Handle With Care Veterinary Hospital Derry, New Hampshire

I was a client of Dr. Handel's since he opened his practice, and it was quite upsetting when he retired. I am NOT thrilled that a big corporation has purchased the business, and the prices are now reflecting that. However, that being said, Dr. DeVito was very good, and was very pleasant and attentive to my dog. The exam was good. I was also happy to see a lot of familiar faces, and that is comforting. It's great to see that Lisa has come back...she is a great asset. Work on the prices, and I, and many others, would feel alot better.

I was always very professional and everyone who works there is very nice. They definitely have your pets in their best interest. They are wonderful!

I was hesitant to write a review until I read what other's have recently written about the practice. I just recently decided to switch to a new vet after going to Handle with Care for the past 7 years. I have always loved the staff and felt so comfortable with their care. Over the course of the past year, the wait times have increased, which could very well be attributed to Covid and staffing issues, so I have been patient with that. The bedside manner although is what caused me to pursue another Vet. The condescending nature of discussion with the Veterinarian was suddenly startling. Asking me if I brush my dog, if I noticed my cat was shaking his head. Insinuating that I wasn't properly caring for my pets. I had no idea that new ownership took over until I read reviews, and it all makes so much sense now. Very sad to leave, but it was time to make a change, unfortunately.

Carol is a wonderful groomer. My dog loves her and is always happy to see her.

The staff was more than helpful and sweet making myself and elderly dog feel very comfortable. The veterinarian, whom I had not met before, was extremely nice and explained all my questions thoroughly!

Awful place. I would never recommend it. They schedule an appointment but make you wait for at least 1 hour every time without caring to warn you or give you heads up. Always with the same poor excuse. Disgusting

Carol does a wonderful job with grooming my little Kassie. Carol is gentle, kind, professional and patient. Thank you Carol!

I was booked for 430, arrived at 415, and left at 600. Pet was seen for less than 20mns. But wait, there’s more! Handle with care vaccinated my cat, not only WITHOUT my CONSENT, but I SPECIFICALLY had a CONVERSATION with the nurse on the phone (curbside pickup only) about OPTING OUT of the boosters this particular visit and only doing the rabies shot with bloodwork. Red flag after an hr of waiting wasn’t enough, I had to be a push over and actually told the nurse no worries, must be busy.. I just wanted my cat cared for. The staff I was familiar with would take their time to get comfortable with him before invading him. His mane was covered in dandruff, scuffing? 15mns is not an acceptable period of time between picking up a cat and releasing them. Forget the costs, they had us waiting OVER an hr before they came to grab my cat. It’s hard enough getting an apt these days and this poor cat has been out of the shelter 3yrs, gotten familiar with others, only to get another traumatic setback. In less than 15mns I received the call that he was vaccinated and was unable to receive his scheduled bloodwork due to being too aggressive. I’d think so after waiting to be taken care of, receiving extra stress, only to be held by staff that was probably DYING to get home. I saw a handful of staff RUN out of there during the time I was parked. Bless them.

Handle With Care Veterinary Hospital has provided excellent medical care to my four legged family members. The staff is professional, caring and knowledgeable. I feel comfort in knowing I can rely on them for a great medical service!!

