Keystone Veterinary Emergency and Referral

My cat got sick with a 104 degree temp and not eating an drinking and since my regular vet was closed that day, I was referred to this place. They said she was dehydrated and gave her some fluids, and did a blood test but «didnt know» what could be the problem. I went home and kept feeding her with a syringe until I got to my regular vet. When I went to my regular vet all he did was prescribe a simple antibiotic and she got better as if were a simple standard thing. My cat suffered more time because this place couldnt just prescribe a simple antibiotic, all they wanted to do were more tests and rack up the bill. I tried to talk to the manager about it but she «stood by» the clinician. For shame.

This hospital is wonderful. I am a new client, but my experiences so far have been wonderful, and I will definitely be returning. Recently I had to euthanize my beloved 19 year old cat. While I had hoped she would pass peacefully at home, it soon became clear I would need to bring her into the hospital. I was able to call and ask questions and advice of the staff, and never felt pressured to make a decision I was hesitant on. I was offered sympathy, advice, and given my options. Making the decision to bring her in late at night was not an issue at all, and once I arrived I was immediately greeted and given privacy. The staff made the total process as calm and peaceful as possible; they gave me as much time as I needed with her once arriving, accommodated my specific requests for the procedure, and overall were lovely and supportive. More than one staff member expressed their understanding of losing a pet that I had had for so many years, and noted they sympathized with the same difficult choice that they themselves had had to make in the past, and assured me I was making the right yet difficult decision after many years together.
I have a history of previously working as a Veterinary Technician, and sadly am very familiar with the difficult process of a euthanasia, as well as the specific «behind the scenes» of what the client experiences, the shortcuts often taken at some veterinary hospitals, and the possibility of being overcharged or offered unnecessary services to raise the final bill. None of these were ever an issue; unfortunately, this isn’t always common with veterinary hospitals. Even during the difficult and heartbreaking process, I couldn’t help but notice the thoroughness and professionalism of the staff, the level of care, and even the cleanliness of the spotless hospital. I found their prices to be comparable to competing veterinarians in the area, and their after hours services were not up-​charged, as is the case with other local emergency 24 hour clinics.
I am glad I have found a professional, caring and affordable veterinary hospital in my area that has convenient hours and a wonderful staff. I will be returning to this hospital in the future without hesitation, and recommend it to anyone looking for a complete veterinary hospital.

We had a terrible experience at keystone. We went for emergency surgery to unblock our male cat and they told me that while they were doing the surgery they should do the pup surgery (to remove his penis) so he wouldn’t block again even though this was his first blockage. When the surgery (approx $ 4500) didn’t go well they didn’t want to do follow-​up care and he was completely incontinent. I would not even give one star but Unilocal wouldn’t post without it.

Don’t take your pet here, unless you want to kill it and spend a lot of money doing so. I am writing this for a friend who does not have internet access at home. Cat was taken there because he was not eating, after xrays, bloodwork, and a shot of antibiotic, he was told to take the cat home, and not feed him for 12 hours, DUH! Long story short, cat was still not eating, took him back and then they gave meds, said encouraged him to eat, lab work was fine, nothing on the xrays, cat was still not eating. 10 days later, and $ 1900 dollars spent, I took him back and they said there is nothing left to do, so they put him down for $ 160.00. That was the bargain price. My friend is so sad and distraught, and wondering where he went wrong. NEVER TAKE YOU PET HERE, IT WILL BE A MAJOR MISTAKE.

I took my dog to keystone on a sunday because she was having some bleeding from her urinary area. The staff was very friendly and took us quickly. The vet did a urinalysis and quickly determined that the dog had a urinary tract infection. No problem. The vet gave us some brand name antibiotics in blister packs. At checkout time I was a little shocked at the amount of the bill. But I paid it and went to my car and just figured I’d check the charges when I got to the car. At that point I realized they didn’t give me a breakdown of the charges, only a credit card receipt. So I went back inside and asked for the invoice. They printed it for me and I was surprised to see that they charged me $ 150 for the brand name of what my regular vet charges me $ 30 for the same antibiotics. So when I got home I called them and explained the situation, and that since they hadn’t produced an invoice before paying, and that the meds were in blister packs (they could possibly even have been provided to them as samples), I’d like to return them and get them from my vet. They not only agreed that it was their mistake for not providing an invoice before payment, the nurse also said «yeah, we probably should start doing that». Meaning this is their standard policy. However they refused to allow me to bring them meds back. Telling me once I got to my car, the meds were not returnable. Seems to me perhaps they have a reason they don’t give you the invoice until you ask for it. Many people love their pets and wouldn’t question the amount they are paying for their care. and to be honest, had they charged me 300 for an emergency visit, I probably wouldn’t have cared. But since they use shady practices to hide their costs, I am very displeased.
In summary… I think if you have an emergency this is probably not a bad place to take your pet, but based on my experience along with some other reviews I’ve read, it appears they have some interesting and somewhat shady practices for scraping some extra bucks out of you. If you use them, let them diagnose your pet’s problem, but before they give you some meds, if it can wait until your regular vet is available, get your meds from your own vet. And by all means, get the invoice BEFORE you pay.

