Kensington Veterinary Care

"We have 5 dogs and count ourselves extremely fortunate to have the support, knowledge and professionalism of the Kensington Veterinary Care team as our local practice. They handled our animal health certificates for our trip to France with ease and Dr Clare was extremely helpful when one of our dogs suffered from a phantom pregnancy. Our BC puppy fractured her leg playing with a family friend at 11 weeks and Dr Irish and the whole team showed us such compassion and have been absolutely instrumental in her recovery. We were really concerned that there would be behavioural side effects of such trauma at an early age with the pain associated and bandage changes etc. and with such a sensitive breed we didn't want her to have any negative experiences with people/handling but I can safely say that the careful treatment from their team and frequent early exposure has meant she loves visiting the vets - and is a total social butterfly now! She races with glee into her physio appointments that KVC referred us to and they are very happy with her recovery, as are we. A big thank you to the whole team at Kensington Veterinary Care."

"Positive feedback for Kay the receptionist. She was informative and reassuring. In terms of the female vet held at this clinic. I have no confidence in her assessment she carried out on our pup. On one of the puppy check she forgot to prescribe the monthly flea and worming treatment. Our puppy was seen by her on numerous occasions. I stayed with this clinic purely because of Kay. I have decided to change vets. Kay is a credit to this clinic"

"Professional. Compassionate. Reliable. Our relocation from Sydney to London was daunting and we were concerned about finding a Vet Clinic who provided a personalised service. We are blessed to have found Dr Johnny and Kay who remind us of back home. They made us feel at ease from day one. Indie's check-ups and vaccinations are handled with care. Thankyou again for all your hardwork. Thomas Family."

"Avoid if you love your pet. This is the review I wish I read before taking my beloved dog to this practice. I have worked in the medical profession for more than 25 years and do not approach this review lightly. In fact I waited for 6 moths to write it to make sure that it comes from the place of fairness and not a reactive impulse. I took my Maltese to see Dr Irish as he suffered from persistent sneezing and runny nose. Even though Dr Irish suspected that symptoms might be caused by the nasal tumour, he still booked my dog for dental procedure, which subsequently lead to the extraction of all his teeth. I tried prior to the operation to ask a few times about doing the scan before that but was advised against it. He told me that CT scan will take too long to arrange. Later I found it is not the case. Crucially I also pointed out that my dog's eye is showing signs of protrusion but my concern was ignored and dismissed. Before the surgery my dog was still eating, then afterwards his appetite has never recovered. Importantly his symptoms were getting rapidly worse.The email reply to my feedback was an indifferent : " if you want I will prescribe him some eye drops?". My dog was deteriorating so fast- I needed diagnoses and a proper assessment not some generic drops.As a medic I knew, if the protrusion in the eye was getting worse, it means it is most likely be caused by the pressing mass. I had to insist for my dog to be examined. Dr Irish finally did an eye assessment and said that nothing serious and prescribed some meds.The day later as my boy was not getting better, I decided to use my medical expertise and examined his post operative wounds myself. I opened his mouth and was absolutely shocked from what I saw- the roof of his mouth partially collapsed and the mass the size of the small walnut was bulging from his gums.I do not want to speculate, but I think it is safe to assume that Dr Irish did not even check my dog's mouth when he was brought in with his symptoms.Once again, I had to insist that we come to the surgery for a scan. What happened after that still makes me numb from anger and sheer disbelief. I came to the surgery with my daughter, I gave my dog to Dr Irish's assistant to take him for X-ray. She told me that my dog will have to be put under the general anaesthetic and we will be contacted when to collect him. On that day I had to travel out of London and said to call my 19 years old daughter instead, so she can pick him up. Two hours later as I was on a train, my panicked daughter calls me to say that Dr Irish called her to say, that no X-Ray was necessary, it is most likely an aggressive cancer and asked her : " Shall we just not wake him up?" Yes, sometimes some tumours are discovered inter-operatively and unexpected questions must be asked, but my dog's tumour was visible before his was put under GA. Later I learned, that the appearance of the tumour was classical for the type of cancer he had. We should have been prepared for such eventuality and whilst I was at the surgery with my daughter. Our dog was her first pet since she was 8... They practically grew up together. It was cruel to ask a young unprepared girl if she should give the permission for her pet to be killed.We said no, picked our boy up and saw Dr Irish once more after the pathology results. Dr Irish always seem pleasant but with an air of the compassion fatigue or a lack of focus. It was not tolerable to stay in that uncaring and in my experience unprofessional practice, I wasted so much time when I could have done scans and at least had the time to see the specialist. Outcome could have been the same, I will just never know... At least he could have been spared from the total teeth extraction, if he was referred for a CT scan before hand. I took my little darling to another practice where he received an outstanding care.It gives me comfort that the sacred moment of my dog passing away did not happen at Kensington Vet. Practice was notified of dog's death but still continued to send me reminder for routine check-up."

"I’ve been taking my pup Oliver to Kensington Vet Care since I rescued him 4 years ago, when he was only 6 months old. The first time I took him to see Dr Irish he was nervous and frightened because he had been plucked off the streets of Romania and driven to London to find a new home. Dr. Irish and his staff were calm, patient, and caring and now 4 years later, Oliver looks forward to his vet appointments. He’s received the best care from Day 1. I can’t recommend Dr Irish and his staff highly enough."