Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital

It is difficult for me to write a review about my cat’s last day of his life, but I am going to give it a try. I’m going to describe my experience in some detail because I think it helps explain why I am somewhat ambivalent.
My cat needed to be seen for an emergency around the time the last open veterinary clinic near me closed for the night. I called that clinic and they said they would not be able to stay open past their closing time (8:00) even if I arrived by the time they closed. My own vet’s clinic would have stayed open for an emergency, but they were already closed. The clinic I called referred us to this hospital, and we went out there. We called en route and they had a basic intake folder ready when we arrived. We were taken to a room and I was asked to fill out a longer form while we waited. After a little time passed, a technician came, asked some questions, and then said that he would take my cat out of the room for initial evaluation and testing. I waited for a while, and eventually one of their ER vets came to talk with me. He asked more questions and got permission for additional tests, estimating that it would take 20 – 30 minutes and I could wait in the waiting room. Over an hour later someone came and got me and said that the vet would be in to see me in a couple of minutes. About 5 minutes later he came back. He discussed my cat’s condition so far and some theories as to what was wrong, but that they didn’t know for sure yet. He said that there were two options, either taking my cat home with me for the night and monitoring him while they continued to evaluate his tests, or leaving him there. Upon my asking the ER vet said that my cat still was not able to move his back legs at all, so I said that I didn’t see how I would be able to care for him at home (I still don’t understand why he didn’t realize this on his own), and they admitted him. They let me see him before I left, which was shortly before midnight, around 2 ½ or 2 ¾ hours after we had arrived. When I left they explained that the overnight hospital vet assigned to him would call with an update in the morning.
The overnight vet called about 8:30 the next morning with an update, saying that the ER vet’s theory on what was wrong did not seem to be the case and providing some ideas for what could be wrong instead. She advised that my cat be evaluated by a neurologist, and I gave permission. She said that his daytime hospital vet would be calling during the day with another update. She called later that morning, gave another update, and presented me with some options, anywhere from immediately giving up to going for a full expensive round of tests and possible treatments. I decided to give permission for a few more tests to be done that would hopefully help determine what was likely to be wrong and what our options were. Our regular vet had called back early that morning and the hospital vet said she would call him herself to discuss my cat’s case. The hospital vet called again a couple of hours later and said that she had talked to our regular vet since talking to me. She started talking in a very fast tone that was almost out-​of-​breath sounding to me. I tried to ask a question, which would have been fine with our regular vet, but she said to please not interrupt me until she was done explaining the information and options. So I sat there for several minutes while she explained test results, theories as to what was wrong, etc., which all led up to her opinion that my cat’s prognosis was very bad, that he wouldn’t be able to come home unless his back legs somehow started working again (and he had to have a catheter as his neurological issues were also causing him to not be able to control peeing), and that her opinion was that euthanizing him was the best option and she believed that our vet would tell me that he agreed with her. While she provided me with an information dump on the situation, I cannot say how much I wish she had handled the emotional side better than she did. Our vet called back a bit later and said that he also thought the prognosis was very unlikely to be positive and that he did agree. So I went back to the hospital and put him to sleep in a room that they sadly have designed solely for this purpose. They let me pay in advance and let me spend a bit of time with my cat first, but for some reason they never explained, I ended up waiting alone in the room for about half an hour before they brought my cat in.
I’m glad that there was an emergency room where I could take my cat when his health started to fail, and I believe that his care was about as good as it could be for the last day of his life. I am still disquieted by some of my interactions with the staff, although I understand that their jobs are difficult and stressful. I don’t have any other pets to have another veterinary emergency, but if I did, I honestly can’t say at this point whether I would return here or try a different veterinary hospital.

I have used this hospital twice and spent about $ 7,000 there. I believe the following
1. They provide excellent clinical care
2. They provide fast service when your pet is really sick.
3. They are unbelievably expensive. They charged me $ 866 to READ a CT scan, not including the charge for the test itself. I could have gotten a cheaper high quality CT scan for myself.
4. They are in it for the money.
5. Their estimates are unreliable and unprofessional.
6. They are bad at explaining how much something is likely to cost. Be prepared for it to cost more than they say it will. Be prepared to be confused and stressed about money. Be prepared for them not to make this part of the experience any easier. See #4 above.