I am new to the area and had taken my 11 year old tibetan spaniel to a nearby vet. They found that she had a pretty noticeable heart murmur… something not diagnosed previously. The vet mentioned Keystone for after hours emergencies, so when she was having a bad time breathing on a Friday night, I called and took her right in. Dr. Vanessa Olenick was wonderful at explaining what as going on, what needed to be done and what to expect. We left Angel overnight, not sure what the morning would bring, and Dr. Olenick called first thing to tell us that she was doing well and that she spent the night up front in a little nest with the receptionist, so she was never alone. The visit was expensive, but not overly so. We were not able to follow up with a cardiologist as recommended. Keystone called a week later to check up on Angel and said that they would be as supportive as possible in the course that we have chosen. I am very appreciative of Dr. Olenick, Anna, Ashley and Megan… I had to stop back the following day to sign something, and I found that the receptionist did not seem to have a very good grasp on things… and the vet on duty at that time didn’t feel it was necessary to answer a questions that we had. So maybe we were lucky to get the great help that we did… it might not always be such wonderful care.

If I could give zero stars I would as this was by far the worst vet experience we’ve had.
We brought our 2 year old Boston Terrier here after she was vomiting all night and the vet on duty took x-​rays and said they saw something in her stomach and had to do exploratory stomach surgery to remove the foreign object. After seeing the estimate ($ 2500!) we were obviously concerned and said «And you wouldn’t do this unless it was absolutely necessary, correct?» The nurse tells us «Right, we wouldn’t waste your money». Well 3 hours later we get a call saying the surgery was done, they didn’t find anything and it could have been X, Y or Z. We understand the surgery wasn’t guaranteed to find something, but it seems as though the X, Y, Z options should have been discussed BEFORE paying $ 2500 to perform unnecessary surgery.
I wish that’s where the bad service ended, but it was far from over. We were told she’d be ready to go home in the AM, so we called in the AM and they said they couldn’t send her home yet until she eats and that our dog wouldn’t eat for them. Our dog has a food allergy, which we filled out on the form they provided us during check-​in and they choose not to read their own form and tried feeding our dog some random food. God forbid her food allergy was life threatening she could have died.
Then we go and feed her ourselves and we’re told that she needs to stay overnight again and that of course will cost an extra $ 500. When we asked «Why? Nothing changed in her procedure, she’s doing normal, why is the stay extended» THey said «Well someone was supposed to call you last night and tell you your estimate was wrong and we needed to add $ 500». Well, 1. you can’t just call someone after they signed an estimate and tell them it’s actually $ 500 more for no good reason, 2. no one did call us. When we brought up all these questions, the vet on duty that day kept passing the blame to others and then stormed out. «Well I’m just a weekend vet» «I’m not the owner» «I don’t know why they did surgery, I wasn’t here yesterday» «I’d be upset if this was my dog too» «It’s the radiologist’s fault, he said he saw something»
The mis-​management of everyone in this practice was beyond unprofessional and our dog underwent invasive surgery for no reason. The communication and blame game that went on was unacceptable, cost us a ton of money, and caused us a ton of stress.

Be careful when selecting this location. They do not fully explain pricing. Like the office manager Lisa said «they assume that if your willing to pay 1000 your willing to pay 1300.»

