North Georgia Veterinary Specialists Buford, Georgia

Our tripod lab mix was limping badly after an incident at a dog park, and the emergency vets near us were full. After arriving at N. GA Vet, we waited only an hour and a half of their estimated 3 hr wait. The Dr and his staff were friendly and professional, and the price was very reasonable for an emergency vet visit. I highly reccomend.

I brought my cat around 1 in the morning because he had blood in his urine. The doctor checked him and said that he was good enough and that we could wait until the morning to take him to our vet. Later in the morning we were told by our vet that our beloved cat had lost a lot of blood and even with a transfusion he didn't get better, he couldn't get surgery because of how weak he was. I was told by other vets that his bleeding was actually an emergency. Please be careful if you bring your pets here and get a second opinion.

Waited about a month to get my dog in for a teeth cleaning and ended up paying $3,000.00 on the spot. (They normally cost $300.) The staff never mentioned cost during scheduling or any other conversations prior. It is very upsetting they don’t have the courtesy to warn someone of such a costly procedure. (I guess no one would ever book with them if they did.) They expect you to pay the full total the same day. I feel they took advantage of me. I will never use this vet again.

Honestly I used to like this place but there was a change in management and they are totally money hungry. Emergency visits for my cat were $97, now they are $130.... how do you raise your prices like that? People need places like these to help save and keep our pets safe and they scam us like that? Way to go. Don't take your babies here, they do the minimum and don't seem to thoroughly check them like they should. They don't work with you or help with prices/payment plans and a lot of vets are doing that now. You're going to lose a lot of customers and it looks like you've already have, judging by the reviews. I'll go to Pearl next time, thanks! (One thing and the only good thing, Daniel the receptionist was very professional and very kind, thank you)

DO NOT TAKE YOUR PET HERE IN AN EMERGENCY. I brought my beloved cat in late Friday night as a last resort. I knew it was an emergency because I called poison control, he was CLEARLY experiencing the side effects of toxicity due to canine flea medication. They quickly told me there wasn’t anything to do and to “bring him back in if he has a seizure”. Luckily I have half a brain and immediately brought him to my trusted vet the next morning. He was hospitalized for 2 days. Thankfully he is recovering, but that would not be the case if I had blindly listened to the doctor here!!

I had to take my 1 year old dog here for an allergic reaction late at night and they took her in and treated her right away. Very friendly staff.

We brought our beloved Sammy, a 10-year-cat, here on a Saturday after having been to our local vet 3 times & a misdiagnosis. He had barely eaten for a few days and had been staying in our closet most of the time. When we got him to NGVS, he was obviously very ill, partially due to the local vet's "treatment" for a misdiagnosis. NGVS kept him for 5 days, diagnosing him with heart disease, pancreatitis, and diabetes. After stringing us along for 5 days and requiring a total of $4,500.00 (mostly due upfront), they deemed him ready to come home. The doctor said "he seemed brighter" and that was drinking water, walking around, and talking (meowing) up a storm. He hadn't eaten for days before going to NGVS and refused food during his hospitalization. Even syringe feedings were futile. Their discharge directions were to give him 3 medications daily and that I HAD TO GET HIM TO EAT! Only then could he receive the insulin he needed for his diabetes! It was my job to get him better! He returned home in the same, if not worse, condition as when we took him there but with several more days of starvation. He was not walking around, meowing, or showing any signs of improvement. When I called there in a panic after his 1st day home and his vomiting up medication, I was told I could bring him back in but Sammy's doctor and her technician were off that day and they were the only ones who knew about Sammy's illnesses. He would have spent another night in intensive care for an additional $1,000.00 minimum only to come home again sicker and more depressed. We were never offered a prognosis or a realistic picture of what to expect when he came home. We had no idea that he was terminally ill. Sammy came home miserable, depressed, still refusing to eat, and hiding again. He showed no sign of recognition of us and his amazing personality was gone. Our beloved and adored Sammy was no longer there. He had given up. He died his 2nd day home. My God. We would have kept him home where he felt loved and safe. Instead we put our faith in this place and their alleged superior veterinary skills. If they couldn't help Sammy, we deserved to know the truth and not been given false hope & robbed of $4,500.00. Sammy's brother and sisters are mourning. One is inconsolable. Our home will never be the same. What you do, or fail to do, affects the lives of beloved pets, their pet companions, and their families irrevocably. Please look at these photos as a reminder of what you took from us & how you discharged Sammy "ready to go home". Please remember the suffering in his eyes.