Bri and fellow team members have changed the dynamics at Handel to its detriment (its a long one, but worth the read for new and veteran members) From a decades long veteran, I would not recommend this veterinarian Me and my family had been going to Handel with Care for over 30 years, brought all of our dogs there. Loved Dr. Handel, Lisa and Lisa, Tabitha, etc. I was very happy there. Unfortunately, when he sold the practice and the new management team took over, the service went downhill sharply: 1. There was no communication directly to the clients when Dr Handel left. I’d heard through word of mouth that he sold the practice, but then we went in for an appointment and he was there, so I’d assumed this was a rumor. Turns out he was just there helping to assist with the transition. As a veteran client, I was disappointed in the lack of communication 2. Communication seems to be a consistent struggle for the new team. My dog is 11 years old and has been going to Handel since she was 8 months old (and all of our family dogs before that). She’d had an emergency almost 2 years ago now and we ended up with an $800 bill at Handel and a $4000 bill at the emergency clinic. As a decade long patient in good standing, the staff and me discussed making small payments to my balance when I had appointments and were willing to work with me. The emergency clinic was not, so i appreciated the consideration seeing as I’d been at Handel for so long and always had paid my bills at the time of service. Got the bill down to $160 by August 2020 (mid pandemic, mind you). Well, when the new team came in, they decide that since I hadn’t made a payment since August, they were going to a. Send my overdue balance to collections and b. Insist that I complete the payment before returning. Problem was twofold: I’d worked out and discussed a plan with the previous team that was in effect and we’d agreed to. I didn’t even know that a new team had taken over, as I mentioned. Also, they never told me any of this. They’d sent the bill to collections and I had no idea until I called to make an annual appointment for Roxy. It was only then that they told me that theyd sent my bill to collections and I wasn’t going to be able to have her seen until it was paid. I asked to get a call back from Bri, who I guess is the new owner, not fully sure. A few days later she called my emergency contact back by mistake. I called her the next day and left a voicemail. I did not get a call back from them until 3 weeks later and that was only because we’d had our scheduled appointment that I did not show up for. They tried to say that it was because I had not communicated with them in 6 months about how the bill was going to get paid: that had i reached out to discuss it with them and give them some good faith it wouldn’t have been a problem. 1. You guys are the new ones! Not me! My family has used Handel for 30 years and me and my dog personally for 10. I didn’t even know you were there. I’d already worked out a plan with the previous team. How was I supposed to know new people came in and created some new expectations? How was I to know? 2. Was 10 years of paying my bills on time not enough good faith for you? A quick look at my records would show you that I have always paid on time and without issue. Could you not have called me to ask about the bill before making a decision? Anyway, it hurts my heart that Handel with Care has gone the way it has. I can’t imagine that this is what Dr. Handel had in mind for his business. They only got 3 stars because my experience prior to the new change in management was so fantastic. I miss Dr. Handel

The recent changes are horrible. My dog who has been going there since she was a puppy got really sick and we were told they couldn't see her but to take her to the emergency veterinarian in Manchester. They didn't care that she could not breath and heart was racing. Any way we called the emergency veterinarian and they told us when you get here call that someone would come out to get her that I had to drop her off because they are not letting people inside. The people at the emergency veterinarian are wonderful people. They really showed compassion for us and our dog. She was 14 and they informed us that she had pneumonia and heart problems. She also started to have seizures. They talked to us like they knew us forever and told us that her situation would not get better. We made the hardest decision to have her put down. No thanks to these a holes who would not even see her when we needed to the most.

Dr. Handel is an excellent vet and all my cats are alive today because of him it was a very sad day when the practice was transferred to a corporation that could care less about its clients and the poor animal's in need of care. At my last visit there were no cars in the parking lot and the rooms were not lit up and I was left waiting for over an hour and ending up leaving. Unless I have an appt directly with Dr. Handel I will have to find another vet I will not sacrifice the care my cats need. This corporation will not be in business for long. I would like to congratulate Dr. Handel on his retirement and wish him the best. Thank you for 30 years of service you will be missed and unfortunately Handel with care will not be the same without you.

Won't let me get heartworm medicine for my doc because "his yr exam is coming up" it's in April so 6 months is "coming up"????

Dr. Handle was recommended to me from my sister. I have been going there since I moved here from Florida. I was very pleased until my last visit. I am usually alerted when his thyroid blood work is due wasn't told when I made the appointment. I always have gotten an estimate of what they were doing that day. Did not get that that. I asked for his toe nails to be cut that did not happen. I recieved an alert for a vaccine that was due and when I called the gentleman that answered the phone told me to avoid another charge for the visit he has to come in for shots the next month. I am very disappointed looking for another veterinarian.

They where good until recently. They advertise that they are open today but they are closed on a Saturday. There are several cars in the parking lot all with sick or dead animals that they said they would take care of. Extremely unprofessional and unreliable

Called ahead to bring in my car and when I showed up no one was there or answered the phones. I left after half an hour.

My dog has been going there since he was a puppy and Dr Handle was awesome and caring, but after he left they lost the quality of services and became way too expensive for us and for everyone. Now is all about the money and nothing about the animals.

Very disappointed that the practice was sold without notifying clients. Now i am receiving regular notifications for "overdue" vaccines that jave already been given.

Used to love this place. However, it has changed hands and now our visits are full of useless upselling and very little care. Do not like seeing our family dog treated as a payday. Will be going elsewhere from now on.

