East York Animal Clinic

Stay away from this clinic. We had an appointment for 6pm, and they were 60 minutes late calling us in. We did not get out of the clinic until 7:45pm. It wasted our entire evening.
They lied to us over the phone. Stating that this clinic was best, as they do not charge a check up fee for the next shots after the examination and that they will only charge for the shots. Wrong. They DO charge an exam fee for all the vaccination visits. It was simply a plan to get us in and locked in as clients.
Coming for the appointment, they said $ 71 would cover all charges and to bring a poop sample. Not only did they lie about the charges. But they asked for $ 47 to do a test on the sample.
I told them that I chose this clinic based on what was told to me over the phone. They refused to honour their word. They said «looks like you’re going to have to find a new clinic.»
Customer service is very poor. They try to recommend you all their itty bitty services just to make themselves a buck. Save yourself and go elsewhere.
This place has no business ethics and not to mention, knowledge. They could have had a dogs lifetime of business but they gave that up just to feed their ego and to only make $ 71.

This is not a false review. I lived with McCutcheon’s bad work for years and my cat suffered for it. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Just had another great experience with Dr. Kneebone at EYAC. I have 3 dogs and they are all rescued from various terrible circumstances. Dr. Kneebone and is very thorough and always figures out what is going on with my dogs, even when their symptoms are complex and sometimes make no sense. She truly understands the bond between pet and owner, and spends a lot of time getting to know not just the pet patient but the entire family. We had our 3 boys in for a physical and heart worm tests this spring and our entire appointment took 2 hours because Dr. Kneebone made sure everyone got the attention they deserved!
Having been a client there for about 20 years, I have never experienced the office staff as rude or dismissive. If I call with a problem they are always prompt in helping me get an appointment as soon as possible.
Recently one of my dogs started medication for his fear/​phobia of thunder storms and fireworks. After the first thunderstorm happened after our appointment, Dr. Kneebone called me herself to see how the medication worked out for him… did it help? This is the type of care Dr. Kneebone has given my dogs for almost 20 years now. Personal, attentive, kind and caring. I am baffled by other reviews that claim they don’t exam the animals properly. My dogs always have their hearts listened to, their entire bodies examined head to toe and their ears checked. For the teeth they usually just sit there and pant and if she gets a good look when observing them she doesn’t pry their mouths open unless I have raised a specific concern.
Years ago when one of my dogs died, Dr. Kneebone was incredibly kind to me and went above and beyond what she had to do. She called to check in with me for about 2 months after the death. She left messages letting me know she was available if I just needed to talk, no charge. The office sent a sympathy card. The next time I saw her when I adopted another dog 2 years later, she still asked how I was doing with my grief over my last dog.
This clinic is top notch and people drive from all over the place to bring their animals to see Dr. Kneebone and Dr. McCutcheon. They used to be the only option for holistic veterinary care. Before they did renovations, they used to have pictures up of all the celebrities who brought their dogs in as patients of the clinic! Dr. McCutcheon is a very gentle, extremely experienced man, he is NOT a butcher by any stretch of the imagination!

The homeopathic medicines are fantastic, but the vets are not very thorough with the «examinations». I have been going there for nine years (not planning on returning and hopeful to find another Toronto holistic vet) and during most of the exams I have to tell the vet to check my dog’s/cat’s teeth, heart, ears, etc. I’m not sure what they think an exam consists of (just looking at the animal from afar??). Last time I got charged double for the exam because I demanded a proper one. The receptionists are very rude and full of attitude. Emails are not properly responded to and unless you are dropping $ 500 per visit, questions do not get answered. I never actually walk out of there under $ 300 — $ 400 each basic visit and after 9 years I still don’t receive proper treatment. I have only been going there because the medicine is fantastic (unlike Western based vets whose solution to everything is antibiotics). My furry babies are very responsive to homeopathic medicine and it works so well, I am really hopeful to find another holistic vet in the GTA.
The one star is for the lack of thoroughness in examinations, but the homeopathic medicine gets 5 stars.

I specifically brought my dogs to East York Animal Clinic because I was searching for a vet that endorsed feeding raw food.
My previous 2 dogs had multiple tumours before they died and I decided that if processed food is unhealthy for people, why should I feed processed pet food to my beloved pets?
But most vets do not endorse raw, and most vets are trying to sell special formula pet foods… but they are still processed and no matter how high the price, it’s still made with mystery meat and filled with preservatives.
So when I found out East York encourages their clients to feed raw food, I knew it was where I wanted to take my dogs.
There is a lengthy initial visit that deters some from bringing their pets here, but those of us who already know the benefits of feeding raw (healthier teeth, shiny coat, thick fur, firm poop that is smaller and not as stinky as dogs who eat processed food, etc) we don’t mind the extra screening because we have already seen the benefits.
I also felt strongly that dogs should not be over vaccinated. Many vaccinate yearly, whereas East York promotes doing Titre tests to see what vaccinations are required and which aren’t.
They also follow the Guelph protocol of vaccinating for Rabies every 3 years, instead of annually, which is not necessary and potentially harmful.
I personally think Dr McCutcheon is a great vet, very thoughtful and gentle with my dogs and honest with his opinions. The techs are also great, but I find most vet techs are — they work in the business because they love animals. The only reason I am giving 4 not 5 stars is the often long wait times and the sometimes less than friendly front desk staff.
Some vets actually believe feeding raw is harmful for pets, and I personally believe that is due to the brainwashing by the pet food companies who make billions selling dry kibble that virtually never goes bad… Ever see those pictures online of a fast food hamburger that hasn’t gone mouldy after a year? Did it make you think twice about eating pseudo food? Well, kibble is the doggy equivalent, so why feed it to your dog?

