Veterinary Specialists & Emergency Service

Kudos to EVERYONE who works here… Our dog is MUCH better. We realize she has an auto-​immune disease (GME) and that there is no guarantee of her long term prognosis, but for now we have our little dog back. Thank you Drs. Murray & Koch & the superb staff. THANK YOU!

Do anything you can to avoid this place. Staff is rude and inefficient. Attempted to call and get an update on my sick puppy– was told they were too busy and would call me back. Two hours later, I was called back. I was told she was resting (hilarious, because I brought her in for lethargy. So yeah, no duh). Upon asking about her X-​rays and lab work I was told would be ready by then, was told she didn’t have access and hat she had only gotten in an hour before and didn’t know what was going on. Picking my puppy up took over a half hour just to be told «we weren’t ready for you, sorry for the wait». I called a half hour before to announce I was coming. Overall, this place can’t seem to get any worse. If your dog has an emergency and you have no choice… Keep your fingers crossed you don’t get awful staff like my puppy and I experienced.

We took our pup to the clinic with no appointment because he was not feeling well. They got us right in. The staff was professional and kind and the doc did a fine job with how to handle the case.
For a college student this is not where you want to be without an appointment, (as with any doctor visit) emergency service can be outrageously expensive. We faired well at under 300 $ –110 to see you, plus a separate test, plus some meds and the time of the doc — is actually reasonable and well worth it. We are just lucky it was not more serious.

I’ve had several occasions to take several animals here. It has always been a bad experience. Their main focus is money. They really don’t seem to care much about the animals. They’ve made several mistakes in treating my animals. Unfortunately, if your pet gets sick at night, weekends, or holidays you’re pretty much stuck with them. As someone suggested it might not be a bad idea to drive to Buffalo, Syracuse, or even Cornell.

My dog had kidney stones
He was left in pain, without any treatment for 5 ½ hours, because they «were backed up»
go anyplace but here, drive to Cornell, or the Buffalo emergency clinic if you can

The service and care provided to my beagle was outstanding! She went in as an emergency case with yeast toxicity and was released less than 36 hours later. The staff was exceptionally friendly and understanding. The vets even call you to update you on your pet’s condition. I was very surprised and pleased with everything about Veterinary Specialists and Emergency Service in Henrietta, from the staff to the cost of treatment! I highly recommend Dr. Funk-​Goodling and Dr. Kirk.

I’ve been there twice and they are efficient and caring about the sick pets and their very nervous owners.
The wait can be long, but in the circumstances it’s to be expected.
They also work with your Veterinarian, so you don’t have unnecessary tests performed there (more expensive) rather than at your vet.

Holy moly, I’m not sure I can handle having kids if I reacted as I did with Wembley’s emergency visit to the vet hospital. Always call your vet if you notice your pet acting differently.
We brought our cat in for an emergency visit after we noticed he was struggling to urinate coupled with loud, sad meows. The vet explained this was an emergency situation and we needed to bring him to the pet hospital. Willy called ahead to let them know I would be bringing Wembley in for a possible urinary obstruction. They were ready for him right when I arrived and the vet tech brought him back to be checked out by the doctor. They walked me through the evaluation of what they’ll need to do depending on the issue and the cost of everything. They were very clear about payment options, and explained that if he’s ok the following day he can be transferred to the vet as they usually want to monitor the pet for at least 48 hours after the surgery. The doctor also came in to talk to me and explain the process of what’s going to happen and that she’d call me that evening to update me. In the end, Wembley had kitty kidney stones. He recovered rather quickly and was a-​ok in the end, only spending one night in the vet hospital.
While the circumstances for his visit weren’t ideal, I was so glad to see the team respond quickly and kept us up-​to-​date along the way.
The downside to a hospital visit (pets and humans alike) is that it’s often an expensive visit. I recommend pet insurance to help offset the costs. I suggest calling the hospital if you’re planning to come in even if you’re rushing there. I think it helped move the process along.