Had to bring my dog Skip here for a middle of the night emergency. He has a collapsed trachea that he is being treated for but he had a choking attack that was ongoing. Rushed him here at 4am we were brought right in and the vet fixed my Skippy right up. Everyone we interacted with were very nice and personable. The vet Dr. Alexandra Pivoda was awesome it was so refreshing to meet a vet that genuinely cares so much and is super sweet.

I truly cannot say enough amazing things about this hospital. To Dr. White, Dr. Haber, and the vet techs, we could never be able to thank you enough for saving our baby girl’s life. I also can’t forget about the front desk staff, who are always so friendly and helpful no matter what time of day. These people truly care and were so kind and comforting through such a scary and emotional time. In August of 2013 my dog Bailey was taken to her vet for what we thought was a UTI (she had blood in her urine) and the vet recommended she be rushed to Mass Vet immediately. The doctors quickly went to work and within a few hours she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called IMHA. There was only a 50% chance that she would make it, but they assured us they would do everything possible for her. I would visit her twice a day and never once did the staff make me feel like I was an inconvenience to them. After 9 long days, multiple blood transfusions, and LOTS of tears, our baby pulled through and was finally healthy enough to come home. Dr. White and Dr. Haber never gave up on her and treated her like their own. I am SO thankful for these people. It has been two years, and my dog is completely off medications and doing amazing. Dr. White still sees her for regular check ups. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to give my dog such amazing care!

Very kind and knowledgeable vets. After my cat needed catheterization, I never had trouble getting to someone willing to talk me through all possible aspects of his aftercare, and I never felt like I was being rushed off the phone.
The wait time can get very long, especially on weekends, which isn’t such a bad thing when you realize it means your pet isn’t their biggest emergency of the moment. But it can be stressful listening to all the anxious dogs for hours at a stretch, so if you can remember to grab headphones and a book on the way out the door, all the better.

Thank you for your kind and professional help during our difficult time. Your staff is fantastic.

I brought my cat here late at night after watching him take a prescription pill for ADHD. I was so scared and had never seen my cat act so strangely while being in an almost paralyzed state. The facility was clean and everyone there was so nice! The vet explained everything in a way i understood and i felt better about leaving him there. He stayed for 2 nights being monitored in the ICU and the twice daily updates helped to reassure me that he was in great hands!
The payment due when bringing him there was the high end of the estimate, and when I picked him up I got a large portion of that back, which makes me confident that they are very honest and are all about what is best for your pet.
So happy to have my baby home now, thank you MVRH!

What a complete rip off!!! They are not concerned about pets they are concerned about there money. I paid 165 $ and got nothing no diagnosis! I wanted to know what was wrong with my dogs breathinging and i was told it was additional 900 $ what a rip off this place is a so called emergency facility so they can rip you off. Dont go here there heads are up there ass

I brought in my 7 week old English Sheepdog who had no use of his back legs. Dr Riggs and her staff were fabulous. She was knowledgable and very honest with me. She told me worst case scenario but was also very compassionate, understanding my emotions as we went through this with Bear. The outcome wasn’t exactly what I had hoped but she gave us hope that with extra care, Bear could live a decent life. I thought it was going to be hard leaving my 7 week old there but her staff was caring and loving and I’m pretty sure he was enjoying all the attention.
With hospital policy I was told I need to pay in full before any tests were done. It was really nice to hear that when I picked him up I was getting a sizable credit due to the fact that Dr Riggs did not do tests that she didn’t feel necessary.
Thank you all for you kindess and compassion.