I have to edit my initial review to say that now that the practice was sold to someone else the quality of care has has taken a nose dive. The girls at the front desk and most of the techs are gone. You walk in the three at the front desk barely look at you or say "Hi" and are definitely more concerned with your payment than your pet. My cat had blood work done and i had to call multiple times to get the results after i missed a call from them because i was at work. Each time i called the first thing they wanted to tell me was how many times i had called, sorry to bother you guys but i want to know what is going on with my cat. I loved Dr Handel and Dr Belanger but it's not their vet anymore and I'm moving my cats to a new vet and I would encourage others to do so, Handel with Care does not care about your pet anymore.

Booked an appt with them to groom my Dad's dog after he passed away, as this is where he always took him. Was told he had to have his distemper shot, so we got it from our local vet. Drove 30 minutes to bring him in, and they inform my husband that they haven't seen him in 3 years. I KNOW this is not true, my Dad had taken him there 2 months ago. They then said they would need to do his blood work AND he would have to be sedated for grooming. Just in it for the $$ in my opinion. We'll find someone local to do it.

Really sad. Dr. Handel is a wonderful Vet. The recent changes in leadership and ownership have really made this place go downhill. I was supposed to take my girl in for surgery yesterday morning. I showed up, they were all late to open the door, and then the lack of attention to detail and overall care scared me enough to tell them I was not comfortable and walked out. I've never felt that uncomfortable with a vet before that I would walk out. Again, overall sad.

Brought my snowshoe kitten here for 3/mo checkup and the entire time I felt like I was at a sales meeting. All they seem to care about is upselling vaccinations that are unnecessary and then make you feel bad when you say no. I took my kitten to a new vet to be fixed (in parking lot as I write this) and after gathering the medical pamphlet we noticed they never filled out the vaccinations they gave him. Now we have no clue what my cat has had. The annoying part is I specifically asked them to do it and they didn’t.

My husband and I are new to the area and are very particular about where we take our cat. The staff made us feel comfortable immediately. Our cat really doesn't do well with vets but both Tabitha and Dr. Devito had a plan to make sure the visit would be as easy as possible for her to get through and even helped us get mats out of her hair that we had been stressed about. My only regret is not taking her in sooner!

Go somewhere else, We have been taking our Shih Tzu to Handel with care since he was 6 weeks old. He is now 15 years old and failing. Gene Handel was always attentive and had reasonable rates. He has since sold the company and the new owners have one agenda. Take as much money away from the clients as possible. As you read these reviews you will see that the good ones were pre sale of this business. We were sent a quote for a cyst removal in August after a barrage of testing totalling over $500. The quote as for $650. Gene suggested that we wait on the removal as he was questioning that Patches might have some dog dementia which could make the surgery potentially hazardous. He was put on a medication that made him worst. When we stopped the medicine we took him back in for another assessment to remove the cyst. After another $400 of inconclusive x rays and testing the surgery was approved. The quote however no longer applied and the cost was now $1,350. This business has gone from a caring practice to a criminal enterprise whose main goal is to take as much of your money as possible. We are taking our beloved pet to another vet who will hopefully care more about the health of our dog than the health of their bank account. I suggest you do the same.

After going to a corporate veterinarian to try to limit our cost and not getting our dog's needs met, we decided to return to Handel with Care. Although it is expensive, we were very pleased with the level of care and compassion and the very thorough job they did of making sure we were aware of all of the veterinarian's recommendations for tests and procedures. They took the time to ensure that we understood and agreed to each and every item on an itemized list of all the possible costs. They were great and our dog is doing so much better now. They seemed to genuinely care about our dog's and family's needs.

I love this place! Staff is all very welcoming and very helpful. I brought my two rats in and they were wonderful with them. They even called and checked up on my rats to make sure they were doing okay. My second appointment I called the day of to add my second rat to the appointment if it was possible. They worked with me and found a time that worked better for them to see both of my rats in the same day. Overall a great experience!

I absolutely love Handel With Care. They are so kind and helpful. I recently brought my two kittens to them and they answered all of my questions and I felt more than welcome there. Dr. Greene and all of the staff I met were awesome. I have also called a few times with concerns about my kittens and they have helped me each time. I recommend this veterinary hospital to anyone. I also was able to sign up for a monthly wellness plan that helps to make it more affordable! They are amazing!

My golden is groomed here and Carol cuts her Beautifully. She cuts her short like puppy.

Quick service and was able to see us on short notice