Kingsbury Animal Hospital

Unfortunately, I have to strongly recommend against taking your pet to Kingsbury Animal Hospital. Generally, their Vets are pretty great. Dr. Brammeier absolutely loved our dog, and probably had the best doggy-​bedside manner I have ever seen. He spent far more time than most vets on building a relationship and he clearly loves animals. We saw a few other vets who were not as hands-​on loving to our dog, but were good all around.
We were very happy with Kingsbury, even though they were unable to diagnose the post-​grooming skin infections our 125 lb pyr was prone to as they thought it was probably an allergy, and it did take quite a while to heal the yeast infections he would get in his ears. Point being, we were there more often than we would like.
It made sense to us to have Kingsbury do his grooming since we knew they would be extremely careful, use medicated shampoo, etc. because they were often treating him for skin infections and yeast infections in his ears.
Then things got REALLY weird, and really bad. My wife goes to pick up our dog after work as he had been groomed earlier than day. The person at the desk said that the groomer wanted to mention that she had an issue with our dog’s dew claw, it bled a TON and was so overgrown that it had curled in upon itself and will probably need surgery (common with double dew claw dogs if you don’t trim them). My wife was really upset and didn’t really understand what was going on, but the groomer had already gone for the day and left this short message with few details with the desk attendant. We didn’t get a call explaining the situation from the groomer or anyone else at Kingsbury.
When getting in touch w/​Kingsbury the next day and asking what happened, we were told that he needed surgery with anethesia to remove both of his dew claws, and if we didn’t, the nail would continue to cut into his skin and cause serious injury and infection. This surgery was very expensive, and they were VERY pushy with us, saying that it is our only option, which made us both extremely uncomfortable. They wanted to put him under and remove the claw all the way up to his second joint (think removing your thumb at the base). It was also very clear that the previous grooming session (or maybe more than one) the groomer simply forgot to trim his dew claw, which caused this major health issue. No apology. No explanation. Wouldn’t return calls at one point, because it was extremely obvious that this was a major screw up on the groomer’s part which now resulted in a serious, risky, and expensive surgery.
On top of that, I did hours of online research and talked to friends at Stray Rescue, Needy Paws, Gateway Pet Guardians, a friend who is a vet, and a former pyr owner, and unequivocally I was told that removing the double dew claw from a pyr is dangerous, should never be done unless under extreme circumstances, is even more dangerous if the dog is not a puppy, would be a very long and difficult recovery, and can seriously affect the dog’s ability to walk normally. So yeah. What gives? Why were we being pressured into a risky, expensive, dangerous, and potentially harmful in the long-​term surgery because the groomer screwed up?
Honestly, I have no idea. The more concerned we became, and the more questions we asked, the more aggressive and agitated Kingsbury became with us. They had even scheduled the surgery WITHOUT TELLING US. We said we would get back to them because we really needed to do some research, and when we did, they said that they have the surgery scheduled for the next day. What the hell?
We got a second opinion at Webster Animal Hospital at the recommendation of a former pyr owner. I kid you not, the vet said there is no way in hell we should remove the dew claw, said he thinks he can take care of it right there, took our pyr into the procedure room and with the help of a tech snipped his curled, dangerous, ingrown dew claw with regular clippers. Our dog didn’t even flinch, only bled for two minutes or so, and cost something like $ 25 dollars rather than many thousands.
Hell, even when we asked to switch records to Webster they were at first unresponsive, and then rude. Didn’t ask why we were switching or anything either.
Thank goodness for that second opinion, and thank goodness we did not cave to the pressure.
If you look at my other reviews, you know I never give a one-​star, but it is absolutely unacceptable that you put my dog at serious risk and attempt to coerce us into a many-​thousand dollar surgery that would have seriously harmed our dog.

My dogs and I love KAH! The staff are always very friendly and helpful, and they always know how to make my dogs happy!
In addition, Dr. Shaw is super friendly and you can tell how much he cares about the animals. Usually the first thing he does is sit on the floor next to my pooch to get kisses and get acquainted. He also seems really knowledgable and is able to explain things in lay terms, and he is always willing to answer my questions.
I know my dogs are in good hands at KAH, and I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a good vet.