The staff was nice and they tried to accomodate given the look and desperation expressed at our babies condition. They put us in a room and got xrays within the hour after telling us it may be a 2 to 3 hour wait… they truelly did want to comfort, but… a week later we found out the they had missed the whole big picture and failed to properly diagnose our 7 pound Maltese poodle mix… although they did a full body xray… they missed that he had severe disc herniation on his spine in several discs, smh!!!
Exactly 1 week later Kingston ended up and Angell Memorial having emergency surgery… after being diagnosed with gas… for a month!!! And being dosed on Pepcid acid around the clock…
Maybe they under estimated his condition. Because they were busy and he was walking at the time, but I wish they had been more thorough with their testing and diagnosis.
soooo, sweet but not realiable!!! I wouldn’t bring my babies there again. The place looks great but I don’t think thay are very knowledgeable.

I am so glad this place and these people exist. after a tramatic morning of seeing my cat having a seizure and assuming it was the end for her, the vets gave a real medical diagnosis and had the equipment to give her the treatment she needed. We asked that the vet be blunt and tell us if it were a lost cause. She told us she understood and she wouldn’t compromise my cats quality of life for time. After a short stay, we were able to bring my cat home again.
This place looks and smells nice and clean, it has a well stocked waiting room, and the people with whom we interacted, were so kind and patient.
Let’s talk money: they give an estimate range and they take payment for the higher amount. To my amazement, when we checked out, they gave a refund back of the unused portion of the bill. It just goes to show that these people are straight shooters.
The time will come when I will have to bring my cat to the hospital again; I will not hesitate to put her in their care.
Thank you so much.

The key to a good relationship between a veterinarian and their clients is careful expectations management and clear communication regarding treatment paths, prognosis, and costs. As an animal doctor, you’re taking care of family members — not just pets — and you don’t want to over-​promise results or surprise clients with unexpected costs as they’re making decisions about their pet’s care.
The doctors who have been treating our cat Shelly at the MA Veterinary Referral Hospital have done a superb job of keeping us informed as they’ve been observing Shelly and running tests.
The team there has also been exceedingly cautious about treatment recommendations, making sure that the financial costs and physical risks did not outweigh the potential benefit or data gained from the procedures and tests. I’ve appreciated the team’s frequent check-​ins by phone and the informative and clear descriptions of what they were seeing. I could definitely tell that they were trying to put themselves in our shoes as they were discussing options.
Empathy goes a long way when you’re inwardly freaking out about the health of the feline love of your life!
While Shelly is not out of the woods yet, I feel like she’s in really good hands. The proactive and sympathetic care from the group at MVRH has been a relief to us as we’ve been navigating our cat’s illness.

Update. With steroids the dog gained use of his legs again. It was a tense week but well worth the course of action we took. Imagine if I subjected the poor dog to $ 7000 surgery that he didn’t need. We call him the miracle dog.

It pains me that I have to write such an awful review on the hospital! I want to preface by saying that I have brought my dog to this place once before and our experience was excellent. But the 2^nd visit was horrendous.
I brought my dog in on memorial’s day for emergency, she was not eating and had fever. The receptionists were all very nice and took us in right away into an exam room. The nurse practitioner came in right away and took down some information from me about the dog and said the vet will be coming by shortly.
Dr. Jennifer Klaus came into the exam room, at first impression, she was very nice as she sweet talked to my dog to make her more comfortable with the exam. While Dr. Klaus looked at my dog, I started to mention some of the observations I have noted on my dog’s condition before we came to the ER. Dr. Klaus noted that she didn’t see the condition that I mentioned and I simply just repeated myself of what I saw the night before, and all of sudden Dr. Klaus snapped at me said «I DON’T APPRECIATE THAT»!
I was so shocked to hear that, I was simply telling her what I saw, and I understand very well things can change overnight for my dog but there was no reason for her to talk to me like that! I am a very soft spoken person, and I was just so concerned and worried about my dog! I am just utterly shocked by her rudeness!!! I was so emotionally and mentally drained from caring for my dog the night before that I didn’t have an ounce of energy left to call out Dr. Klaus on her remark, it was very upsetting!!!
I called the hospital the next day to see if there is someone on the management team I could speak to about my experience, the receptionist forward my call to Bill Sullivan, the hospital director. I left him a VM. He didn’t call me back that day. On the 2^nd day I left him another VM, no call still. I am just really disappointed that such a wonderful establishment for the health of our loved pets is not responding to client’s concerns.
I gave them chances to rectify the situation, their unwillingness to respond to me tells me they don’t really care how clients are treated and they don’t value clients’ feedback or concerns. For such an esteemed field of medicine, this is a shame!
My advise is to avoid Dr. Klaus at all cost if you have to go to the ER there!

