Rock River Animal Clinic

Dr. Tarp used to be at a different clinic. He was absolutely amazing with my Yorkie. I could always rely on him to figure out what was wrong and addressed the issue without unnecessary treatment. He left and I was devastated. Finally I found him and I was overwhelmed with joy! His clinic is absolutely adorable. The staff is amazing and the prices are by far better than any of the other animal clinics. I would highly recommend Rock River animal clinic in Fort Atkinson to friends and family! Dipstick, Lexi and Loki get along with everyone, and that says a lot!

I cannot speak more highly of the staff at the Rock River Animal clinic. Dr. Tarp would call regularly throughout our dog’s illness to check in. He did everything possible to make her comfortable. When it was time to put her at rest, the staff was incredibly supportive and respectful. I truly appreciate their loving care of our beloved 13 year fur baby.

Friendly, on time service. (Not sitting in the lobby for an hour each visit like our previous vet clinic) Knowledgeable and helpful staff. We have both cats and a dog. Dr. Tarp and his staff is great with both.

I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but I have to leave a review for this clinic because they were absolutely amazing. Last week we unfortunately had to lay my sweet 15 year old girl to rest (who I have had since I was 9 years old). To say I was torn up about it is an understatement. My husband graciously went in there to be with her and the vet and vet techs were so wonderfully thoughtful and so nice to us, all the way up to the nice women who listened to me cry while I scheduled the appointment! On top of that, they sent my husband and I a card with my dog’s paw print on it wishing us condolences! I can’t say enough good things about how nice they all were during this time. I wish I could give more than 5 stars! Thank you again, Rock River!

April 12, 2023 More recent reviews indicate this clinic has totally altered how they deal with their patients and their owners but it's my opinion that the good reviews were made by friends and family of the people that work there. In my opinion, Tarp is a TERRIBLE vet, he missed a very large tumor on the liver of my 12yr old Border Collie mix (Eva) when she was operable. 35 days after her appt with him she was in liver failure. In my opinion he is inexperienced, arrogant, unprofessional and has no compassion for his clients or their pets. He and his staff were rude and condescending when my dog was in crisis. In my opinion his refusal to listen to his clients cost my dog her life. I took her in for yrly check up on 3/8, she tested positive for anaplasmosia and was prescribed antibiotics. Otherwise he said she was great. When I asked about her stomach, which was firm and larger than it should have been, he said she was fat, I questioned him and he condescendingly insisted he could tell she was just "fat" and did not run any diagnostics. The following week Eva started getting sick, I called and Tarp convinced me it was side effects of the antibiotic. She kept having issues and I'd call. But not enough times to make it ok for them to imply I was bothering them and should stop calling, receptionist actually said, oh, it's you, again. After explaining again how sick Eva was, Tarp suggested stopping the antibiotic because there maybe an underlying issue, instead of his usual sigh and repetition of his opinoin. And after 3wks, 5/6calls with them being rude and condescending I had lost faith in him, stopped calling and found a different vet. Sadly I did not know that her symptoms also indicated liver failure and didn't take her in right away. When I picked up medication for my son's dog Tarp asked about Eva and suggest I make an appointment for her after I explained that she was very bad as I had been telling them the for the last month. And that i would be taking her elsewhere. And the next day, when I called to have my dogs records emailed to our new vet and ask about the medication for my son's dog the tech was very rude. Of course a tech can't give medical advise but to simply repeat, "I can't give medical advise" was asinine, it left me questioning her competence. And yes, I got angry and yelled. Then googled the answer. And called the vet to leave a message regarding how upset I was about the interaction. And the receptionist started arguing with me and I refused to engage and hung up. But had to call back to have her records emailed to the other clinic. Tarp answered, (usually he's too busy to take a call let alone answer the phone). He had the audacity to try and lecture me about the way I treated his people after I'd put up with they're condescending, patronizing, rudeness for the last month! And yes I yelled at him too. And the history that he emailed was his opinion of me instead of a medical history of my dog. Useless. Eva had to be euthanized due to the large mass on her liver, found by an experienced vet during a physical exam, confirmed through x-rays. Tarp then refused to see my son's 12yr old dog, she had had multiple seizures in the last week. My daughter tried to set an appt for the dog but was refused. I was at their home and was able to overhear Tarp try to justify being spiteful towards my son and his dog because I had been mean to him the day before. In my opinion to refuse to help one client based on the behaviour of another is unprofessional, childish. Although this was actually a blessing. My son's dog, probably not epileptic as Tarp had diagnosed. She has spondylosis and the pain was likely causing seizures. Her back was mentioned as a issue back in Oct. Which Tarp chose to ignore in lieu of his own opinion based on the 5 minutes he spent with the dog, after having been told there was no history of seizures prior to the age of 8. She has since been properly diagnosed by an experienced vet. Everything expressed here is simply my opinion.