St. Francis Animal Hospital Augusta, Georgia

We booked an appointment a month out, arrived to the appointment, finding out they never booked my pet in the system. They said they can take him as a walk-in but will cost more. Now we have to wait another month. Total BS. I like the line by the staff telling me I must have booked it at another clinic or hospital. Why would I do that when we are on the VIP and been taking the animal there since we’ve owned him. My family is highly considering taking him to another vet from this point on. If the front staff can’t book the appointment right, then who knows what other breakdowns happen within their facility. By the way, the original appointment was in November but had to reschedule it to December due to college classes. They need to start sending email or text confirmations of the appointments after booking them. Update: St Francis did reach out and called me (and my daughter/pet owner) the same day but it didn’t go anywhere. I’m not quite sure why they called because they didn’t make any improvements. The next appointment is still in January. Although, they did ask who did we talk to on when we made the appointments??? It’s like we are are going to remember the name 30-60 days out. Also, I don’t think they state their names when they answer your phone call. But I know you get placed on hold every time you call.

I have entrusted the care of my poodles to St. Francis for at least 14 years or more and I’m at the point of considering leaving them. I always knew they were more expensive but I was willing to pay a little more to have access and quality care. Unfortunately, that has been dwindling for some time now. No longer a 24/7 location and even long time established patients have to pay ridiculous prices for emergencies to be seen on Saturday’s. I use to refer people to St. Francis but will no longer do so. This week I was about to hit the roof with one of the ladies up front. I had to call multiple times and even showed up at the front desk a couple of times. The lady could not seem to grasp the fact that with having multiple dogs on medication that you need to have similar delivery systems. This fact is intensified when you know you will be having someone else taking care of your fur babies for a week. Now here is the part that really got me and she is lucky that I was trying to be professional and explain the situation…she had the nerve to state, “You’re going to trust someone with your dogs that you can’t trust to handle their medications?” I would explain all about the prescribed measures of the medications but it is too much to go into detail and that is why I wanted simplification. This point did not seem to get through to them no matter how many times I called or showed up. But there was no problem with them insulting me on who was caring for my poodles for a week. What nerve! I spend thousands of dollars with St. Francis every year to care for my fur babies!

The scheduling staff is apparently completely incompetent and after they make the mistake they expect you to pay more to have your animal seen or wait a month for another appointment. They don’t bother to make things right or admit to their mistake. In September I tried to schedule a follow up appointment for November and was told the schedule wasn’t ready yet but someone would call to schedule it by a certain date in October. When that did not happen I called and was told we already have an appointment made for your animal. They never bothered to call to inform me of this appointment so lucky I called. I took off work and showed up for the appointment only to be told they had my animal scheduled as a walk in and not an appointment and that I could pay more for this visit and have everything done and drop my animal off and then come back and pick him up or schedule for an appointment mid December and be allowed to come inside with my animal for the visit. No thank you. Terrible customer service.

This is a special place. The staff is amazing & go way beyond to make our old dog comfortable + happy. One of their employees made Jake dog a priority in her own Thanksgiving plans so that we would be able to travel without leaving him at kennel since he’s gotten too old (14) for an extended kennel stay or to travel. Thank you!!

Great caring staff. You're efforts are appreciated

My cat had sinus issues. New to the area. St Francis has a walk in. Took her there . The took excellent care of Bumblebee. Explained everything in detail. Thank you all for taking good care of her.

I’m so happy with my experience at St. Francis. My 8 month old Golden had some stomach problems over the weekend and I wanted to get him seen ASAP. We moved down here in July and when we moved saw another vet, I didn’t enjoy the experience with them at all but haven’t really had to see a vet since so I didn’t switch. The difference between that vet and St Francis is amazing. Easy to say I am going to make St Francis his primary vet. I called all over to have my puppy seen (after his vet wasn’t answering, and never called back) I got ahold of St Francis and I was able to drop my puppy off in the early morning as a walk-in. Once he was there they updated us along the way, explained what was going on, and treated him. I was expecting a huge bill just because of the issues he had but it was affordable! The staff was super sweet and explained everything as well as the meds he had to take. I definitely recommend! They made a stressful day so much better & now my puppy has improved greatly!

