Fifth Avenue Veterinary Hospital

This IS THE BEST VET IN NEW YORK CITY. I've never met a vet more committed to animals in my life. Dr. Appel performed an emergency surgery on my little Persian kitten. Kenny ate something that was blocking his digestive system. He was throwing up and wouldn't eat for days and most likely would have died without the surgery. After speaking with two other animal hospitals in Manhattan, I found this hospital. Unlike other surgeons, Dr. Appel took my fur baby in at around 11pm on a Friday! Most vets aren't even available that late at night without extra fees, but this Dr. was open and quoted me a much more affordable price. He was so attentive and helpful. He's been in business since the 70's and he's still got it! (I saw his diplomas from both Cornell and NYU on the wall in the office). I'm so happy to report my kitty is doing great (2 weeks after his procedure). I'd like to thank Dr. Appel and his staff for an amazing experience. Thank you for saving Kenny's life! Thank you for loving my pet as much as I do. Xx P.s. this is the only review I've written on Google (should tell you something about how great this guy is)

This was one of the worst experiences that I've ever had with a vet. They are thieves my dog had an emergency the day before I was leaving to Puerto Rico they took advantage of that they charged me close to $400. And my dog got sick again. I then when I got home from Puerto Rico took her to an amazing vet called Bay Ridge veterinarian and they are wonderful and my suggestion is that if you ever need to take your dog to a vet please go to Bay Ridge veterinarian and stay far away from this place

Edit: Original review below is from July 2022. I edited the review today, Jan. 2024 to remove a sentence about him being my primary vet, as I have since had to change vets due to unrelated circumstances. Because of that, Google pushed up my review up as "new" which isn't the case. Just wanted to clarify to add some transparency as this is not a "new" review and I have not had to visit Fifth Avenue Veterinary Hospital since 2022. --- Brought in my cat at 1AM because of blood in his urine. This establishment was the only one that was open that didn't have a ridiculous 6+ hour wait. When we met with Dr. Appel, he was super straight forward and transparent with what was needed to be done. He tells you what he recommends, and doesn't force a price down your throat while writing up the cost of work before doing anything to your pet. At the end of it all, the cost of blood work, urine, x-ray, medication, AND shots (since my cat is disabled and needed a steroid for his legs) was only $686.00. Significantly less than ANY emergency animal hospital open during the time. We got in and out in less than 4 hours (since there was some people ahead of us). We felt super comfortable with him handling our cat, and when we got home everything was checked and our cat is now on a prescription diet for crystals. My cat has been recovering extremely well and we couldn't ask for a better person in our area when it comes to emergency care since they are open 24 hours. My wife and I couldn't ask for a better vet who prices fairly and is transparent about what he thinks is best without feeling like you're just a price tag with other emergency animal hospitals.

Dr. Appel is incredibly caring. He always has your pet’s best interest at heart, and his veterinary knowledge is second-to-none. He went above and beyond to save my cat Bruce, and was able to save his life by taking immense amounts of time to nurse him back to health. Sure wait times might be long, but I’ll wait an extra 15 minutes to ensure my pet is healthy.

HUGE shout out to Fifth Avenue Veterinary Hospital (91st and 5th ave) and Dr Appel. My cat needed urgent surgery within 24 hours and was going to die if she didn’t get it, she is only two years old. I called everywhere left and right, phone log filled with unknown numbers… Everyone needed an appointment when she needed to be helped urgently (she had a dead kitten inside her that she couldn’t give birth to and it was going to break down and decompose inside her). My primary vet finally opened (which they’re never helpful or nice to begin with), just to tell me they couldn’t do it off the bat because I didn’t have an appointment and I ended up crying on the phone with them lol but they then gave me this vets phone number (finally something good came from them) and Dr Appel took my cat in the same day and worked with us!! VERGE needed $4,000 up front yet THIS vet charged me only a bit less but also only requires 75 percent due at drop off and the rest can be paid when picked up which was literally a matter of life or death for her since not many people have the whole amount to pay in the moment (we already paid a lot to get diagnosis for her at VERG). If you’re looking for a good vet in bay ridge who truly cares about your animals please give them a shot 🙏🏼🙏🏼