pressler) but she was also wonderful. She also told us they would give him something to calm him for the car ride and gave him a long IV so it would be easier for his vet to administer drugs (our cat is not friendly at the vet). I was so impressed with how nice the two vets we spoke to were. They are so much better than my normal vet. Our bill was higher than it would have been at our usual vet, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and it was worth it to be seen on a Sunday night. I absolutely recommend this clinic.

In my experience this place is a typical vet practice where they try to bleed you for every dime. I have a dog that gets sick quite a bit. I know the symptoms and the course of treatment. Today I took my guy and after a lot of waiting and tests he was diagnosed with what I thought it was. Ok, fine, at least I know it is nothing new. The doctor, however, told me I should admit him so they could keep an eye on him. After 11 years this doesn’t work on me — I’ve seen this a dozen times. When I told him that wasn’t necessary he said, «Well, you could bring him home but he could die.» Scam artist trying to play to my fears and capitalizing on the love I have for my dog.
He also did that thing where he mentions numbers and levels like I’m a vet and can understand what it all means. What I was able to follow was that he was trying to make the situation seem serious and dire when it wasn’t. How could a dire diagnosis be treated with Pepcid? Which is what I was told to get.
Also, I overheard him speaking with a specialist and making an appointment for my dog… until he realized he had the wrong dog. Then he kept calling my dog a female when he is a male. Normally that wouldn’t bother me but after he mixed up my dog with another patient I was no longer trusting that this doctor knew what was going on.
The WORST part, though, is they are the only game in town after hours and on holidays. So, we are all screwed. If you are the only game in town you don’t need to bleed your customers. You have a captive audience. Be fair and honest. I did not feel my experience today was either.

I have pet rabbits so this place is not ideal for them. I’ve only ever had to take them when they get sick when their normal vet is closed, and as a last resort. I usually call ahead to let them know I’m coming with a rabbit, and pretty much every time they tell me to drive to Saratoga, or Cornell or Tufts University. I tell them that rabbits don’t do well with long distance travel and that all I need is for them to give her some fluids and possibly gut motility medicine. Which is on our records as having worked in the past. Rabbits commonly get GI stasis which can cause death over night (basically the content of their stomach stops moving). One night I had to go with my bunny and they told me I would have a three hour wait. I had to plead with the receptionist/​vet tech to have my rabbit to be even seen by their vet. She then had the audacity to tell me, «You need to see your regular vet and make sure this doesn’t keep happening». I told her that my rabbit regularly sees the vet and that she’s on preventative measures, we always try to restart her stomach on our own at home before deciding to go to the emergency vet. I told my regular vet what the woman said and she said she had no right to say that and that I should complain.
Moral of the story is, this place is good for dogs and cats. Occasionally they have an exotic vet on call. I’m glad they are open at odd hours, but their receptionist/​tech was rude and uncaring.

First off this place is amazing. Dr. Tuffey and her wonderful crew saved my little yorkie’s life. He came to the clinic after jumping and landing on his head. When he arrived, he was unresponsive and in respiratory distress. They proficiently and vigilantly brought my guy back! They were so professional and compassionate, I just can’t say enough about this fabulous clinic.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I’ve been here twice. Once in 2009 when my beloved Boxer needed to pass over the rainbow bridge and the other time in August 2012 when my dear sweet nosy rescue Dobie-​Pittie got herself stung by something when we were playing at the baseball fields and had an allergic reaction. By 11pm her left eye was 30% swollen shut. I knew it was an allergic reaction, but I didn’t know how to dose the benedryl, so off to the ER Vet we went.
We were promptly seen and the Vet talked to me about her findings and gave her an injectable dose of benedryl and told me to continue her on oral benedryl. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes. They also fax the chart from the ER to your regular vet so you don’t have to worry about getting that record to the regular vet.
The only thing I didn’t like is they took my pup in the back to examine her without me. I wasn’t keen on that. Next time I’ll insist that I go with her.

We took our new dog here the night we got him. I don’t want to get TOO graphic, but basically there was diarrhea, then diarrhea and blood, then what seemed like pure blood coming out of the dog. At midnight, the only place we could go to was the emergency clinic.
If you have a cat, you can expect 5 star treatment at this place. Several cats that had come in after us were seen before our dog. A nurse was constantly coming out to the waiting room to check on the cats and admit them quickly. Another couple brought in their dog after us, and because they are «regulars» their dog was given attention before ours. After more than a half hour, someone finally came over to see our dog and examine the stool sample we had brought. It was an hour before he was seen.
As it turned out, he didn’t have anything life threatening. It was a case of Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis spurred by the stress of being in a new home. When we finally did see the vet, she was very kind and compassionate and did her best not to worry us. They hydrated him and gave us some medicine to help his intestines unwind a bit.
Our puppy was almost completely back to normal the next day, so the story has a happy ending. I really do wish they would have given us more reassurance as we were sitting there waiting to be seen, or at least told us why they were admitting all of the cats before us.
As far as I know, this is the only emergency vet in our area, so we had very little choice but to bring our dog here. I wish there were other options.

Went a couple months ago when our dog ate a bunch of dark chocolate.
Wait was reasonable, staff were friendly. Vet gave good enough advice although he didn’t believe us and was skeptical about our claim of how much chocolate the dog had eaten. Services were reasonable enough considering.

If you’re having an off-​hours pet emergency, see their website above for hours. They are only open something like 5pm to 8am on weekdays, and 24 hours on weekends.
I don’t have a lot to go on — I only visited them once. It was in the middle of the night, and they were able to help my cat. I left a happy customer.
Hmm… I’m getting an eerie feeling that I researched this place on Unilocal before I took my cat there. Now there’s no reviews, at all, for it? That seems odd.