I will say first that the person behind the counter, the veterinary assistant, and veterinarian were all incredibly friendly and warm towards both myself and my cat. I have nothing bad to say about their overall attitude and friendliness.
I took my cat in at about 8pm on a Thursday evening. I noticed that one of her pupils was much larger (dilated) than the other, she is about 4 years old and I had never ever seen anything like this in her before, so it really freaked me out. She seemed otherwise mostly okay, but somewhat sluggish. We’re new to the area and didn’t have a regular vet, so that and the time of day lead me to Keystone.
I realize that veterinarians are only human and as such can miss things, but I was extremely disappointed in their examination of my cat. They seemed convinced that it was caused by some kind of head trauma or neurological problem. I had been at work all day so it was hard to say what she and our other cat had gotten up to, but they are indoor cats and nothing seemed amiss in the apartment, so this didn’t seem likely. Even though I both wrote it down in the forms that I filled out and told the vet that she has a history of ear problems, they never even checked her ears. They basically looked at her eyes said «wow that is weird!» and then told me to take her home and keep an eye on her. They said if she started vomiting or acting funny to bring her back right away, basically what you would do for a person you thought might have a concussion. They also gave me the number of a neurologist and a ophthalmologist that they recommended I contact if she didn’t appear to improve. This visit cost me $ 105.
Over the next few days she mostly was acting like herself but her pupils were still very off and she was clearly uncomfortable. I did some poking around online and very quickly found multiple sites that exactly described what I was seeing in her. It is called Hornor’s Syndrome it isn’t dangerous, and can go away on its own. Often the cause is unclear and it will clear up on its own, it can be caused by a head trauma, OR my a middle ear infection in which case antibiotics are needed to clear it up.
Based on her history of ear infections I was convinced this was the cause and made an appointment for her at a nearby vet for that Monday. When we went in the vet took one look at her and said «that’s Hornor’s Syndrome» I told him about her ears, he checked them out and sure enough, she had an ear infection. He gave her a shot for the discomfort and one with antibiotics and within a matter of days her eyes were back to normal and she was clearly feeling better. I thought maybe it was rare and that’s why Keystone missed it, but he said it is fairly common in cats and with her history of ear problems it made perfect sense. I realize that emergency vets cost more, but I was really unhappy that I had paid $ 105 for them to tell me to take her home and keep an eye on her when it was something that they should have been able to diagnose.
Finally just yesterday I got a call from Keystone checking to see how she was doing (this is two weeks since I took her in to them). They used my name and her name so they had to have been looking at our file, but they asked how she was doing and if the «vomiting» had stopped. Vomiting was never one of her symptoms, which I was very clear about when I took her in because they kept asking if she was vomiting. So not only did they fail to diagnose her, but they clearly had her symptoms totally wrong in their records. Very disappointed with them.

So relieved that Keystone exists !!! Staff was friendly and treated my pet with love and care. Thank you! Thank you!

February 8, 2012 — Wednesday — 10:00 AM
My beloved 11 year old beagle exhibited a strong reluctance to place weight on her left hind quarter. I placed her in the hands of Dr. Carlos Hodges.
She was diagnosed by TWO veterinarians as suffering from the human equivalent of ACL. The exact terminology was «Left Medial Patella Luxation & Cranial Cruciate Ligament Rupture». Doctor Hodges confirmed the diagnosis and clearly outlined the procedure, aftercare, and costs. Dr. Hodges indicated that my dog would have to stay overnight for precautionary measures.
The following morning I returned for my dog. I received clear, thoughtful, instructions on how and what to expect for the next several days. I was given medications and several reminders to contact them anytime with concerns.
I’ve contacted them several times and received kind, courteous, treatment.

As good as it gets! I had a great experience at Keystone, the doctors were knowledgeable, efficient, and understood just how much of a part of the family my dogs are. The dog I took there recently had a quick turn around thanks to the excellent care at Keystone, I don’t plan on taking my pets anywhere else!

I took my cat here last Saturday because I thought he had a broken tail and my typical vet has limited hours on Saturdays (must find new vet). We got right in, everyone was wonderful, very efficient and methodical. I was grateful for how quickly the cat was sedated, x-​rayed, given an assessment, and prescribed medication. While it was not an inexpensive visit, it was worth it given the level of care an attention he received. I’m grateful.

I totally agree with the reviewer S.B. …this place is truly wonderful. I was miserable before Keystone opened, because of the awful local choices for emergency/​after hours care near Havertown. At other places, I have waited forever, gotten lousy care, and have been grossly overcharged.
What a difference at Keystone!
The staff is prompt and attentive. They are knowledgable and extremely caring. And Keystone’s cost for the emergency care is very fair in my opinion. I especially loved Laura, the tech who helped me when my small dog had severe diarrhea at 3 am on a Saturday night.
I can’t say enough good things about this place, and I give it my absolute highest recommendation.