Beltsville Veterinary Hospital

I am a new puppy owner and was very please with the service at Beltsville Veterinary Hospital. The front desk staff was superb and Dr. Pfeiffer gave my Teddi all of her shots and exam with not much of a fuss from her.

We’ve had excellent care here at Beltsville Animal Hospital. We tried a couple other vets but the experiences were less than satisfactory. Here we like the vets, the customer’s always are friendly and nice (that’s extra) and they’ve done well with our kitties. We have one with lymphoma that is nearing the end and they helped us by listening to what we wanted to do and making suggestions. Sometimes what you need is just someone to support you on your pathway and they’ve done just that. We’ve always been able to get an appt in reasonable time — including emergencies. Very highly recommended!

I called the office to schedule an appointment for my pet. He’s been sick for the past few days and seemed to be getting worse. Now, I realize that it’s New Year’s Eve and I didn’t expect immediate service or even to speak with a «live» person. But I was getting anxious and wanted to at least schedule something or leave a message to get him seen as soon as possible. After about 7 or 8 rings someone picked up. I was pleasantly surprised at first. Again I wasn’t expecting an immediate appointment or anything. The person who answered identified themselves as the «answering service.» She told me the office would reopen on Friday (the day after New Year’s). But when I asked if I could leave a message to schedule an appointment, I was told I could not. I then asked why she identified herself as the answering service if she couldn’t take a message and she said it was so that she could tell people that they couldn’t leave a message. Maybe it’s me but this seems like extremely poor customer service. On a positive note, she was very polite — not helpful but polite nonetheless. Based upon the positive reviews that I’ve read about the vets here I will still try to schedule something for my pet and update this review at a latter time. For now I am disappointed in the service or lack thereof.

I have taken my cats there for more than 15 years and today, when I needed them the most is when they let me down. I will NEVER go there again. My 17 year old cat has been sick for a while now and Dr. Fink (who was not in today) has been wonderful about helping me make decisions. Today, my cat is in obvious pain and he needed a to be put down and I was told that they DON’T HAVE ANY APPOINTMENTS for an emergency and that they had one for tomorrow morning. So my cat is to suffer until tomorrow morning? This is how a regular customer who has come to you for more than 15 years get treated in an emergency? Never again.

First off I give out 5 out of 5 very very rarely. I just think too many people give out perfect ratings when they are not justified.
As to the meat of the matter. My wife and I have been taking our cats here as long as we have had kitties (about 17 years now). My wife took her cats here before we were married (she no longer had kitties when we got married) to stretch that to about 23 — 25 years. We currently have 5 cats.
Of the current doctors Dr. Fink, Dr. Spencer, Dr. Pfiffer (part-​time), Dr. Prowell, and Dr. Passmore we have had face to face contact with all but Dr. Spencer (but I have talked to her on the phone about my sick kittie when the doctor directly treating her was off).
My advice. .. they are all fantastic vets. Our favorite is Dr. Fink. .. simply because we get along with her best. Next favorite is the newest vet there Dr. Passmore (I think at the time of this review she has been there for a little less than 3 months). The rest are pretty much in a 3 way tie. No preference.
I could probably write about 10 pages about all of the positive experiences We had at this clinic/​hospital. I will spare everyone and just go with the latest experience.
I will do my best to make a long story short. One of our kitties (Bunny) had lost a lot of weight so we took her in. Dr. Fink and Dr. Prowell (the two vets at the time with which we had the most experience) could not see her for about 5 days. Dr. Passmore was the only vet available. Well it turns out Bunny has/​had Hepatic Lipidosis and required hospitalization. During the week when she was hospitalized I heard from one of the Vets at the hospital every single day (the clinic was open). We were constantly kept aware of her situation and all of the doctors were extremely patient with me (for the record a pedantic engineer who was at one time a pre-​med student is one of the worst kind of patients LOL). During this week I spent significant time (about 5 or 10 minutes a day) on the phone with Dr. Spencer, Dr. Fink, and mainly Dr. Passmore. Again they were all able to effectively answer my questions patiently, thoroughly, and honestly. We talked about all of the options (including euthanasia, and a feeding tube) and after a lot of debate between my wife and I we decided to take her home after the week of hospitalization. The kittie is doing better every day and she has been home for about 5 weeks now. She is not out of the woods but the blood test (in a few days) should tell us a lot more how she is doing.
Now we are not hard up for cash but we are pragmatic when it comes to our pets. One of the great things about this clinic is that all of the staff seem to understand this kind of attitude. They do not order expensive procedures willy-​niily nor do they strongly recommend expensive procedures at other hospitals or whatever. They are always very up front about everything and for my wife and I that is very important. We want to make a very informed decision and cost is part of that decision. Which is why we did not put Bunny through a liver biopsy or whatever to confirm the possibility of cancer as the underlying cause of her condition. It still might be the problem as I said we do not know. But medically managing her condition has resulted in having a lot of great quality of life over these last few weeks and that is all any of us want for our pets.
I want to point out especially that Dr. Passmore has only recently graduated from Vet school. I have to say it is completely amazing to me how great she is as the stuff they do not teach in Vet school. Things like dealing with a patient who asks too many questions etc etc. It is one thing to understand the nuts and bolts of being a Vet it is another thing to understand what their human companions need to hear.
Now on to the reasons I can not give the hospital a ⁵⁄₅ rating. The front desk staff are very competent and friendly but having to wait on hold for as much as 7 — 10 minutes (as I did today) is something I find a little lacking. The front desk staff in general need to be led to make a decision in many cases. I have no problem doing that but it can be a little off-​putting. Now I know that having an extra front-​desk person is a very big expense and would result in the hospital having to charge more for everything so I do understand the nature of the problem. However, I still recognize it is a problem. There is no good solution. Honestly, we like all of the Vets so much here that it is something we are very willing to over look. I suggest that everyone do the same.
Overall I have very rarely had a better experience with a Doctor’s office/Vet’s office than I have had here at Beltsville Veterinary Hospital.
Having said all that I need to point out that at one time this office was down from 4.5 full time Vets to 3 full time vets. (Dr. Fink relayed this to me about 5 months ago). So for those of you who had bad experiences I think that was the likely cause.

