I'm gonna start this review off by saying that I really want to give the man 4/5 stars, but in all honesty, feel I need to drop one star because he's probably one of the more expensive vets out there, and not everyone will likely be able to afford him.
Now, if you're wondering, do you get what you pay for? The answer is absolutely yes. Here's how today's experience with Fifth Ave Animal Hospital and Dr. Appel went down:
Picked up two stray kittens yesterday evening. Have two cats already at home -- street cats with fleas, possibly worms, unknown FIV *absolutely* have to be segregated from our two preexisting house cats, but to be fair to the kittens and because it's a Brooklyn apartment (ie very limited space), we wanted to start the vaccination, deworming, and testing process ASAP today Sunday so that they can have free range of the apartment as quickly as possible. Makes sense, right?
We went through three area vets, two of which currently service our other two cats -- one isn't open Sundays, the other couldn't squeeze the 15 minutes it would've taken to vaccinate, weigh, and draw blood from the kittens into their busy schedule today. The third had such appalling reviews both on Yelp and on other review sites, we decided to skip them all together. Then -- Dr. Appel. Dr. Appel advertized being open till 8pm every day of the week. I found that odd for a Sunday, but then quickly realized he also does on-call emergency vet care till 12 am every day, so I gave him a call. Sunday is usually reserved for emergencies only, but I explained the situation with the two rescue kittens to him, and despite having one foot out the door, he agreed to take care of the two of them at non-emergency prices if we could get them there in 20 minutes.
We got there, and there was no vet tech team -- just Dr. Appel. He explained that we would have to help him handle the kittens, but was more than willing to let us come back in the morning at no extra cost if during the vaccinations or blood drawing, we were unable to manage the cats. Thanks to his clear and calm direction, we were in and out in a matter of a half-hour, everything taken care of. He was thorough in his explanation of vaccines and test options, including exactly how much everything would cost. He did *not* push every available vaccine and test on us, simply explained given the circumstances of the kittens, and the fact of our preexisting indoor cats, which ones he would recommend us getting. He even actually gave us tips on how to turn low-cost household items into flea shampoo.
There are other vets who don't charge for a visit when inoculating and vaccinating for first-time visits because the cost of the tests and medications are so high. Those are also the same vets who couldn't or wouldn't see our cats on such short notice in a non-emergency capacity. I also feel most vets don't have the diaspora of clinical experience Dr. Appel does with serious house pet illnesses, although that's a feeling based simply on conversation and previous experiences with other vets. I may not be able to afford using Dr. Appel on a frequent basis because of how expensive he is, but if my cats ever get sick on a Sunday, or if my regular vet has trouble identifying the issue, I'm glad to know of Dr. Appel and will absolutely use this man as the resource he is. read more