I have tried several exotic vets in the area, as I have quite a few exotics, but I have been most pleased by St Francis. I haven't had an interaction with them so far that hasn't been spectacular. We have had our 2 Whites Tree frogs (Tuesday and Green Bean) in recently, one of whom had to be euthanized due to an accident. The whole staff was so incredibly kind and supportive on what was a terribly rough day. Our second tree frog is doing much better after Dr. Cheeks' recommendations and we got her on antibiotics/in a quarantine tank. She took the time to really go over our husbandry and all of my concerns. She's looking much less stressed/more green and acting much more normally once we made those changes. I am so relieved Tuesday is looking better and I'm confident she'll do great with the continued treatment as we try to correct the issue, which is probably something going on with our bioactive tank.

Everytime I have taken my dog there they have done an excellent job. I feel confident that my dog's health is a top priority for the staff at St. Francis. I highly recommend them to pet parents because they care about your pet and will do what is needed to keep them healthy. Keep up the great work.

way way to expensive. They charged $314 when our vet charges $106. We took him here because he wasn’t feeling well and our vet can’t see him until next Friday. They did nothing. Didn’t call me to ask what dose he was on. Took our cat in because he takes thyroid medicine but he has been lethargic and not eating. Said it would be around 2 hours. What? Just take his blood for testing we take him home and call us when ready. But no. He was there almost 6 hours. Their was an emergency before he got there and then another emergency after he arrived. So I am calling to see if the doctor has read the results. Not once during that time did they tell me about the emergencies. Nor did they call my husband who they were supposed to call when it was time to pick him up. It wasn’t until my husband went back a second time. Never will I ever recommend this place

After being turned away by 3 other vet hospitals, this one welcomed me and my injured dog with open arms. My dog had just gotten hit by a car and needed immediate assistance. Thank you to the doctor and the entire team who helped my dog today. Words cannot describe how grateful I am. They answered the phone and allowed me to come right away. Thank you.

We have been in the Augusta area for 3.5 years now and have just recently switched over to St. Francis after some bad experiences at another local hospital. The difference has been night and day. St. Francis is awesome ????!!! Dr. Cheeks is awesome! She is so personable and knowledgeable. She has really shown us the difference a great vet can make! We appreciate Dr. Cheeks and St. Francis and their attentiveness and responsiveness. Louie (our golden retriever) is so comfortable being there and we love the facility as well!

Dr Berkshire and the staff were so amazing! I’m established at another vet office but came to St Francis on recommendation for an emergency, and I was not disappointed. They treated my dog like family and Dr Berkshire was very informative about his diagnosis. I highly recommend this animal hospital!

I work at wellness center in the area. I often refer or make appointments for pet parents who we cannot be serviced at our clinic because of severity of their issues. I've even taken my own dog there for a cardiac ultrasound. I know 2 doctors who have worked there. Both are knowledgeable and pleasant . The staff is all friendly and professional. I would continue referring mutual patients there.

We took an injured hummingbird by and asked for advice or a resource, their advice, "Kill It". We found a wildlife rehab facility in SC. St. Francis was a lover and protector of all animals, it seems they have forgotten his mission.

Dr. Garner was the best when it came to the care for my dog Priest. Him and Dr. Berkshire did everything to save him during surgery,, but in the end there was nothing they could do. His bedside manner was great. I would recommend this place to anyone. I will be officially switching all my fur babies to him. Dr. Berkshire was very informative of what was going on. Finally vets that care about animals and it was not all about money.

I have been taking my pets to St. Francis for several years and have always received great vet services. It has been recently that the customer service with the front desk is severely lacking. Now I have to wait on the teleprompter for 5 minutes to get to a person then be told to wait again for a few more minutes by the person. I'm told there is an emergency but I get that excuse every time. On top of that when I have a scheduled appointment, half the time they are late getting my animal and the other half they forget to send my card back out to me. Therefore, waiting 30 minutes just to receive my card back. Also, don't go as a walk in. I have done this twice around noon and did not receive my animal back until 7pm. The first time, my dog just got a laser treatment which only takes 30 minutes to perform. I love the vets and their assistants, but can't deal with the front desk service anymore. I will be moving my paperwork to another hospital.

The staff is so very attentive in the care of my 2 Basset Hounds. They listen to my concerns and are thorough in explaining the care my dogs need. Dr. Wooley has first hand experience with Bassets and I chose St. Francis based on a recommendation from a friend and I am so glad I did.