I thought my cat was dying so I brought her here because it was after hours. They put her in an oxygen tent to help because she couldn't breathe. They came out and told me what the charges would be for treatment and asked me before they did anything. They left the decision to me and said it can get costly very quickly. It was less expensive than I thought it was going to be and I was able to put it on my care credit card with no interest! These guys were so nice and professional. I hope I never need after hours care again for my animals but if I do I will be coming here!!

2400 dollars and nothing done to help my dog except put him down! One of the worst places to take your animal!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Took him for a second opinion and he’s up and eating and 100 times better in 24 hours then the 4 days he stayed there. So disappointing!!

Our husky fell down our deck steps and was unable to move her back legs. The clinic left us sitting outside for over an hour without even triaging her. They refused to quote us a wait time and we eventually left. Horribly unprofessional.

I brought my sick kitty here after obtaining a diagnosis of stage 5 lymphoma. My kitty's health was rapidly declining and her breaths were so labored and painful. I told Dr Surdyk that she was gagging and couldn't keep anything down. During our consultation, she seemed understanding of this and told me that she would give me a written prescription I could use to "shop around" to find the best price. HOWEVER, after paying the bill without seeing what I was being charged for, I saw that she snuck in the prescription (and lots of it too) on my bill at a VERY overpriced price-- AND she gave me the ORAL form, so of course that was no use. I tried to tell the tech who brought my kitty out at the end, but she was very rude about my questioning of the charge. 2 days later, my sweet kitty passed away. Thinking back to the way the tech treated me and the way that Dr Surdyck snuck that prescription on my bill, I don't think I will be coming back here in the future for my pets' medical issues. I don't mean to say that Dr Surdyck is not knowledgeable. She is a very good vet and really knows her stuff.

Dr. T is very unprofessional! I wouldn’t take my fur babies to this practice if you can help it. They didn’t render any services to my pet, but tried to still charge me $450. Dr T advised my pet needed to see a specialist 1 1/2 away, when i got to the specialist no one even called to see if they were still accepting pets. Which they were not!!! when i called back to express my frustration, he said “oh well not sure what you guys are going to do” if they’re giving this type of treatment on the phone imagine what your of treatment they are giving your pets. PLEASE AVOID THIS PLACE!!!

I will try to make a long story short but my cat needed surgery for numerous life threatening urinary blockages. After taking him to numerous different clinics looking for anyone just to do the surgery I found North Georgia Veterinary Specialists and I'm glad I did. Communication was great, price was about 35% less than what Blue Pearl Quoted me and didn't lose out on quality or have long wait times. The doctor called me every day to give me updates on my cat all the way to surgery day. Its been more than a month after my cat had surgery and he doing great and is back to being a cat again. He is very happy to not have a cone on his head anymore. I want to thank everyone at North Georgia Veterinary Specialist and Dr. Curcio for treating and saving my cat Tails. I was very stressed and depressed by the whole situation thinking I would lose my cat and they saved and treated him.

My 6 week old puppy was seen for blood in her stool and puke, and no appetite. This was the first time going to this hospital due to the fact it was an actual emergency. Starting off, they quoted $170 over the phone and when everything was done, it came out to $400. Then, made us wait in the car for a good 2 hours or so for any information on my sweet girl. Once the doctor "Tommy Dempsey" came out to speak to us, he was overly rude, had an attitude, only worried about how much we were paying. Also, never got an 100% answer what was wrong with my puppy. He stated that she has stomach issues, and wanted to treat her with medication but ended up getting a very mad tone once we started asking questions that we're also unanswered. He also never stated that he gave my puppy medicine inside or that she had a fever after returning to us. After we got her back, she was shaking scared, diarrhea and freaking out until we got back home. I will NEVER bring any of my pets here again, and I'm not sure how this business is still ongoing. This is the WORST experience i've ever witnessed towards animals needing urgent care.

We had a wonderful experience with this place. Our kitten was saved in an emergency situation. I would highly recommend.

I walk to this clinic 2 days ago because my dog was with diarrhea, vomiting and with a lot of pain. Dr recommend vitamin because my dog was stress and probably he didn’t eat for 2 days already. Oh surprise!!! My dog is not stress Dr my dog has a berry bad dehydration, low white cells and I have to hospitalized him. I’m not sure who give this Dr a license but if you love your pet do not take him/her in here. And I expect I refund for your incompetents.

