Vale Veterinary Centre

- Owners praise kind, compassionate handling, including good support for a nervous terrier and thoughtful accessibility adjustments for a guide dog owner. - Some reviewers say access is good, including being seen the same day, and Dr Richard is singled out for clear, personable consultations. - Several complaints focus on the V.I.P.

Vale Veterinary Centre describes itself as a family-run, independent small-animal practice in Cardiff. It operates an appointment-only system, takes pre-payments for booked appointments and surgical time, and offers a V.I.P. Club membership paid by direct debit. The practice appears set up for routine and ongoing care such as vaccinations, parasite prevention and nail clips, with recent feedback mixing strong praise for compassionate care with complaints about membership administration and communication.

Services

•Small-animal veterinary care, including routine appointments and ongoing preventative care.
•Annual boosters, flea and worm protection, and nail clips are specifically mentioned.
•Preventative care is also offered through the V.I.P. Club membership, which reviews link to direct-debit payments and collection of parasite treatments.
•Treatment examples mentioned by owners include care for an ear infection with medication.
•The website also states that diet purchases are available with a discount.
•Operationally, the practice uses an appointment-only system and requires pre-payment for appointments and surgical time.

Pricing

No published pricing information is currently available for this clinic.

People

•Dr Richard (vet): Named in reviews as personable, knowledgeable and professional, with one owner saying he was fantastic with their Labrador.
•Nursing team: One recent reviewer praised the nurses for adding tactile markings to a guide dog's syringe to help with independent dosing at home.
•Reception and practice management: Some reviews mention difficulties with front-desk communication and complaint handling, though no individual staff were named.

Reviews

Google rating: 4.3/5 from 70 reviews. Recent feedback is mixed, with several very positive accounts of clinical care alongside repeated complaints about communication and the VIP plan.

•Owners praise kind, compassionate handling, including good support for a nervous terrier and thoughtful accessibility adjustments for a guide dog owner.
•Some reviewers say access is good, including being seen the same day, and Dr Richard is singled out for clear, personable consultations.
•Several complaints focus on the V.I.P. Club, particularly around flea and worm treatment supply or collection rules.
•A small number of negative reviews also describe poor complaint follow-up, rude front-desk interactions, and dissatisfaction with how one vaccination appointment was handled.

Reviews for Vale Veterinary Centre

Note: Showing the 10 most recent Google reviews out of 70 we track in total. Recent reviews may not be representative of overall sentiment.

Caitlin Leigh

2 months ago

Vale vets has been absolutely incredible with me and my guide dog! Richard explained where any obstacles were, the nurses put tactile marking on the guide dogs syringe so I can give the dosage independently and the accessibility and just pure compassion is incredible!

Emma Fox

5 months ago

Vet made no attempt to even spend 2 minutes getting to know my dog before giving him his vaccination and insisted that a muzzle was put on him right from the start - he has never needed one before in 6 years of vet visits. He was so upset that it was then impossible to continue with his health check which is paid for as part of the direct debit that we pay. I've never been to a vet who seemed so nervous about a small yellow lab before - if she was scared of him I have no idea how she manages more nervous animals. We have also now been told that they are unable to source our flea / wormer tablets - again paid for as part of the direct debit system - although they can order them if we pay separately which doesn't appear to make sense. Tried to talk to them about this but the receptionist was just no interested to the point of being rude and obstructive and no manager was available at this branch. I am now having to contact them separately to make a complaint and will be changing vet practice as soon as possible. UPDATE Made a complaint and received an accusatory email from the ‘practice manager’ claiming I hadn’t paid my direct debit for over a year. Concerning enough that if this was true their system hadn’t picked it up but even more concerning as it was total fabrication that this is how they treat customers. I responded with the precise dates of each and every payment proving I was up to date and have heard nothing since - shocking they didn’t even have the decency to acknowledge their mistake but that says it all.

Kal

8 months ago

Signed up to the VIP program for both my dogs, I didn't pickup the worm and flea tablets immediately. I tried to pick them up 4 days into the next month and was told I cannot have the previous months tablets even though it's not a documented policy or condition that you're time-limited to pickup your tablets each month. I made a complaint per their complaints procedure and after 28-days they still didn't respond. I emailed asking for a response to my complaint and they've still not responded. Always had a great service apart from that one thing.

Natalie Ferris

1 year ago

Friendly staff always able to see Cooper the same day

Josh Fox

I have nothing but good things to say about the Pontcanna branch - they have always been fantastic with our Labrador. Dr Richard is a fantastic chap and an excellent vet - he is very personable, knowledgable and professional. I would highly recommend.

H C

My nervous terrier has been so well looked after at Vale Vets. We have been coming for years and over a lot of major events in my dogs life. Throughout the Vale Vets have been kind, compassionate and expert. I would highly recommend