Dr. Shaw cares so much about the animals he sees! He has always fit our dog in when we needed it, he spends adequate time with you to explain all of your options (and give your pet some loving :)), and all of the techs are wonderful as well. When our dog ended up needing surgery, they were so kind to us and called 3 times throughout the following week to make sure Nellie was healing alright. Highly recommend!

Can’t say enough good things about this place. We have been brining our pup Badger here since we first adopted her and we have had nothing but great experiences. Dr. Shaw treats her so well and we trust him completely. If you are looking for a reliable vet and caring staff– look for further!

Love this place. A little pricey, but definitely worth it. Everyone from the vets to the desk staff to the techs are extraordinarily nice people and they take special care to try to calm your animal and make the experience as non-​stressful as possible. They have been taking care of three of my animals for sometime now. Dr. Shaw is an absolute gem. I am disabled and they are unbelievably understanding and accommodating.

We moved here a year ago from LA, and Kingsbury was one of the first ‘services’ we established upon moving. We were a bit nervous about more regular office hours as our vet in LA was also a ²⁴⁄₇ emergency clinic; however, we had no reason to worry. We cannot recommend KAH enough. Our first visit was only a meet-​n-​greet (our choice, we wanted to establish a relationship before we got into an emergency situation). Dr. Brammeier was absolutely amazing. He is so relaxed and calm, and just sat on the floor with our dog, playing with him, feeding him treats, and we just talked about differences in pet care to consider living in a new environment.
Since that initial visit, we’ve had a couple of routine visits. Everyone at KAH is so friendly and helpful. The front desk staff is always able to respond to our emails or calls, work with our daycare to make sure records are current, and they’ve always been able to schedule us for convenient appointments. We find the prices to be completely on par with other reputable vets, we’ve never felt overcharged at all.
Recently we’ve had a few ‘emergencies’ in that we need to make appointments last minute. Again, KAH has been incredible. They’ve squeezed us in last minute, on a Saturday. As in 20 minutes after we called we were in the office. Their vets (Dr. Sinnott, Dr. Shaw, and Dr. Brammeier) are the best of the best. Our dog doesn’t do well on the exam table, so they just sit right down on the floor with him, feed him treats, and keep him calm. The techs are great, as well. Pam was so communicative when we needed an emergency follow-​up appointment a few days later. She called us back right away and we were able to keep in touch and get in during a cancellation. And finally when it was obvious a few days later that we were worried sick about whether our pup was healing, Heather worked to get us in to an earlier appointment.
Aside from being so accommodating, I cannot stress how great the entire staff is. Each of the vets, techs, office admins, etc are so friendly, helpful, kind, and just flat out awesome. We were sad to hear Dr. Brammeier was retiring, but Dr. Shaw and Dr. Sinnott are equally amazing so we know we are in good hands.
As a side note: others have noted that KAH is not a place for walk-​ins. While it is not an emergency clinic, they have referrals to an excellent local emergency clinic (always good to have because things don’t always happen during office hours!). I would like to emphasize, though, that even when we’ve had last minute emergencies pop up they’ve been so helpful in attempting to squeeze us in.

Please do not ever rely on this vet clinic. They don’t care about their patients. My dog has been a patient since he was a puppy — 8 years. He has skin allergies. Last night they flared up and he is pretty miserable. We called this morning for a quick visit with the vet — takes no more than 10 minutes. We were told they couldn’t see him until Tuesday. When we called back and said we would have to find another vet we were told, «That’s fine. Let us know where to fax his records.» Unbelievable. So uncaring. They could have looked in his record and given him what they have given him in the past. I will never go back and I will tell everyone to run away from this uncaring place as fast as you can. It’s terrible to watch your angel suffer and then find out the vet could care less.

This is not an animal hospital. They only see pets if you have an appointment.
I’m new the area and have a new puppy. When she became sick, I googled the closest place and ended up here.
My dog was very sick and they would not see her.
They explained that they only see pets with appointments. Not sure how anyone’s pet only gets sick on a schedule…
They did give me the name of Millis animal hospital. So I took her there.
Sorry, this is a fail for me, when a pet hospital turns away a sick animal.