My family noticed our cat was having urinary issues throughout the day and called a few emergency vets to figure out what we should do. North Georgia Vet Specialists were very patient over the phone and we were at their office in less than an hour, with little to no wait time. Our cat went in around 8pm and by 9pm she was back in our car with medicine to treat a urinary infection! Our cat had even had an accident in the box she was in on the drive up, and they cleaned it up and sanitized it for us without us even having to ask. The staff were so friendly and understanding, and I felt like our cat was in wonderful care. After taking the medicine for a few days, our cat was happy and back to normal! I would highly recommend using them!!

I took my Irish Wolfhound 5 year old to NGVS with a CLEAR issue on her back left leg: swollen, clearly apparent redness, pain, and favoring/not walking on back leg. This was a sudden issue and so I took her to NGVA for after hours help. They are still doing curb side service but NONE of the vet techs nor the vet (Tommy Dempsey) had on masks when they came to the car. They took my dog in and then the doctor came out. He said he didn't see any redness, no tenderness in leg, and didn't know what it was. Prescribed antibiotics and that was it. I asked about a possible snake bite and he said "Even if it was a snake bite, she's so big it wouldn't kill her." That's a quote! She did NOT get better. I took her to our regular veterinary clinic, Tiger Tails in Duluth, the next day. It was worse! The swelling and redness was worse and had travelled up her leg. She could not walk on it and started bleeding in the car on the way over. Dr. Dempsey was dismissive to everything I told him. Of course, he said they could "dig deeper" if I wished. I did not wish. The prescription he wrote for antibiotics was over $200. The visit was $97. He did nothing for her and I will never go back there again. My wolfhound has been in hospital for what will be three days tomorrow. She was bitten by a brown recluse spider. Clearly, Dr. Dempsey missed everything.

Do not take ur pet here. Go to Blue Pearl. Unprofessional staff in front office. Overcharged us= charged more for additional surgery needed due to correct their error. Cat got mega paw because pressure bandage was not removed or instructed to be taken off. One charge is almost $40 for a "small bandage." We were charged thousands on thousands with no consideration for adjustment. After a week + office Mngr Donna called me 4 times in a row back to back within minutes then refused to communicate with me after this regarding MANY issues and concerns. After our cat got a completely different and 2nd feeding tube placed and it was ready to be removed (after the first one just fell out) the front office told us to go to our regular vet to have it removed??? A different employee also told me i could remove it myself and put neosporin on it. Called our regular vet, they were confused and advised us to stick with who did the original surgery=makes sense. This is a short summary of why, as an animal lover i would never!! advise any pet be taken here.

Exceptional care for our senior schnauzer. She was seen quickly, the doctor called and discussed the findings and an agreed on treatment was finalized. In and out in about an hour- though I think there was only one other patient there. Fees were reasonable and less than I expected for emergency vet care. I am very pleased and happy that we chose North Ga Veterinary Specialists for our sweet dog. I would recommend this office for anyone needing urgent evaluation of their beloved pet.

This group is amazing,. My little dog was hit by a car and i had to bring him in for an emergency surgery.

This office needs to get their act together on communication between doctor and staff! This has happened twice already on the same pet in less than a week that I was told to bring my pet in on a certain day and then was told that she wasn't on the schedule when we arrived. Seriously? The vet was good and very informative and did a great job on the surgery, no complaints on that at all.

I had to bring my dog here while I was on vacation in Atlanta. I have to say I am impressed with their efficiency and professionalism. They were able to treat my dog within 35 minutes. Before I even left the parking lot, they had emailed me the invoice and diagnosis.

I took my dog here around 1 am due to emergency concerns. The night shift vet, Dr. Hayes was wonderful and responsive. The moment she left I was left without any updates, communication, or calls about my dog. I was told I would have an update by noon. When I called they stated the doctor would call in 20 minutes. My dog was there a total of 16 hours and I received one actual update at 5 pm. When I finally got there to pick him up I owed over $1000 and found that he has been sitting in his own waste all day. It is absolutely unacceptable to keep a pet all day and have them sit in their own urine. I am appalled. The day time communication is AWFUL so if you are expecting to get any actual information on how your pet is doing do not utilize this animal hospital.

I brought my dog to this clinic for an emergency. When I arrived there was only 1 car in the parking lot. Figured that my dog would be able to be seen in a reasonable amount of time. I was wrong. A staff member informed me that it would be over 1 HR before he could be seen. The lady that I spoke to was rude and unprofessional. It was clear she didn't want to be a work. Definitely will not visit the clinic again!