They tried to «hustle» and «deceive» me out of $ 52 that I was told I would not have to pay because I only wanted shots for my kitten. The Vet was very negative, non-​friendly, and looked like he came to work straight out of bed. He said that I should «have my kitten put down» in a very insensitive way without exploring ALL possible solutions. The overweight spanish girl at the desk seemed mad that I wasn’t giving her the time of day, and the white office manager whom was chubby and wore glasses was very rude had no customer service skills, only a ghetto atitude. I would not recommend this place for your pets. There are many more cheaper, and friendier Vets in the area.

I would like to send my heart felt thanks to Dr. Fink for the support that I received from her on my dog Thor. The compassion that was given to Thor at this difficult time was beyond anything imaginable. This is why I will continue to use this vet.
Thanks again

I have been taking my dogs (from a litter of newborns, to an elder who had to be put down) to this practice for more than 25 years. Every Dr. I have visited here over the years has been excellent. And I’ve never had a problem with the staff in the front, or behind the scenes. I especially appreciate their policy of reasonable pricing, and therefore I do not hesitate to bring my dogs in based on affordability. Lately we have been visiting Dr. Fink, whom both I and my poodle love dearly.

Monday morning when I woke up and snuggled my dog, I noticed that his right eye was extra goopy and not opening all the way. I cleaned it off with a moist towel, but it was still not opening fully and was very red. On a tip from a friend, I called Beltsville Veterinary Hospital at lunch. Dr. Spencer was specifically recommended, and luckily had an appointment available that evening. Perfect!
My dog loves everyone, so when we got there he was not anxious, but he is quite energetic. He hadn’t had his evening play time because we had to go right when I got home from work. I had to be vigilant to keep him from jumping on everyone and, since I didn’t know if he had a contagious infection, from even getting too close to the other dogs coming in and out. Yet, when Dr. Spencer brought us into the treatment room my pup calmed right down. Dr. Spencer’s calming demeanor is amazing. He thoroughly, but quickly examined my dog, told me what was going on, clearly explained it without dumbing it down and gave me ointment. I and the pup were very pleased.
At checkout, I was pleasantly surprised by the cost, which was definitely lower than I expected for such great care. I have absolutely found my new vet. Thank you, Dr. Spencer. You’re awesome!

I absolutely love this vet. We bring all of our pets here (5 different dogs, 2 different cats over the last 7 years) and we have never had a bad experience. We see Dr. Fink, but we’ve also interacted with other docs and techs, all of which were superb. I never feel rushed and Dr. Fink answers all of my questions patiently and completely. I have never experienced rudeness from the front desk staff, although there are a couple of folks that are more brusk, they are not rude, just not overly effusive.

Havent been with my doggy but did call on a emergency. We thought his leg was broken and had just moved to the area. I called and said: Good afternoon and the response was ««««nothing, silence… I said: hello and the lady said: yes? With this sarcastic, rude tone. I explained what I tought was happening to my dog and she said: we dont take new patients. Bye and hung up on me. No customer service at all. Very sad

