Des Moines Veterinary Hospital

The receptionist is great and really goes above and beyond. I did not appreciate the way one of the Veterinarians was speaking to the receptionist in front of us clients. Unfortunately the veterinarian care and professionalism has not been the same since the turn over.

This was our vet for 25 plus years with Dr. Onorati. Ever since the practice change the employee turnover rate is high. Internally team members are not communicating effectively which leaves the customer with a reactive approach to problems. The Veterinarians rotate leaving different ideology and avenues resulting in excessive cost on remedies. The staff will call presenting you with a doom and gloom scenario without doing the research ahead of time on the success percentiles but also expecting you to give an answer based on the limited information provided. If you want to digest the options just know they likely won't answer or return your call in a timely manner. This medical center has sent our family through multiple emotional roller-coaster scenarios and we are done.

They don’t pick up the phone! Impossible to schedule an appointment!

My pet budgie is sick and there is not a lot of avian vets in this area. I called this place multiple times to schedule an ASAP appointment. They always forward you to a voicemail and never call back.

My family has been taking our pets to Des Moines Veterinary Hospital for many years. I have always been completely satisfied. HOWEVER, that has now changed ….Besides simple procedures like vaccinations, it’s been impossible to schedule an important dental procedure for my dog. In fact, back in July, they told me we would be put on the waitlist for the end of November ‘24 and receive a phone call to make an appointment. So, I waited…and waited with patience as I figured they were just extremely busy. November came and went with absolutely no call or update.BUT, I just got an email stating that my dog was due for his vax. So, I know they CAN communicate and take your money for simple procedures like vax. Brought him in yesterday, which took about 40 minutes of waiting in the room to finally be seen. The vet was nice but told me I might not see her again because she’s only in from time to time. After his vax, I tried to schedule a dental procedure. Waitlisted again!!! They are booked until March with NO ability to even schedule in March ‘25 or beyond because they said they don’t know the veterinarian’s schedule yet. So, I’ve now waited 6 months to get my dog’s teeth attended to. It seems as though this clinic doesn’t have any permanent/full-time on-site veterinarians, and they just have a few on-call that come in from time to time. That’s why they are unable to schedule. Are they juggling temp vets? I don’t have a clue. But it appears that way. This clinic has changed within the last couple of years. There has NOT been transparency or communication about the actual availability of veterinarians or IF they actually have any consistent vet on-site. But I don’t think so. And no communication if you are on the waitlist. No apology or referrals when I mentioned I hadn’t received any call in November to get my dog the care he needs. We are looooong-time customers. A few years ago, I gave this place ALL the stars. Unfortunately, we are now changing clinics after 20+ years. The only reason why I’m giving 2 stars is that the techs were courteous and the vet yesterday was nice and helpful. But other than that, it’s extremely frustrating when you can’t even make an appointment 3 months out. Communication and transparency is Business 101. Don’t waste your time and energy. If you want your pet to get the care they need, get their records while you can and find yourself a new clinic. Otherwise, you will unfortunately wait and wait to not hear back from Des Moines Veterinary.

Can't even be bothered to answer the phone

Please, if you love your pet, do not take them to this place, we took our Lola to them, and we knew she was old and has no teeth due to cancer surgery. We knew she was not doing good she had a terrible cough, thinking we could get some cough medicine for her to ease it up a bit, that did not happen, like being conned by a time share company.
They said she was in basically good shape, and they recommended several test and labs additional blood work to the tune of 700.00 dollars and sent her home with heart medicine, nothing for her cough so her cough got worse and even though we called to get cough medicine, Lola died 2 week after visiting this place, I truly believe they spoon fed us with false hope only to scam us out of 700.00.
Please do better for your pet and go elsewhere. In my opinion, they caused Lola a very painful and tragic death, and I believe they prolonged that death for profit.

This was our vet for many years until Dr. Onorati retired. Since then, they have lost their other vets so there is no vet on staff, only techs. They can't do any type of surgery, so if your animal needs anything emergency-wise that would require surgery, you will be sent elsewhere to pay for another initial exam (basically starting over from scratch). They raised their rates despite not having a vet and they don't share records when requested. It is well on its way to a complete failure, so get your records if you have any on file and try to find another vet who can do surgery if needed. Very sad to see this place go so downhill after being happy customers for so long.

Prices doubled since last year. Not 10%, not 20%....doubled. Service is not the same. wanting to upsell everything. I'll be moving on.

Great place for your furry friend

This was our first visit. I took my dog here for her check-up and vaccines. She was nervous as usual, but Dr. Lee quickly set her at ease. Both of us found this to be a good experience, and we will be back.