Absolutely would not take my dog here. They are completely unprofessional. To start they are in no rush to help you in the event of an emergency. They say they’re using Covid protocol however no one is wearing a mask and neither was the UPS guy who entered. Two different people took my pups story before the vet called me without asking any of his colleagues what happened or looking at my X-ray and was very condescending and rude. Blue pearl off Lawrenceville highway is amazing if you need a 24 hour emergency vet in this area. Additionally while in the parking lot 2 other separate people told me scam stories about this vet. The office manager must be the vets wife because she was super offended that I called the vet incompetent. They care about money, not animals.

Our young dog has been diagnosed with epilepsy, and our emergency protocol with our neurologist has us taking him in after a certain number of seizures so he can get medicine via IV. We decided to try this hospital, as the price I was quoted over the phone was much lower than what we pay at Blue Pearl. The tech that got him out of the car was incredibly rude. She snapped at us and wouldn’t pause for two seconds to listen, this was a very standard late night visit for us and if she’d have paused for two seconds, she would have understood. She yanked his collar off his head, threw it into the back of the suv, and very unsafely picked up a 76 pound dog in the middle of a grand mal seizure and toted him off without assistance. Our normal vet, UGA, and Blue Pearl use a sling and two people for his (and their) safety, so this sent red flags right up. The cost went from a few hundred to a thousand due to unnecessary blood work. I confirmed with his care team and all doctors involved couldn’t understand why they would run blood work, given his history (which was very well documented on UGA letterhead). The next day they wouldn’t release him to us without hearing from our regular vet, on a Sunday, which took several hours to make happen. They then tried to charge me for the day’s care, even though he needed nothing from them and they refused to release him.

We recently had serious emergency with our large Am. Staff and the staff at N. GA Veterinary Specialists were calm, cool and collected during our high stress situation; exactly what was needed. The doctors are polite, caring and very communicative during this serious time which is exactly what is needed. They made sure my baby was safe to come home and were quick to communicate everything to our local vet, something that I value and appreciate. If I ever have any more E.R. visits it will definitely be with them!

I don't typically write reviews, but had to share this experience with the ER. I took my precious dog in on Saturday around 10:45 am due to difficulty breathing, panting. We arrived and they came right out to get him, but that's when everything changed. We didn't hear a word until I called around 1:30 to check in. They had still not done anything with him. The vet said she was going to do a stomach ultrasound, and blood work and call us back in an hour or so. Waited another 4 hours and still nothing so I called and she said she was just about to call us. They found a mass in his stomach, but she gave us hope that he could be treated if we left him in the hospital. We did that overnight, and no one ever called to give us an update on him. I called twice...that night I was just told he's resting, called back next morning and they said he was vocal during the night. Not sure what that meant considering he could barely do anything but pant heavily. Vet finally called us Sunday morning and said she thought he had a urinary tract infection and needed to see specialist about the mass to get a more precise ultrasound. We could either pick him up with meds, or leave him in hospital all weekend. She thought it would be fine to get him because he seemed really anxious staying there. She gave us hope that he would be ok, and I'm fairly certainly he was heavily sedated when we picked him up. By the time that medication wore off he was back to breathing rapidly and now had a raspy sound. He was suffering so bad Sunday evening through the night. Next morning I called to have the results sent to my vet and was told the papers were already sent. I ask her to make sure and please send if needed. My vet never got them and had to call them. When I got him to my vet he was almost gone and I had to have him put down. She said there was really nothing else we could do. He was suffering so bad. I hate that I put him through the ordeal of the ER at this place. Also, they charged me for 2 to 3 nights of hospital stay and he was only there for 1 night. My main complaint is my baby suffered 3 days because they gave us false hope. I'm heartbroken to say the least.

We took our puppy in on a Saturday afternoon and she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. The vet sent us with 15ml Clavamox given 3 times a day at 1.4ml each. This only lasted until Wednesday morning. At pickup, I had asked if we needed a refill, and the vet tech said no. By Friday, my puppy was in distress again. Our primary vet said she still had the UTI and was shocked the emergency vet only gave us 4 days of antibiotics. He said the emergency vet should have given us 2 weeks worth of antibiotics (strike 1). Also, before pickup, I asked the emergency vet about how to keep my distressed dog comfortable while we waited for the antibiotics to work. She said the puppy would have to tough it out (strike 2); Our primary vet has now given us 2 types of pain medication to help until the UTI clears. Lastly at pickup, I asked the emergency vet tech for the discharge paperwork and test results. She said the vet would send them at the end of the shift. It's been 7 days, and I still don't have any paperwork. The receptionist said the vet was new and that she didn't have her contact information; but, she would try to track down the vet and get me the information so I can pass it along to our primary vet (strike 3).