Coralville Animal Hospital

We go because it's close by. I don't love that my puppy has had 2 different doctors during her 2 vet appointments. Everyone is very kind. Prices are above average.

My wife and I feel mixed after our recent experience. We have loved our past experiences with this clinic, as the staff were so kind, and the vet took the time to get to know our dogs before working on them. We realize they aren’t the best behaved dogs, this was the first time we felt judged and treated differently. The whole experience had problems. For context, we have a Keeshond who has bad anxiety, but when he gets to know you, is the sweetest dog. We have a high energy pomsky that bounces off the wall and we also have a young chihuahua who can be slightly aggressive towards unfamiliar dogs. We brought all of them in for routine vaccinations and to get our Keeshonds nails clipped. As soon as we walked in, there was a big Pitbull waiting and our Chihuahua got surprised and barked. We were quickly whisked away into a waiting room. Fine. We were greeted by the vet tech who was nice. We waited nearly 30 minutes in the room which was frustrating, as our dogs were getting anticipation anxiety. Not sure why we had to come that early. Once the vet came in we realized this was a newer vet that the dogs had never met before, and they were interested but nervous around her. We could tell immediately that trust wasn’t established and the first red flag is that the vet nor the vet tech took the time to just pet them, give them treats, talk to them, etc.. in order to establish that trust. Felt very rushed. Our Chihuahua was first, which she was put into the table. Around 3-4 vaccinations and oral medication to be given. I’ll be the first to say that our Chihuahua is a crybaby, but she screamed more in this visit than usual. The vet also blew her vein so she was bleeding all over her leg, and proceeded to blame the dog for yanking back, but they could have handle her arm better. She then worked on our Pomsky, who is used to being on the floor for her procedures so she can walk around. She is a wiggle worm. The vet was examining her ears. Not sure what happened, but our Pomsky did not like it, and recoiled. Instead of waiting, they proceeded and our Pomsky was now hiding her head in the arms of the tech to get away from the vet. She never does this. While all the things above were concerning, what really set us off was how our Keeshond was treated. Again, he’s had bad anxiety since he was a puppy and is medicated. He was a pandemic pup, but we love him dearly. The vet got close to him, which he started showing his teeth. Keeshonds are known to be very expressive with their grin and teeth, and he was communicating that he was uncomfortable. Again, instead of petting for trust, she proceeded to man handle him to give his shots. He hated this and started to have a panic attack where he began heavy breathing. Instead of comforting him, she proceeded to call our dog “sketchy” and muzzled him. Like really? You call my dog with anxiety sketchy? He is the sweetest dog and loves people, he just picked up on the vibe of the vet after watching my other two dogs have a terrible time. I was really tempted to say something, but I trust the actions of my veterinarian as one does. Then, they decided to take our Keeshond to their examination room, away from us, to clip his nails because he was deemed to be a problem. This was prolly the worst thing they could have done and his anxiety was at a tipping point. We could hear him howl and panic from several doors down, and my wife started to cry because how bad we felt. Finally, the vet returned to us to talk to us about the care plan, and how we should now sedate our Keeshond before he comes to the vet. He has NEVER had to do that before. He loves his other vet. Finally, we weren’t allowed to go into the lobby until it was empty. $1000 later we left feeling like they clocked our dogs as bad dogs. I have never had a vet visit, including with past pets, go this badly and my dogs are still on edge. I would highly recommend training your staff on how to work with special needs animals. Because of this, we are now searching for a new vet clinic because clearly this isn’t the right fit for us anymore.

Such caring and sweet services we have gotten so far for our furry babies, Cooper and Rigby. They sincerely care about animals as if they were their own family. When we suddenly had to put down our cat, they went out of their ways to accommodate what was best for him. We can't thank them enough for the kindness and professionalism they showed us all along. We will continue to be the loyal customer of theirs for Rigby and for our future fur babies.

Dr. Pelzer is thorough, in tune to petowner circumstances, takes time to answer any questions and was gentle with my new baby. I brought my new kitten to her for initial eval & look forward to switching the rest of my furbabies over! Her staff is also accommodating and friendly. Clean office without the stinky "vet office smell." (Maybe that could be a rural thing as I'm from the other corner of the state.) I was also surprised to receive a thank you post card in the mail. Sometimes an extra touch like that is nice when everyone else seems so busy & self absorbed. I thought it was a classy act.

Absolutely the best vet clinic I've ever been. They were able to squeeze us in when our baby wasn't feeling well after we'd called over 20 vet clinics. The nurses and vet were so so compassionate and helped us fix our problem right away! Even gave us multiple bags of expensive sample food to try out. Fast service as well. Super affordable care too! Highly recommend them to anyone!