I started bringing my chihuahua here as a pup. I really liked their holistic ideals and not pushing antibiotics or routine vaccinations because my pup had a horrible reaction to the rabies vaccine at a previous Scarborough vet. However, it’s very difficult to get an appointment here on short notice, also you go in for an examination at one fee, then they prescribe numerous holistic meds that end up costing hundreds of dollars! I thought my dog had a UTI, they did a urinalysis, it cost $x to collect the urine and then another $xxx just to go over the results! I thought that was ridiculous and shouldve been included in the $ 70 exam fee. Then the vet prescribed 3 different meds. I was so upset, I asked her which of the 3 is absolutely ESSENTIAL to treating my dog so then she narrowed it down to the one drug. I wish they would explain more what each holistic med does. When you go to check out at the end of the appt, u are charged for at least 3 – 4 items… probiotics, omega fatty acids, this cream, that liquid drink etc… it’s probably all needed for the overall health of the dog, but they should try and clearly explain or at least give you some information about each med. Anyways they do care about your pet, they do try to minimize the amount of prescribed meds, but I think the holistic meds are just too costly. I stopped going here when I moved to mississauga and when Dr Anya left.

10 years ago I brought my cat there with blood in stool. The doctor gave us some holistic remedies assuring everything will be ok. For two weeks my poor cat had to swallow that unpleasant stuff, however the problem did not go away. I came to McLean Animal Clinic, they prescribed right food and fixed the problem for a few years.

I took my dog here as I had lost faith in my first vet at Village Gate animal hospital. He wasn’t open to me switching to raw feeding, he wanted to charge me $ 900 cos my dog had plaque on two teeth, also suggested a Hills dental food that he sold and he didn’t follow standard vaccination protocol. I told him no thanks I’ll figure these things out on my own and find a commercially available product for teeth.
My Teegy got pancreatitis, I took him here, they treated me and him with great care and were very informative. (I had Dr Anya who sadly has since moved on to take care of street dogs in Thailand).
They gave me natural medicines to help him heal and fantastic information for me to understand about what these were doing to help him. He got well and went on a raw diet. I have read so much stuff where people throw their dogs on crap hills science diet or medical by royal canin because their vet said they should after pancreatitis, but now understanding about a dogs digestive system I know raw feeding is the best for him. People actually need to educate themselves more and be more accountable for their pets. I have certainly made some changes in how I care for my dogs and am most grateful to this clinic.
I can call or email anytime about pretty much anything and either Dr. McCutcheon or Dr Kneebone will freely and very informatively answer my questions.
You can have a dialogue with these vets they don’t sell you up, they actually want what’s in the best interest of your dog.
The staff and Vets here are terrific, I’m glad to have found them.
I really do wish more mainstream vets would train in alternative medicine.

I have been bringing my pets here since the mid-90’s. my first cat, Snowball, hated this place so much so that the vet wrote a ‘warning’ on his chart that he was highly aggressive (or something along those lines) because any place we took him to after that treated him pretty badly. Our second cat (a Siamese) was brought here for a short period of time until we switched to another clinic so that Snowball could receive better care.
Fast forward to 2012 — we brought our Siamese back here because we wanted to try a holistic approach to treating her chronic kidney failure. She was treated by one of the best vets I have ever met, Dr. Anya Yuschenko. However, after a few months we returned for a regular check-​up and found out that Dr. Anya had left so we were passed along to Dr. Kneebone. All she cared about discussing was how our cat needed to have her teeth cleaned. Our cat is 16-​years old with chronic kidney disease so the chance of her not surviving the anaesthesia is fairly high. Furthermore, after reviewing her blood work at home later I noticed that a few important blood tests (for a cat dealing with chronic kidney disease) was missing, or just not ordered.
Most recently we had an emergency situation (there was blood in our cats vomit and fecal matter) so naturally, I call our vet, 1.5 hours prior to their closing time. Our cat was refused an appointment despite her current condition and when we stopped by the clinic to pick up her medical record so we could take her to another clinic, there were no clients waiting to be seen. Do not take a really sick pet here because they will not show any interest in caring for them.

Takes advantage of worried pet owners!
I feel sorry for anyone who takes there dog to this clinic to throw his or her money away. My dog has liver problems, we went there to get advice on food and to get a second opinion. So I wasted my money. She ordered x-​rays to see if we had to get an ultra sound. Of course we did. The x-​rays showed that my dog had a swollen liver, which would always be the case if her alp and alt? levels were up? My vet actually apologized to me for me going there for a second opinion, he was so sorry I had been taken advantage of. When my dog had cataracts he told me not to be ridiculous when it came to getting my dog surgery for this. He said just to change her diet (free) so I did and now she’s okay. She uses ketamine to anaesthetized my dog, while charging at least $ 250 for the drug and to administer it. What for $ 5 worth of ketamine?
I am embarrassed that I threw away $ 400 for completely unnecessary procedures. She was nice sure, but it was not worth being ripped off for $ 400?
I pay extra money every year to get my dog tittered. Please see
Excellent resource that I was given by another holistic vet in the GTA so I would not have to go to see Dr. Anya and her money grabbing.

From their web site; «We integrate all the available modalities and diagnostic procedures, whether considered mainstream or holistic, in the care of our patients. We have the ability to arrange for specialists in radiology and surgery to come to our clinic as well as offsite liaison with specialists and emergency facilities.»
They use a combination of holistic and conventional treatments. We’ve been taking our dog here for 6 years and are very happy with the clinic. My favourite thing about them is they don’t recommend all the «routine» annual vaccinations that many vets do. They can do a titre (blood test that determines immunity), and if your pet is still immune to the disease it was previously vaccinated against, why vaccinate it again this year? You don’t save money because the blood tests have a fee, but you aren’t putting unnecessary, and sometimes controversial medication into your pet.