Had cataract surgery for dog here and I couldn’t be happier with the staff. These people truly love animals.

My cat Suki had been having some problems breathing recently (wheezing, making hairball-​coughing-​type noises without actually coughing up hairballs, etc.). We scheduled an appointment two weeks ago with our regular vet (VCA in Everett — awesome people) but had to cancel because my husband injured himself. He was the one who was going to take her to the daytime appointment and now we suddenly couldn’t make it. Before we had a chance to reschedule last week things went downhill.
Last Wednesday her labored breathing became much worse — to the point she was struggling to breathe normally. We rushed her to our regular vet a half hour before they closed (without appointment, because they’re that awesome). They did an x-​ray, spoke with us the entire time, and were generally great. Our vet said there was definitely something wrong, but from the x-​ray he couldn’t tell how serious it was so he referred us to Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital to run another round of x-​rays to see if they could get a better view of what was going on. He said it was probably asthma given her history of wheezing and breathing problems prior to that night, but he wanted a second pair of eyes on new x-​rays to be safe.
We checked in to Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital at around 8:30pm. They immediately took Suki back (presumably to run a new set of x-​rays). After over an hour of waiting the vet came in and went over the «write-​up» with us as to what she recommended. It entailed checking our cat in for a minimum of two days at the hospital so they could run an entire battery of tests to see what was wrong with her. When we asked what the new x-​rays showed that would warrant such a long stay (we literally thought she was telling us Suki was about to die) she explained that they hadn’t even done the x-​rays yet — she just wanted to get us to sign off on a $ 2,000 hospital stay first.
We (of course) asked them to actually perform the services we were there for first before we agreed to $ 2,000 in potentially unnecessary tests. She initially tried the «we have financing if you can’t afford it» angle before realizing we weren’t having any of it.
Two more hours pass.
The vet comes back in with more paperwork saying she can cut the stay down to just over night for just under $ 1,000. We ask about the x-​rays. Still nothing. Suki was apparently receiving oxygen the entire time in the back while they’d now taken three hours to do x-​rays my vet did in ten minutes.
By midnight she brought Suki back into the room and said the new x-​rays strongly pointed to asthma (as our vet had indicated), but they still wanted us to sign off on an overnight stay so they could run more tests. The vet even went so far as to use the «she could pass away at any time if you take her home» line. She also (literally) put this language into our check-​out instructions to shame us. It was something to the effect of «against our guidance» we took Suki home and she «may pass away at any time».
Who does that?
We still ended up paying $ 700 for the visit since they prescribed us a medicine cabinet worth of drugs — most of which we found out (when we got home) were not actually for asthma. They ended up treating every possible condition from heart disease to worms — and we paid through the nose for it.
In total, we spent almost four hours in their ER for x-​rays, price gouging and shaming, meds she didn’t need, and a prescription for albuterol (which HAS worked) that we paid an additional $ 50 for at Walgreens (because the one med she DID need they didn’t have in their on site pharmacy). We could have saved $ 700 had we taken her home and asked our regular vet for the same prescription.
Beware of these people — they literally, at every step of our visit, attempted to tug our heartstrings to get more money. And this is after we told them we’d already paid a hefty vet bill with our regular vet and just needed additional x-​rays and a (recommended) second opinion on his diagnosis.

