IVRC Iowa Veterinary Referral Center

We took our loved family dog to them as an emergency and after an x-​ray and ultrasound they recommended that we put him down. I agree with the decision as I saw the results of the tests, but they wanted me to pay them $ 1180 before they would do anything — our dog was in so much pain — I needed to get a hold of a family member to help pay this unexpected very large bill, so I offered to pay some, give them my keys to my car, my drivers license and promised that I wouldn’t leave until the bill was paid, but kept asking them to please just do something for him. I couldn’t stand watching him be in that much pain. It took almost 2 hours to get a hold of someone to help pay the bill and then they took another 30 minutes to come in the room and administer the euthanasia. I have NEVER met a doctor that was so uncompassionate and greedy. Obviously they charged a huge overpriced bill and then made him suffer for 3 hours. I will NEVER go back, and I will NEVER refer someone here! Even the animal rescue league waves fees if the animal is suffering, and so do most vets — This was a horrible and tramautic experience for my kids and I. It was hard enough to have to say goodbye, but to watch him suffer like that all so some greedy ******* can get their money! I hope you sleep well tonight with your large over compensated pay check! Greed will only line your pockets for so long! Shame on you!

Great place, caring and kind staff. I would do anything if I would have taken my dog, Buster, there instead of Iowa Vetrinarary Specialties, where they did nothing to save his life and were mean to boot.

What a blessing to have your company take such precious care of my baby, Zina!!! I was so freaked out to see her so spooked and not feeling well! Its like a whole new pup pup has come home, very happy and finally hungry and happy! Thank you for your fabulous work! Thank you from the tip of my soul!!!

Very talented vets and staff that cared tremendously for our dog that was in very bad shape when we arrived. We left the IVS clinic when they were getting off track and taking too long (days) to isolate the issue, and when we got here they made it a priority to get our dog scheduled for an ultrasound ASAP. We would’ve paid 20−30% more for not as fast or quality care at IVS (they focus more on money and scare tactics at IVS… grrrr). When we were super stressed, IVS added to it and IVRC was amazing. All of the vets for the most part left IVS a few years ago and launched their own clinic: IVRC. It’s what IVS used to be.

I can not say enough good things about this clinic. I’ve taken both my dogs here for emergencies and both the office staff & the vet were so kind and caring. They took the time to carefully explain what was happening with my pets and made sure I understood the instructions for home care. I’ve seen different vets here and both were very compassionate and gentle with my pups. I heard about this clinic from a friend of mine who told me how wonderful they were to her when her dog needed an emergency visit and I agree. I would highly recommend this clinic to anyone – you’ll be in good hands here! Also, they are an open ²⁴⁄₇.

My mom’s small town vet referred her precious jack russell terrier here after the hometown vet couldn’t find a diagnosis for her listlessness and nausea due to inability to perform certain blood tests and xrays. IVRC provided mom with a quote, which didn’t matter because she’d pay whatever it costs to fix her dog and get her back to health. Unfortunately, IVRC charged a bunch of money but really did nothing to get to the root cause of the issue! Roxsey was admitted to inpatient at IVRC on a Friday, where they started IV antibiotic treatment and supposedly were going to run a bunch of tests. Had it not been for mom commenting on her face swelling, I doubt any vet would have even bothered to check inside Roxsey’s mouth to see if an abcessed tooth was the cause. Once that was suspected, they decided Roxsey needed a skull exam or a dental xray. Well, this place (which is a REFERRAL CENTER that presumably has the tools to diagnose health issues) doesn’t even have the capability to perform dental xrays, and they also won’t bother performing tooth surgery, that has to do be done back at the vet that she was referred from! Mom called several times over the weekend to speak with a vet about her dog’s health, and every time, the admin that answered the phone would have to run questions back and forth because the vet couldn’t be bothered with getting on the phone. When mom finally goes to pick up her very special dog, she was charged for the skull exam and the dental xray, even though they performed NEITHER of those tests! They graciously agreed to «knock 100 dollars off», but then refused to provide copies of the tests that they supposedly did perform, which indicates they are scamming her out of more tests that they didn’t actually do. Either that, or the already unhelpful admin girl was too lazy to click ‘print’. When mom finally got access to one of the liver tests they ran, mom noticed that her dogs liver enzyme was at 100 (where 10 – 100) is normal, and the next logical question out of my intelligent mom’s mouth was «um, this is kind of on the high side, are you sure something’s not wrong here?» and the admin looked at the paper, shrugged, and said «well, it’s high-​normal. what else do you want me to say?» This place was a joke. I’m an Iowa State grad and I’m already upset the vet didn’t just send her to Ames in the first place since this place charged just as much but didn’t actually do anything for the dog. I made a phone call to Iowa State’s vet med center after googling «small animal vet», at 7pm on a Wednesday night, got an answer on the third ring, and they transferred me to a vet to have a conversation about my mom’s dog, all the way from Austin, TX, even though the dog wasn’t a patient of theirs. Don’t waste time with IVRC, they can’t help you. Only ISU cares about your dog’s health.