We brought our 13 year old beagle-​lab mix in when she woke up having trouble breathing, drooling, and limping. The first thing they asked us was to sign a paper allowing them to start treatment without consultation, up to $ 500. Of course, we didn’t sign that. Then they took her away from us, and wouldn’t let us be with her during the exam. They had her for over an hour before they called us back. The vet, whose name I don’t remember sadly, was bored and didn’t seem to have any interest in hearing about her existing problems, and when I mentioned the limp, he had the audacity to say, «I don’t really care about her limp.» He wanted to do multiple chest x-​rays, and an abdominal x-​ray, as well as bloodwork. He showed no empathy or concern four our dog, and when we asked him what his impressions of her were, he said, «Well, I can’t make guesses without doing diagnostics.»
The chest x-​rays would be $ 200, and the abdominal would be $ 100. We asked if the prices were unusually high because it was an emergency visit, and he shrugged. We told him that our normal vet only charges $ 54 for a chest x-​ray, and asked to have a few minutes to talk.
When he came back, we asked him why the x-​rays were different prices. His response, and I can’t believe this, was, «I’m not going to discuss that with you.» Not going to discuss it with me! How dare he? There is never a time when not discussing options in a medical situations is acceptable. I told him we were leaving, and I’m afraid I swore at him. He says to me, «Hey, look. I’m sorry, alright?» and starts giving me a line about how they’re open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I told him that he was in the wrong line of work if he couldn’t take the time to discuss fee scales for procedures, and we stormed out.
I will not pay the office visit fee, I will report them to the BBB, and I will advise my vet that she should find a different emergency vet to recommend. The monsters that run this place should be ashamed of themselves. We’ve been to vets in a dozen states, and this is by far the worst experience I have ever had.

I took my dog here this week to see the eye specialist. There’s no doubt that the services here are expensive. That being said, I would highly recommend taking your pet here in a situation where you really want specialist care for your pet.
My dog was provided a thorough eye exam, and he was treated gently and with expertise. My dog is NEVER that calm, and I felt like the vet really had a handle on how to manage wiggly dogs.
I was given a full and thorough explanation of what he saw in my dog’s eyes, and then he gave me his best recommendation for how to proceed. In this particular case, he suggested that I don’t do anything. He did not suggest unnecessary or risky surgery that were definitely options. I felt his diagnosis and prognosis were honest, and that this was a case where he wasn’t looking for a way to make money. He was definitely interested in the quality of life of my pet.
Sometimes I feel like vets can make you feel guilty if you don’t provide a pet with some sort of procedure, but I never felt this way while at this office.
I am glad I took my dog here, and I would highly recommend it to those seeking emergency or specialist care for their pets.

If your animal needs a check-​up, this is probably not the cheapest place to bring your pet. However, in an emergency, this place is a life-​saver. Expert specialists and well-​trained vets make this clinic an essential stop in an emergency.
My cat’s underlying congestive heart failure emerged after a basic procedure to extract an abscess tooth at his regular vet. I’d brought him home that day and all was well until about 1 or 2 a.m. (Why do all emergencies happen around that time??). He was presenting all the classic symptoms: he was panting, clearly having difficulty breathing, and started vomiting.
I rushed him to Animal Emergency Service and was seen by a very kind and very knowledgeable vet who took the time to explain what was happening, go through the x-​rays and echocardiogram with me, tell me what my options were, and answered my questions about her qualifications, without hesitation and without any kind of attitude. It made a very stressful emergency situation much more tolerable. FWIW congestive heart failure is very common, especially in male cats, but the onset of symptoms can be very unnerving: my cat seemed perfectly fine earlier in the day, but suddenly deteriorated in a matter of hours. It was clear that he would have died had I decided to wait until daylight. It’s an emergency condition that general vets would probably not be equipped to deal with (in terms of access to high-​level diagnostic equipment, such as electrocardiograph machines, etc, let alone staff specialists, like a cardiologist).
After 2 nights at the vet and massive IV infusions of diuretics and heart meds (to clear up the fluid build-​up in my poor cat’s lungs), I was introduced to my cats’ cardiologist, a woman I credit with my cat’s ability to still be alive. She prescribed some pretty unconventional meds, and demonstrated clearly up-​to-​the-​minute knowledge of the kind of treatment needed to stabilize, then manage this condition. The general prognosis for moderate to severe congestive heart failure is a few months to a year. My cat has pulled through another subsequent episode and continues to stay strong, an amazing 4 years after his initial crisis.
I know that he wouldn’t be in such great shape were it not for the meds and care of both the cardiologist and the initial consulting vet of this clinic. This place was one of the few saving graces of my lonely and boring 2-​year stay in Rochester.