The team at MVRH saved my dog’s life. I could not be happier.
We brought my dog, Blanche, into MVRH at the end of February. We woke up in the morning to find her staring off into space, unresponsive and barely alive. She is around 12 years old or so, so we were very scared. Our vet wasn’t open so we took her to MVRH. She was rushed in the back and immediately started on fluids. Over the course of the next 2 hours she developed very bad GI issues and we thought we were going to have to put her down. The initial vet that we met with was very patient– she was matter of fact and stuck to giving us the facts of her condition vs. pushing us to a decision either way which I appreciated. It was clear that she was going to support whatever decision we needed to make.
Over the course of the next few hours, she started to turn around and become responsive. We left her there for 3 days, and she came home on 8 different meds, but alive. We couldn’t believe it. Now, a month later, she is off of her medds and back to the dog she was before the incident. I really didn’t think that it would be the outcome. We call her our little miracle dog.
The only reason that this hospital gets 4 not 5 stars is because of the cost. In order to admit her, we had to pay the full cost of the estimate– almost $ 3500. Then, when we picked her up, we owed an additional $ 350. Prices are insane, but I would do it again if it meant we would have the same outcome. Wholehearted thank you to the team at MVRH for saving Blanche’s life.

I judge Vets by process, personal interaction and level of attention, not on results as my dog’s disease isn’t the vets fault. Mass Vet is great in my regards. We had our beloved boston terrier under the care of Dr. Troxell and were very happy. Dr. Troxell encouraged a comfortable discussion each time we went to the practice. I really appreciate the ability to have a conversation and my concerns listened to. In the past, I’ve experienced Vets (and human doctors) who «listen» but don’t actively listen and adapt to the conversation.
Yes, going to the Vet costs $. It’s not a free service and something all pet owners should budget for or have insurance. I can say this — each time I went, I was comfortable with the bill and felt the level of service I received was worth the cost.
Lastly, the compassion shown to our family by all of the staff as we went through a very tough time, was very much appreciated.

I just recently had to bring my 8 month old English Bulldog puppy named Moxie, into Mass. Vet. Referral Hospital. Moxie got into a little bit of my personal «stash» (which I did not know at the time of her ingestion) and I thought something was SERIOUSLY wrong with her!!!- I was SO scared!
When I entered the doors to this establishment all of the staff were nothing but courteous, caring, just down right kind and compassionate.
I absolutely love the staff at this facility and would bring Moxie there over and over again (yet hopefully I will NEVER need to!).
Susanne G. Szekely, DVM was Moxie’s emergency room doctor and she was AWESOME! She is down to earth and extremely knowledgeable. Dr. Szekely was very helpful and I could tell she took great pride in her work (which to me– means complete compassion and understanding both towards humans and animals– I mean really– How much more could you ask for?!?)…
Although it did take approximately 1 ½ hours from when I entered the facility to when I left… I don’t care… The care Moxie received was worth every second of it!
Remember– You have to wait sometimes– if you want the best!!!
So, If your animal ever needs emergency medical attention this facility is no joke… I HIGHLY recommend this place…
Mind you, I have taken Moxie to Tufts University Small Animal Hospital in North Grafton, MA and Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston before due to her orthopedic problems– and THIS PLACE TAKES THE CAKE!!! LOVE IT!
Moxie is back to her usual self already and it is only her first full day away from you guys…
THANKS to DR. Szekely and THANKS to all the LOVELY Front Desk Ladies (They were also extremely kind and helpful)!!!

So this place isn’t just for emergencies-it’s also great for specialist dog-​tor care. Ruby is a little senior citizen dachshund, who I want to keep a happy senior citizen for as long as I can, and she needed an oncologist. It was a no brainer when had the option of taking her here. She’s seen Dr. Kaye twice so far, and pricing seems reasonable as it can be for doggie oncology and chemo meds, and the staff is really caring and wonderful. Before seeing Dr. Kaye, Ruby saw Dr. Powers, who was very kind and caring, even though I couldn’t keep my emotions in check based on her diagnosis that day. I’m very thankful for the care Ruby has received, and hope it continues to be as successful and seemingly easy as it has been so far.
Also, getting here is WAY easier than getting to other places. It takes under 15 minutes from Somerville, and to get to other hospitals, it would take at least double the time even if they are closer.