I would give 0 stars if possible. Make sure you know what you’re going to pay BEFORE your service. On one occasion (there was nothing wrong with my dog at all) they ran a number of tests running up a $ 200 tab. And just today, they told me since my dog just had an exam the exam fee would be waived for a follow up rabies vaccination. Low and behold they charged me $ 40 for 60 seconds of time. I won’t be back.

We have been bringing our dogs to Kingsbury for a couple of years now and all I have to say is that they are wonderful! Dr. Shaw is especially wonderful, though the other vet (whose name I can’t remember) is awesome as well. The facilities are clean, you can tell everyone is truly interested in the wellbeing of your pet, and the best part is that our babies actually GET EXCITED to go into the vet’s office!

Kingsbury is one of the best animal clinics I’ve ever been to. The vets are patient with my slightly nervous rescue dog and they even sit on the floor during the exam to make my dog more comfortable.
And the grooming services are the absolute BEST! They took the time during our first visit to give my dog a «tour» of the grooming center to get her more comfortable with her future visit. This is the first time she’s ever been to a groomer that she’s not scared of, and they even walk the dogs after their cut and bath to give them a little outdoor relief.
We like our dog’s thick hair cut very short to keep her cool and no groomer has ever cut her big fluffy tail as short as we’ve requested even when we’ve made the request repeatedly. The groomers at Kingsbury cut her exactly like we asked and they are consistently warm, patient and friendly to both dogs and their humans.
We love this clinic!

I’ve been one time and they were fantastic! I walked in the waiting room and it was bright, spacious, and so clean. Best of all NO RANDOM ANIMALS WALKING AROUND (looking at you old vet office I used to go to). I was promptly greeted and hung out in the waiting room. They do have little rooms off to the side you can go in but we were comfortable in the big room. The nurse came out and took us back to our room and was actually able to weigh him for once (since it was more private he calmed down easier!). She did a few quick things and gave him tons of hugs and treats.
We waited for Dr. Brammeier to come in and let me tell you he’s AWESOME!!! He was so gentle and kind with Diesel and totally down to earth. He played with him, gave him treats, and answered all of my questions. He went over a few things with me like where to take him in case of emergency at 3 am or which flea medication is best (they now have a chewable one that works way better!). Since last year Diesel got really sick and was puking all night after his vaccinations Dr. Brammeier was concerned and is going to help us figure out if he is allergic to them or not. His level of care and concern was great. My little fur baby didn’t hate visiting the vet one bit: D
We left and got some information on the Animal Hospital and paid. They sent the cutest email to Diesel saying how great it was to meet him and his human and they even had my name! Then they gave me some information about their online website/​portal and how to contact them.
They send emails when he is due for vaccinations and seem generally concerned for his well-​being and there for any questions I might have. This is exactly what I want in a vet! :) I am so happy I found them.

We first started using this Animal Hospital when we first moved to the city 2 years ago. It is a great location to walk to if you live in the Skinker DeBaliviere neighborhood or in and around the loop/​WASH-​U area. I did not have a car when I first moved into the city and used to walk my pooch here for her visits. The walks are a nice way to calm vet hating pets down!
I immediately loved the place. It is small and quaint, but an extremely friendly, helpful, and clean place to take your animals. The staff is always friendly, helpful, and swift. We get in and out for our appointments with hardly any waiting time. I absolutely love our doctor, Erica Fry. She is so great and patient with my dog, Bailey. She is always so loving and gentle with Bailey. I also love that I can ask questions that I wouldn’t normally be comfortable asking another vet, and she answers with informative solutions and suggestions. I have been a re-​occurring customer and Bailey a re-​occurring client. I’ve been there 3 times aside from our yearly appointments for emergencies and they have been great. They are informative with pricing options and plans and will work with you if you are on a budget. i.e. I have collected urine to avoid extra charges before (you just have to get in in within the hour of collection).
It is on the expensive side in comparison to the humane society etc. But I love the service and care they give my pooch, so I think it is worth it!

