Guardian Veterinary Medical Center

This review is overdue. I recently discovered Guardian and decided to bring my senior kitty here for a checkup and blood work. You can tell customer service is a priority as soon as you enter the building. Everyone here is pleasant, welcoming and has a smile on their face. I was also impressed to see they offered separate waiting areas for dogs and cats and loved the cheerful vibe/decor. Dr John Ely and his staff took great care of Caitlyn. Before they took her to the back for treatment, the vet assistant explained everything and reviewed the costs. I loved their transparency and the fact thar Dr Ely was okay with my plan to treat Caitlyn’s issues conservatively. I highly recommend this practice. They are caring, responsive to messages, and happy to address any questions/concerns you may have.

Sadly I had to send my dog, Bella, over the rainbow bridge this week. Guardian was amazing about helping me and my family. The private, calm and quiet room was the perfect spot to say goodbye to my furry best friend of almost 16 years. The vet tech, Brandon, was calming, gentle, helpful and informative. Dr. John was wonderful during the process and explained what was happening as he was doing things. The staff really thought of everything for the space to say goodbye. I was thankful we weren’t in a sterile bright room when going through a hard time. Before this, they were wonderful in caring for my sweet girl. Never pushed tests or procedures on me and were always accommodating. The grooming and boarding was also excellent. Thank you for caring for my sweet girl for so many years and at the end.

Incident date - November 21st 2024. So just to add some clarity this is specifically about the grooming services, I have had very positive experiences with the veterinarian side of the business, however on November 21st my wife and son took our small dog to get groomed at the Guardian groomers and our experience borders on animal abuse. Our beloved pet had recently been spaded and so due to the recovery time period we had to miss her previous grooming appointment with another organization, in the meantime we kept her well brushed to ensure that she was not matted and from time to time would give her a bath to make sure that she was clean - by the way, this is a house kept small Labradoodle that only goes outside to use the bathroom. She did have one small area under her stomach that was slightly matted from the surgical glue that was used during her procedure... This area was washed and brushed but unfortunately we could not get all the matted hairs out in time. When my son returned to Guardian groomers he was flabbergasted, astonished because the dog that they presented to him could not had been our beloved pet she looked absolutely nothing like the dog that was earlier dropped off that morning. My son question if this was our dog but based on her reaction and her interaction with him he was convinced that the dog presented to him was actually our wonderful Hershey kisses, he almost cried. He was so conflicted being torn between the feeling of anger based on what was done to Hershey versus feeling such sorrow and sadness for how she looked. After seeing what Hershey looked like I immediately called the groomers at Guardian Veterinary Medical Center to find out what the heck happened to our little doggy, she is such a wonderful and loving dog. According to the office manager Cindy my family had instructed the groomer to completely shave the dog down to her bare skin, and that the groomer had instructed my family that due to the way Hershey looked they would have to shave her bald and my family agreed, which is a insidious lie. After speaking with the office manager Cindy she said she would review the videotapes to confirm that the groomer did state that she would be shaving Hershey bald, and that she would follow up with me the next day. Well I never heard back from Cindy after about 4 days. I finally called back and spoke to another person Lisa, who said she was office manager. Lisa came to the phone when I call back after 4 days of not hearing from guardian old to tell me that they would refund the monies that I paid but I was to never return to Guardian Veterinary Medical.... What was also mind blowing to me was the fact that they charged me twice as much as they had originally stated because they charge me for 2 hours instead of 1 hour and I was curious as to why it took 2 hours to completely shave a small dog using electric clipping shares??? My experience at Guardian Veterinary Medical Center - Grooming has been traumatizing not only for our small beloved Hershey but to my entire family as well both of my sons were heartbroken when they saw her and I too was filled with deep resentment for what was done to her. Then to be asked not to return as if my family and our pet did something wrong or something egregious towards the groomers is laughable at best and totally disgusting as an organization and as a person to even utter those words. SHAMEFUL & CRUEL !!!!!!

I just wanted to say that everyone here was AMAZING! If I could give 10 stars I would! Thank you so much for taking such good care of my baby girl.

The staff is very kind and friendly but the owner, Jennifer, is extremely unprofessional and needs to refresh her knowledge on Florida laws. Edited to respond the owner: You still have your facts wrong, and that was the issue. I wanted to keep her ONLY IF her owner didn’t want her back - I was the one who requested a chip read. Why would I do that if I planned to keep her regardless? I was upset during the appointment because you treated me poorly on your mistaken belief that I would not return this sweet baby to her owner. You accused me of being a bad person when you didn’t even take the time to understand the situation. If you recall, my only concern was making sure her home was a loving one, so I wanted to return her myself. I had to ask you more than once to give my information to the owner so we could facilitate a reunion. After refusing twice, you finally gave her my info. After the way you behaved, I definitely didn’t trust you to reunite them. Developing empathy, listening to understand, learning how to speak to people kindly, responding to criticism professionally, and refraining from rewriting history, should be on your list if your goal is meeting basic, human expectations. As for Florida law: when I asked you to give her owner my information, you said “I cannot do that legally,” but that’s not true - you must do so if requested. I am thankful you finally did the right thing though. I genuinely hope you take this criticism to heart and learn from it, Jennifer. You can do better.

I'm very happy to be moving the care of my 5 cats to Guardian. I had a great experience with Guardian last year when my usual vet was not able to see my cat as soon as I needed whereas Guardian saw me very quickly. I was finally fully put off by my usual vet because they have become a predatory practice since the namesake of the business no longer even owns it (their quote was outrageous and not even backed up by that level of care). I won't support the practice of taking advantage of peoples' compassion for their animals. I refused treatment and went to Guardian instead for my 17 year old cat's teeth extractions. Guardian's price was fair and, more importantly, they did such a great job with my boy. I felt like they respected him and my own anxiety of having him sedated at his age. Throughout the procedure, the doctor was very communicative and ended up doing less extractions than he initially deemed necessary; that tells me these people don't just want your money and they aren't willing to put your pet through more than they need to for it. The front desk staff is great and I can tell they work there for their love of animals. It's always nice when people can see what you see in your pets. Today, I took two more of my cats to Guardian for a simple check up and it was another great experience. Everybody was professional, knowledgeable, and friendly. I also love that Guardian has a separate waiting area for cats & dogs. I love dogs but a cat is typically so out of their element at the vet and having very excitable dogs next to them just adds to their anxiety and stress. If your pets are family to you as they should be, then you should take them here. This is a real vet, not a sales floor.

Domino the Dog loves her groomer! 🐩- Nate The Agent (Local Realtor)