Halifax Veterinary Service

Dr. Hopkins saved my cat Captain, and the compassion and care that he took will stick with me for the rest of my life.
It was a few weeks before Christmas, and I got a call from my husband that something was wrong with our five year old cat, Captain. With cats, it always seems to become an emergency so quickly, because they don’t let you know anything is wrong until it has become life-​threatening. When I had left for work that morning, Captain had seemed a little sleepy, but nothing that I thought to stop and investigate — but by noontime, he was vomiting up foam and completely listless. He didn’t even seem able to walk.
I had only recently moved to Halifax, so I knew nothing about vets in the area. I made a quick appeal on a local Facebook group and they suggested Halifax Vet, which was both close to my house and well regarded. I called in a panic, and the woman that answered the phone calmed me right down and said they’d fit him in as soon as I got there.
Captain ended up having urine crystals, and the blockage was so severe and had been present so long that euthanasia was brought up very quickly as an option. But Dr. Hopkins said he thought Captain might recover with surgery, and encouraged me to give it a try.
My husband has slow winters at work, and we were not financially prepared for a major hit right then. Dr. Hopkins made up a very reasonable quote for the surgery, and assured us that he’d do his best for our kitty.
The surgery went well, but after the first day, Captain hadn’t started eating or urinating or anything else. This was a bad sign, and we thought for sure it was the end of the line for our cat. But Dr. Hopkins recommended that we keep the cat there another night, and he did some further procedures. This went on for several days, each day getting a few updates that the cat wasn’t much better yet, but that they would keep trying.
On the last day that he was there, Dr. Hopkins said he thought Captain just needed some time at home to feel better, since being at the vet was very stressful. He sent us home with many instructions, and a promise to check in with us regularly over the next few days. Captain made it through each day and night, getting a little better each time, and when we brought him in for follow-​up, he got a bill of relatively clean health.
Only then were we even presented with our bill, and we were shocked and over-​the-​moon grateful to find that Dr. Hopkins had decided to stick to the original quoted price even though he had done so much more for us than he had originally planned. He also threw in a few free cans of prescription food to try, and told us to call if anything seemed wrong.
I don’t live in the area anymore, so unfortunately I cannot support Halifax Vet with my continued business. But if I can recommend any area vet to anyone else, it will always be this one.