Not for cats!
Took my beloved cat here for a potential urinary blockage (emergency) because his regular vet couldn’t get him in till a few hours later. First, he was wrongly diagnosed because no urine analysis was done (he was just looked at and sent on his merry way). The WORST part was when he was given an injection for pain medicine. The vet tech repeatedly stabbed him with the syringe no less than 5 times to no avail while my cat screamed in pain. She then called in another vet tech and they again stabbed him with the syringe until he was dropped onto the ground from waist height. I grabbed my cat and got out of there hoping he wouldn’t be forever traumatized. The vet techs were VERY rude and inconsiderate, it was the most traumatic experience. As my cat was screaming bloody murder, I could see the vet through the window in an adjacent office not taking notice. I was told that it was necessary to keep stabbing my cat with the syringe because he needed the pain medicine. My cat had a limp for the next day after this!
My cat did not get better and I ended up taking him to his real vet where they immediately did a urine analysis and saw that he had a severe bladder infection (also said it was very irresponsible for this vet to not have done a urine analysis in the first place). The most frustrating part is that my regular vet said it is not common practice to give cats injections of pain medicine (that lasts for 24hrs) but instead a liquid that you squirt on their gums. This really aggravates me because the vet tech should have realized it was safer to give my cat the liquid instead of repeatedly stabbing him with a syringe.

I moved to St. Louis from Memphis this past June and found Kingsbury Animal Hospital within the first month. They were wonderful about getting my dogs’ information and history from my previous vet out of state.
After I had lived here a few months, one of my dogs had an issue with his nails splitting. He was in a lot of pain. They were great about getting him on a fish oil regiment and pain killers until he healed. The regiment they chose for my boy was effective, but not unnecessarily expensive.
My other dog is a Pit Bull who has an irrational fear of the vet. She cowers and hides under me. She usually loved people and going into new buildings, but she always seems to know when it is the vet. It is quite silly, but everyone that she encountered at Kingsbury was so friendly, calm, and patient with her. She eventually came out and even took a couple of treats!
Last month we had an issue in 4-​plex with animal control. A neighbor had been letting her dog out in the front without a leash and people on the street had called to complain. Animal control left notices requiring that all tenants show proof of rabies vaccination and registry with the city. As I mentioned before, I am new to St. Louis. Although my dogs were both up to date on shots, they weren’t registered with the city of St. Louis. Turns out my very in Memphis had incomplete information and kept faxing Kingsbury the wrong information. Abbey Spencer was wonderful at going back and forth with me and my previous vet to get me the exact documentation I needed. We must have talked half a dozen times on the phone. She remained friendly and so helpful.
I have moved several times since becoming a dog owner, and I have never been so impressed with the service, hospitality, and reasonableness of a vet!

We recently moved from San Francisco and we’ve been in search for a new vet in town. Kingsbury was recommended by our doggy daycare and we absolutely love this hospital. The staff is professional, welcoming and oh so caring. Their facilities are amazingly clean (and doesn’t smell bad). They have a great online portal in place to schedule appointments and communicate with staff, review records or request Rx. Their follow up email and communicate is top notch… and a bit hilarious– email was addressed to our pup and not the «humans». :) Recommended.

I don’t like to trust my loved one (my dog) to just anyone. I check them out and use referrals.
The vets and assistants are patient with my baby and they respect the dogs and the owners.
Although, this vet may be a bit on the pricey side, the services provided are indeed worth it. They even have a quality, privacy room for treatments and situations.

I agree, «get the checkbook out»
Andrea is a nice person but the unnecessary recommended procedures for a healthy dog are unreasonable, their charges for dog dental cleaning are 100 to 200% above other competitive STL veterinarians, please read this and become more realistic for each sentient being.

