Central Hospital For Veterinary Medicine - North Haven, Connecticut

Michelle Brennan

Though I rarely write Google reviews I felt compelled to share our experience with Central Hospital.

We have used Pieper and West Hartford Emergency Vets in the past and didn’t even know about Central.

Our 13 year old kitty Spooky was recently diagnosed with lymphoma out of the blue. I only took her to our personal vet that day bc my daughter who had been home for the weekend mentioned she seemed as though she lost weight. I did think she had been vomiting more than usual. I brought her home to discuss with the family the treatment options our vet provided. I called them
Back later that evening and told them we had decided on palliative care where she would take steroids until she started to fail.

Her failure basically began that night. She was listless and crying and obviously in pain. We called West Hartford and Piper to see if they could provide some comfort until we went to see our vet the next day. They both said they were overbooked. I was beside myself and found Central online.

They told us to come immediately. They were professional and urgent. They brought her straight to intensive care and immediately asked us what type of lifesaving options we wanted to utilize. The staff were caring and treated Spooky with utmost urgency and efficiency. The doctor who we met with was caring and had lovely bedside manner. I’m sorry I didn’t catch her name. Myself, husband and son were very emotional.She explained that Spooky was bleeding internally from the cancer and we could do blood transfusions if desired but they may not work miracles as her blood volume was so low and her organs were failing.

Spooky was brought into the visitation room for us to see her. She was cozy under heated blankets and was being given fluids and oxygen. She was no longer crying. We were able to say goodbye to her with my daughters on FaceTime before she crossed the rainbow bridge. Everyone on staff was very consoling and caring.

In response to those that were disappointed with their service I would point out that I am not an expert in veterinary care or end of life care for animals. I know the staff at Central are experts and would trust them again in a heartbeat. We are so grateful for their availability, demeanor, care and professionalism.

Stephanie Leson

Our experience has been amazing at Central! Our little boy was in with IVDD symptoms, so we dealt mainly with the neurology department and they have been so kind and compassionate front start to finish. We ended up having to go through with surgery and everything went so smoothly and our boy is ahead of the game with recovery. We want to say a special thank you to Liz, Monica, Vicky, and Dr. Cohen. Liz has answered every call and question I’ve had along the way (there were a lot). Monica has been so kind and helpful with every visit and going home care. Vicky helped with his physical therapy and oxygen chamber treatments that helped him heal so much. Dr. Cohen is very knowledgeable and informative. He made us comfortable with every decision we made throughout this entire process. Everyone has explained everything in a way for us to understand. We are so happy we chose to have them take such good care of our boy and don’t know if we’d have such a positive outcome and experience if we’d gone anywhere else. Thank you to everyone!

Jes I

I definitely have to say thank you to all the doctors & vet techs at this hospital. You guys are so wonderful to my cat. I thought I was going to lose him & we brought him in & not only did you save his life, you work tirelessly around the clock treating him & even have a plan when he’s done receiving treatment. I get calls twice a day updating me on him, all my questions get answered & you can tell everyone there cares about the animals they treat. I was a nervous wreck last week & having visited my cat, especially today, seeing the life back in him, seeing him jump to me, purring & being himself, I’m so grateful. He gets better everytime I see him. I can’t thank you guys enough for saving him & caring for him. You have a team of angels❤️ I took this picture of my baby, you can see he’s so happy❤️❤️❤️

ANGELIKA Clum

What a wonderful caring Vetenary Clinic . The Doctor and staff were so wonderful. We brought our sweet ferret Bear in 3 days ago. She was not doing well. They immediately took her to be examined. They then took us to a private room. A short time later the Doctor (Sorry I don't remember her name but what a sweet soul)came in and told us that Bear was a very sick girl. So we made the decision to let her go. Then this wonderful male nurse gave me a blanket to put her on, so she would be comfy on my lap. The Doctor then started the procedure. I held her until she took her last breath! Thank you so much everyone from the bottom of my heart. Bear was a sweet girl and a big part of our family!

Kelly Tyrrell

On Tuesday 9/10/24 I was forced to make the hardest decision of a pet owners life and receiving terrible news that my best friend of 10 years had hemangiosarcoma. Dr. Godau was absolutely wonderful through the whole process. She took the time to explain the illness and my options. She gave me time to process the news as well as time to spend with my dog. She was even kind enough to bring him a bowl of vanilla ice cream (his favorite). Before I left she handed me 6 inked prints of his beautiful paw as a way to remember him.
The entire staff was kind and understanding during this difficult time and if ever in a situation again when emergency care is needed I will return to Central Hospital for any of my future pets needs.

Thank you all for your efforts and kindness not only to the pets in need but to the owners.

Nancy Battaglini

Dr. Weston (5 Stars) was amazing with helping us make the decision to say goodbye to our pet. She provided us with the options and walked us through what each decision would look like. I am so grateful to have had her through this heartbreaking time. She is a wonderful doctor.
The reason why my rating is lower has more to do with my earlier visits to the ER. I was disappointed with the recommendations based on age/quality of life for our pet. Our pet was very old and we were keeping him as comfortable as possible as we knew we were close to the end. From this visit to his death, we had 4 days left with him and an earlier doctor recommend we hospitalize him. I am so glad I followed my instincts here and took him home to let him live out his final days with us.

Lulu Tilda

Greedy and money hungry! I have spent THOUSANDS over the years at the ER and plus my dog was a patient of Dr. Gross in internal medicine. On 8/19/24 my dog was hospitalized overnight for kidney failure. When she was discharged on 8/20/24 I received a credit of $379 because she didn’t need to have all of the services that were listed on the estimate (that was prepaid upon admission of course). They mistakenly credited my account twice leaving me with a “balance”. I had to put my girl down on 8/26/24 so the last thing I was paying attention to was my bank account.

I was made aware of my balance via an invoice dated 9/24/24. Today is 10/31/24 & I received a letter that my account was sent to collections! The balance is just over 30 days old! I am disgraced that this is the way you treat your clients. I cannot believe your policy is to send accounts to collection that aren’t even 60 days old - ESPECIALLY when I have been a client there for YEARS!

Reply to your snarky response: I DID call the hospital TWICE! First I called on Thursday evening & was told to call back on Friday to speak with Kathy. When I called on Friday at 11am, I was told that Kathy is out of the office on Fridays & to call back on Monday & ask for Tina because that’s who handles billing. I then asked if someone else can help me & I was told no.

Bottom line the account was sent to collections on 10/23/24 & my invoice from you was dated 9/24/24. That’s less than 30 days. (See attached pictures). Considering all the money I spent there over the years, it is appalling you sent me to collections so fast! ESPECIALLY when you knew I had to put Lulu down six days after she was discharged because you sent me a sympathy card postmarked September 7th! Have some damn consideration! I was grieving the loss of my 14 year old dog. I WAS going to pay my invoice!

ps- I called again on Saturday regarding the unprofessional response from the “owner” and was informed that Kathy is in charge of the google responses. (Interesting because I was told she wasn’t in the office when I called on Friday, but she somehow managed to write an unprofessional snarky response on Friday at 11:53am). So Kathy, as you can see from the second picture, your invoices do not include “standard” language that an account will be sent to collections. Even if it did, my account was LESS THAN 30 DAYS PAST DUE!

Craig Amell

Immediately saw my dog at 8pm at night and were extremely kind. Front desk instantly pulled up my records while the vet checked us in. We were in and out in fifteen minutes. Amazing place with amazing people.