Chestnut Hill Cat Clinic

Not the same place. Of course it changed after Caroline McDaniel, the founder, had to move away and sold the practice years ago. But it was still very good. Now Dr. Connor is gone, too, as reviews here discuss. And this week the office refused to sell me anti-​flea medicine because our cat was «out of date.» We had just received our reminder postcard, so maybe it was a month or two beyond one year since his last exam. This may be a requirement somewhere, or it may not be any requirement, but after 28 years of bringing our variety of cats to the Cat Clinic, I can tell when a place has changed beyond recognition. What a shame.

Probably the most caring, loving humans for your babies. My girls really do not appreciate their annual visits, but the folks at Chestnut Hill Cat Clinic really help reduce my anxiety by their calm, loving care. Two thumbs up.

I would like to note that Dr. Scott Gellman has recently been hired in place of Dr. Connor. I know Dr. Gellman from another clinic where he took excellent care of my pets when I lived in that area. I then went back in recent years with a pocket pet, and later my turtle, both of which he cared for extremely well. I’m still angry with CHCC and how they handled the Dr. Connor situation (hence the lack of start increase) but with Dr. Gellman on board, the clients and patients are in good hands. Since Connor-​gate, I’ve recently started at a new vet as I had a pet with a medical issue. I like this new clinic and they are more affordable than CHCC. However, knowing Dr. Gellman is there if I need to get somewhere quickly, or for more routine things not really worth a longer drive, I may continue to go on occasion.

Wow! Bad news! Went in with kitty with allergies. Spent and hour. Came out with $ 625.57 bill. Crazy! No warning about how much I was wracking up from vet or staff. Kitty still itchy BTW. Unless you have very deep pockets find another vet.

Until this fall, I would’ve give 5 stars. Dr. Blaine Connor had been the primary vet at CH Cat Clinic for about 20 years (and we moved here in 2008.) He was excellent; warm, knowledgeable, compassionate. But management fired /​laid him off without warning this summer, citing financial reasons. (Which I interpret as «he’s so experienced we have to pay him too much and we can make way more money using our much younger vet.»)
The staff had clearly been instructed to say nothing about his departure. «I don’t really know what happened or where he is now.» I even felt they were trying to hide it from me initially, as I had to ask why my appt had to be with newer vet and couldn’t be with Dr. C. I really don’t like (1) That they let him go with NO warning to him or his long-​time clients, who loved him so much; and (2) That they are being so secretive about his departure now. We’re switching our cats to Montgomery Animal Hospital in Flourtown, where we take our dog.

Dr. Connor was very kind and knew what was going on with my cat through communication with his tech before walking into the examining room. He called my cat handsome. It did not stink, his tech was attentive and kind, and the price was reasonable. Dr. Connor gave him something for pain, and an antibiotic, and already today he is purring more than he has in weeks (he had chin acne that had become swollen pockets of pus!).
I recommend this place for their kindness and cleanliness.

We took our cats here for the last couple of years, however we will not be going back. We brought our youngest cat in, several months ago, for inappropriate peeing and were told by the male vet that he had crystals in his urine, which were causing him pain. At the time, he was on Wellness dry food, and the vet told us to switch him to Science Diet Light dry food instead, which he claimed would help dissolve and prevent those crystals. We even asked if we should do the wet food instead, thinking flushing his system with more liquids made sense, but the vet positively insisted that dry food was the way to go for issues like this.
The issue repeated once, until the vet switched us to Prescription Diet C/​D. Three months, an overnight vet stay, and several thousands of dollars later, we find out from another vet that this was 100% wrong, and we should have immediately been told to have our cat eat Prescription Diet S/​D. S/​D even has the word «dissolution» on the package — you know, to DISSOLVE the crystals. That he suggested C/​D, which is for long-​term maintenance of an issue we had not yet solved, made little sense to the more competent professionals we spoke to; and his insistence on Science Diet was positively ludicrous and directly damaging to our cat.
We are only now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, and though our cat is not 100% better yet, he is getting there, no thanks to this terrible place.
P. S. — the lady vet is very sweet and seems competent, and the shaggy-​haired vet tech is the best.

My daughter brought our 17 year old family cat to this office. The cat had not eaten or drank consistently for 5 days. The vet told my daughter that our Cat-​Oreo had enlarged kidneys. Said she would do blood work and see if there was anything she could do to help our cat. There was no medicine distributed at that time. The bill was $ 272.00. Two days later I had to put our cat down she suffered enough. I feel that Chestnut Hill Cat Clinic took advantage of our daughters attachment to the cat and they also let our cat suffer by not being straight forward with her about her kidney condition. I would never recommend or go to these people again.

Hi Chestnut Hill Ripoff cat clinic,
You treated our cat awhile back. Thanks for that. Well, we recently moved cross country and our dog (no, you didn’t treat our dog) died in a horrific accident where she was dragged to death by a truck. So, we have been a little out of it. My girlfriend asked you to send us an itemized bill because I feel we paid you more and didn’t understand why the bill was still so high and she explained our financial situation at the moment (we were broke with the cost of the move but would be back on our feet soon). We never received that or any other requests by mail or telephone. Why could you just not call us and see what was up? We had every intention of paying our bill! I’m livid over this and now do not want to pay anything since you sent it to this harassing company that just called at 6:30 in the morning on Christmas Eve MORNING!!! I would have paid the bill if you had just called!!!
Thanks for ruining our Christmas! Unbelievably bad on your part!

They always take great care of us, get us in quick in emergencies, and go the extra mile to make sure the experience is minimally stressful for our cat. Left a dreadful practice to come here and they are a dream by comparison!

This place is the best! I have a cat that is allergic to almost every food under the sun and finicky (he eats for a week and then decides he’s «off food»). The vets and assistants handled him with love and care (as if he were their own), gave me medication that cleared up his allergies almost immediately and recommended prescription food that he actually (sometimes) likes. They are cat rock stars!

I love this place — they took care of my kitten very quickly and little one barely cried through the whole appointment. These people love cats and their facility is very clean. Parking is a little annoying because their lot is very small, but if you don’t mind street parking this place is absolute perfection for your cat appointments.

These people LOVE cats! When I moved to Chestnut Hill my cat was about 9 weeks old and hadn’t seen a vet yet. When I called to make an appointment the lady on the other end said «Enjoy him while he’s little and take tons of pictures. they grow up too quick!» I hung up and thought, how cute was that???
They’ve helped me through a nasty case of conjunctivitis, taught me how to desensitize him to a good teeth brushing (their tip sheet worked like a charm!.. along with a helping of patience on my part), and were so sweet when I voiced my worry about him going under the knife to be neutered.
Dr. Leibovitz is the only vet I’ve seen and she is awesome. Every time I take my little guy there she is super patient and sweet and it just proves that this place is great!!!

If your kitty cat is anything like my kitty cat, they will feel the same about Chestnut Hill Cat Clinic as they do about a ball of yarn or a can of tuna fish. And you’ll like it, too. The staff is warm and caring — getting an appointment won’t make you want to claw anyone’s eyes out — and the vets are knowledgeable and compassionate. From shots to checkups, sick visits to boarding, this place is… wait for it… the cat’s meow.
Sorry — I just couldn’t resist myself :)