Dr. Spencer is GREAT (A++), and understands how to practice veterinary medicine. He also quickly and correctly diagnosed my dog with Lymes disease after one of College Park Animal Hospital’s rotating staff of doctors told me I would have to get an MRI (which we didn’t $$$, and my dog was sick for about 2 more years with subsequent bouts of paralysis). Dr. Spencer diagnosed and cured her of Lymes, with one quick test and one round of antibiotics — and she never had another bout of paralysis.
Dr.Pfeiffer IS A NUT and completely ineffective (D-​). My dog had a seizure of some sort, and I rushed over to BVH. After finally getting the front desk’s attention (how about saying hello and greeting someone when they walk in???) a nurse helped carry my dog inside. Dr. Pfeiffer came in pretty quickly. But then proceeded to tell me she had a brain tumor, and sent me home. She died later that night, with her family, but in a lot of pain. After speaking with my mother, she reminded me of the story of how our other black lab passed away… pretty much exactly the same way. Only, when our first dog had the seizure and we brought her in, they didn’t let us go home — they said it was probably an abdominal aneurysm, gave us time to say goodbye, and put her to sleep.
Dr.Pfeiffer completely ignored the information I gave him, that my dog was favoring her abdomen… He then went on to tell me that she in fact was not cured of Lymes earlier. I understood exactly what he was saying, and why, but he completely doesn’t get the art of practicing medicine. He was unhelpful, and sent my dog home to die in pain.
The front office staff are pretty average (keep your expectations low, and you’ll be satisfied). The nurses are fine.
Dr.Spencer gets 5 STARS.
Dr.Pfeiffer gets 1 STAR.
Front office gets 3 STARS.
Nurses get 4 STARS.

I have been taking my animals here since last fall, and I really like it. It is relatively easy to make an appointment that fits with work schedules. They have later weekday hours and weekend hours. We have seen Drs. Pfeiffer and Spencer. Both seem to be good vets. I LOVE Dr. Spencer– he is really great! Nice, attentive to my animals, and very personable. The staff are competent, efficient, and polite.
I don’t feel that they try to push any products or high price treatments on me or my pets. They are good about answering my questions and giving me tips on things I should look for (in regards to my senior dog). The facility is always clean, there is a large outdoor grassy area for my pets to calm down pre and post vet meeting (my younger dog hates shots and knows what is in store for him inside). The vets also give treats to them after they do something unpleasant like shots and clipping toe nails.
The pricing is good — MUCH lower than other local places. Highly recommend and will keep going here!

I have had more experience with needing to go to the vet (unfortunately) — one of my cats seems to be having a problem with crystals forming in his urine, which he lets us know about by peeing outside the litter box. (good times!)
Dr. Spencer has been great. He tries less invasive (and less expensive) options before trying bigger treatments, which the cat and I both appreciate. After some trial and error, we’re putting our cat on a special diet for a month to see if that clears it up. Even though I bought the food from the vet, it’s competitively priced with online retailers. (Still can’t believe I’m spending this much on cat food, but that’s another story for another day!)
It’s easy to get an appointment within a couple of days, and they always run on time — if only my human doctor office ran as efficiently as this one!

My roommate and I took our cats for a first-​time visit to this vet (we saw Dr. Fink). The visit went quickly and smoothly — we were in and out in 40 minutes, yet we did not feel rushed. This included new pet paperwork, the check-​ups, and payment. They did not try to sell us unnecessary medications or procedures. The prices for check-​ups and vaccinations were very reasonable. Sedatives for travel were affordable, and we received friendly and useful advice about putting our fat cat on a diet. Our nervous cat urinated and defecated in his carrier, and they cleaned it out for us and sent us home with a towel for him, thanks to former donations of old towels. Visit this vet, and take a towel donation with you! F

Attention all MDs, DOs, DSSs DVMs, &c: Take yourself and your admin staff to BVH. Carefully study how the practice is run. Take notes, ask questions. Do the same thing at your practice. Your patient satisfaction rates will skyrocket and for the doctors who work on humans — your risk of Med-​Mal suits will disappear.
If there were a way to break out the rating I’d give five stars for each of the following:
The spotlessly clean facility.
The courteous and gracious admin. staff.
The kind and patient doctors.
The incredible reasonableness of rates.

I love this Vet. I have been a customer to this vet for over 11 years. Their prices are very reasonable. Some of my friends go there because of me and they love me for the referral. This place is great!!!

I’ve been taking my minpin here for a few years. I went to another vet when we first got her and was put off at how much he charged. I then was recommended to Beltsville by a coworker. I am very happy with the services there and believe the pricing to be very fair.

We have been going here for years and never had a bad word to say about anything or anyone. We love Dr. Prowell and Dr. Spencer. We love that they are open longer hours and provide full service (so many vets are only useful for routine care and if any surgery is required, you get referred). And we also appreciate their very reasonable fees for service. Worth the trip if you live in Eastern Montgomery County — they charge much less than vets in Silver Spring area.

Yella related a horrible experience below, but I’ve had excellent care w/​Dr. Spencer (who is newer). There is also always a staff on the premises, and the techs are great. I cannot excuse what I read below, but go w/​Dr. Spencer and you’ll be fine.