+ Compassionate, thorough care for your beloved animal friends
+ Beautiful facility designed to be a not-​scary environment for your pet
+ Responsive, knowledgeable vet techs & receptionists
Reviewing a vet can be such a difficult task because there are so many points to cover, not including just the basic standard of care that your beloved pets receive. KAH surpasses pretty much every single standard I have for what I expect in a veterinary practice and I can’t be happier with my experience here.
When I first moved to STL, I needed to find a new vet for my 10-​year-​old golden retriever, Lady. We grew fond of Dr. Shaw and continued to see him for months. It has taken me almost a year to write a review of KAH though because of the Lady’s untimely and unexpected illness and passing in November 2012. If KAH gets 5 stars for nothing else, it is for the compassion and kindness with which they handled Lady’s last days. Lady was diagnosed with a splenic hemangioma, a very aggressive malignant tumor of the blood vessels around the spleen with a very poor prognosis. From the day that I took Lady in for the x-​ray that confirmed my worst suspicions until we let her go 12 days later, Dr. Shaw and the KAH staff treated us with the utmost respect and compassion by giving us their clear medical opinions of her prognosis and giving us a full range of options. At the end, I decided to have Dr. Shaw and his vet tech come for a home visit so that Lady could pass away peacefully in the comfort of our home. Dr. Shaw was wonderful about being patient with giving me time to say goodbye to my beloved dog and handled the situation with the strength and compassion of a true professional who understood the emotions that come with losing a beloved pet. Our options were always clear to us from the beginning and the best thing I received throughout Lady’s end of life care was that Dr. Shaw made me feel confident in my decisions without leaving me with any regret or feelings of guilt.
I am happy to say that several months after Lady’s passing, I came to become the proud mama of a beautiful Golden Retriever puppy, Colt, who has become a patient at KAH since the tender age of 7 weeks old. He is now 7 months old and bringing a puppy into KAH’s practice has been a lovely experience at the opposite end of the pet-​life spectrum. Dr. Shaw has seen Colt since he was a baby pup, gave him all of his vaccines, and seen him (and me) through the multiple times he ate something funny and kept me sleepless from cleaning up puppy puke and diarrhea. Being a mama to a rowdy, unruly puppy necessitates having a trustworthy vet guiding you through the ups and downs and Dr. Shaw has been wonderful about giving us advice on training, feeding, exercising, and everything else under the sun.
Here are some more conspicuous points/​details about the KAH practice that I appreciate and depend upon:
[OPTIONS]
KAH is very good about giving you options — meaning options at various price-​points, timelines that fit your schedule, and being flexible with scheduling appointments and reaching the doctors for advice. You may just need to remember to ask for a price list before you make decisions, but they happily provide it to you without making any judgments upon your decisions on treatment, whether they are price-​driven or not. An example would be my decision to let go of Lady when she was diagnosed with cancer. I was given multiple options for bringing her into the hospital or having the vet make a home visit. I was given multiple options for seeing specialists to confirm her diagnosis and multiple options for receiving her remains. (I chose to have her cremated remains returned to me so that I could scatter her ashes at a later time).
[RESPONSIVENESS]
The vet techs and receptionists are marvelous at answering your questions — they are knowledgeable and helpful. If they don’t know the answer to your question, they will pass it along to your vet and make sure to get back to you with an answer ASAP — sometimes as soon as an hour or two, most of the time by the end of the day if possible.
[FACILITY]
The facility has a very «zen» feeling to it — the waiting area in the back is complete with plush seating for the human, well-​curated décor for keeping you and your pet calm, and ample natural lighting for staying sane while you wait to see the vet. The exam rooms are minimal but spacious, with little details like a soft mat for your pup to lay on upon the exam table. They even spray DAP (dog-​appeasing pheromone) on the mat prior to your entrance to keep your pup calm. Treat jars are always full and if your pup is particularly hyper like mine is, they offer treat-​stuffed footballs to keep them occupied while we wait. Everything is clean and tidy. I have never seen a pup happier to be at the vet before my puppy Colt walked into KAH. No one should be this happy at the vet, but Colt happens to be, and I attribute it to the friendly, non-​intimidating, environment.

My family has bringing our dogs to Kingsbury for many years. Drs. Brammeier, Shaw, and Fry have all been amazing to our pets.
They absolutely understand dogs and can help you with any issues that arise from behavioral issues to serious medical concerns.
The techs are amazing too. Over the years I’ve made countless calls to check and see if the problem I was seeing at home needed to be seen by a vet. They always take time to listen to the problem, check with the vet, and return with information on how to treat the dog at home or the suggestion to go ahead and come in. I loved that they always make time to see your pet, even at the last minute or close to closing time.
Dr. Shaw helped us transition our senior pet when the time was right. He couldn’t have been more gentle, caring, and truly compassionate. Losing a pet is one of the most difficult experiences and he made a difficult time a little easier with his kind words and how he treated our loved pet.
We are pet less at the moment and it’s somewhat strange not frequenting Kingsbury like I have for so many years (20+). Once we decide to add a new family member we will be back!