Paid for a 16$ nail trim that wasn’t done Took my dog to this vet for a mass and they did a needle biopsy without giving him Benadryl which apparently can worsen the sarcoma At the time I thought I needed a cytology report for his mass but they saw spindle cells so it really wasn’t needed and I feel that I wasted money getting the results sent off because I wasn’t informed properly The soonest surgery they could offer me was almost a month out with no Mention of possible trying to switch a routine surgery they have scheduled for my dogs critical one but who knows maybe they had nothing but critical surgeries scheduled for a month. They said they heard a little heart murmur in my dog two days later at another vet they said it was definitely a higher grade murmur 4/6 instead of a 1-2 grade that was annotated at ST Francis I cannot recommend this hospital anymore and I hope they improve their quality

St. Francis did a wonderful job with making sure my dog felt comfortable during our most recent visit. Even though my dog struggles with really bad anxiety, the St. Francis staff was very accommodating and helpful. Thank you St. Francis for a wonderful visit!

We took your cat of 13 years old to them twice. After 2 weeks she is longer with us. She had a infection that they did not pick up on. They said it was a ear infection and let it scap over. Our pets are also are our family members. Take your pets to Edgefield if you want your pets really looked at. We are morning a loos because of them.

Finally found the BEST CARE EVER for my emergency, my dog was attacked by 2 dogs, needed vet care Asap ...was on the phone calling everywhere. I am now very happy and feel the comfort of knowing where to take my pets. I will remain a loyal customer with all 3 of my dogs.THANKYOU ALL FOR YOUR PROFESSIONALISM AND TIME AND CARE.

My wife and I took our cat to this hospital, they charged us for multiple tests including testing for his white blood cell count. They did not actually test him for that though and now we are just discovering two weeks later that his white blood count is low and he must get transfusions everyday. If they had tested and treated him as they should have originally then we would not be in this (very expensive) situation. Shame on this hospital.

3+ hour new patient visit. Took my dog inside to be seen and didn’t tell me a wait time. Called almost 2 hours later to be told he still hadn’t been seen. Be sure to ask how long it’ll be otherwise you’ll spend your whole day doing nothing.

Midnight first visit to St Francis he was 4 months old he is now a very healthy 10 year old dog thank you St Francis

This isn’t my primary vet, but when my dog was ill on a Saturday I was able to get in here. They weren’t allowing people inside at the time but the vet called and explained everything that was going on. He was kind and informative, I would definitely go back.

This review isn’t for the doctors, but the front desk staff. I called at opening time on a Saturday to see if I could bring my cat to be seen that day. The person I talked to told me yes and they stopped taking walk-ins at 1:00 (they closed at 4:00). I didn’t take my cat right away because I watched him for a while to see how he was doing that day. I decided to take him and arrived at 12:40. When I called to tell them we had arrived, I was told that they had already stopped taking walk-ins. I told them what I was told when I called that morning. First I was asked “Are you sure it wasn’t another place that told you that?” (No, St. Francis was the only clinic I called). Then they told me that they were very busy and sometimes they cut off walk-ins earlier if they are very busy. Fine, I can understand that but this isn’t what I was told when I called and asked about coming that day. If I had known that, I would have come earlier. It was very upsetting to be turned away with a sick animal after I specifically called and asked about coming in and I arrived within the time frame that I was told. In addition, the first person I talked to when I arrived was OK but then I was put on hold and then I talked to another person that was rather harsh and insensitive. I took another animal to St. Francis recently and it was a very good experience. But because of this more recent experience, I doubt I will go back.

So originally I wanted to leave a 1 star review, seeing St Francis as an industry that prioritized making money instead of the service they provided for our pets. However, I am happy to say I made an error in judgement. I have unfortunately been to several vets recently and all of them charge twice, almost three times as much as St Francis for the same services. I am appalled honestly at what some Vet Clinica have become but not St Francis. While they do take some time, it is overall very worth it. Another side note is that I was told they would update me with each additional charge which they didn’t but still after seeing the cost comparison between St Francis and other vets within the area, I am certainly satisfied.

I am very grateful for the care that they gave to my dog Izzy. She is doing much better. Thank you all, specially the doctor. ????????????????

Dr. Garner is top knotch, knowledgeable, and kind. I have taken 3 golden retrievers to him and now it is mini schnauzers.