Parking was great and I was in and out for an early morning appt. Highly recommend for bloodwork!read more

Please don't take your animal to this vet. I now know my cat had a urinary blockage. Despite easily…read morerecognizable symptoms (that were instantly picked up by the emergency vet in Lancaster) my cat was given steroids and painkillers. When I said there seemed to be an infection on his mouth, they said his neck was injured. I took him to another vet and they identified the problem immediately; a chipped tooth that was irritating his mouth. Both instances were easily identified by other doctors. My cat could have died from a preventable cause had I not left this vet. If you care about your animals, you shouldn't consider this vet.

This is a message for all local pet owners to be aware and for Animal Hospital at Thorndale to…read morereflect on... I'm not one to post on fb often but I feel this needs to be addressed. **Thorndale Animal Hospital** I am writing this message in utter devastation and fury over how my desperate call for help was treated on Friday, May 15, 2026, at 4:43 PM. Our beloved dog, Chubbs, was suffering through a terrifying seizure episode, and I felt utterly helpless as I reached out to your clinic for assistance. During my call, I was pleading for immediate help, clearly expressing the urgency of the situation. I could hear my dog in distress and asked if you could hear her too. I was assured that you could. Yet, when the receptionist returned after putting me on hold, I was met with an infuriatingly cold response: I was told to monitor her and take her to an emergency room if the seizures continued. When I begged to bring Chubbs in for immediate care, I was told that I couldn't come because your clinic would be closing at 5 PM. In that moment, my heart shattered, and rage consumed me. I was sobbing uncontrollably, struggling to understand how your clinic's closing time could possibly outweigh the urgency of my suffering dog. I could have made it there by 4:50 at the latest, yet my desperate pleas were treated as if they were nothing but an inconvenience. **my call with your clinic** Me sobbing and begging "please please let me bring Chubbs in. I don't know what to do for her and I have two young kids here. Your clinic "if she continues to seize being her to the ER (Blue Pearl in Malvern) Me "please! You are only 3 minutes away from me! Malvern is a good 20-30 minutes and it's rush hour now! I just need her to feel calmer for the ride. Please help me" Your clinic "you can't, sorry, we closing soon" Then I hung up on her. After that heart-wrenching call, we had to wait for Chubbs to calm down enough to get her into the car. Tragically, she suffered three more seizures during the ride--two in the carrier and one just as we were entering the emergency room. The sight of our precious baby being rushed away by the emergency staff, with them frantically shouting for medications and treatment permissions, will haunt me forever. I understand the severity of cluster seizures; I know that what Chubbs was experiencing was critical and there's not much your clinic could have done to prevent the outcome of her passing. But I firmly believe that her suffering could have been alleviated had we been allowed to come to your clinic, even for a moment of care. So you can give her some thing to calm her down, enough for the ride to the BluePearl ER. Instead, the last hours of her life were filled with anguish and terror--not just for her, but for my entire family, including my two young children, who were left helpless and confused. I tried to explain to you that we will be at least 30 mins away and it's also rush hour.... I am not upset because the vet couldn't save her; I am furious that we were denied even a chance to help Chubbs find some comfort. I am convinced that if the vet had allowed us to come in, those additional seizures in the car could have been prevented. The cold indifference shown during such a critical moment is absolutely unacceptable. It felt as if your clinic's schedule, you clocking out on time, you making it for what ever dinner or after work plans were prioritized over the life of a suffering animal, and that thought infuriates me even more. I urge you to reflect deeply on how your policies impact those in desperate situations. No pet owner should ever have to endure the agony of being turned away when their beloved animal is in such distress.

The worst "Customer Service" experience of my life! We went there about 20 years, but were finding…read morethem to be a bit pricey, so in March 2026, I asked basically this question on a Downingtown Facebook page "Any recommendations for a Vet in Downingtown, and not the Animal Hospital at Thorndale. Thanks." That is all I said. I didn't say they were pricey, incompetent or anything else. Just a simple query. We decided to keep our check-up appointment for our English Labrador Retriever in early May 2026 b/c they are close by, we know them, trusted them and they had our dog's records. My husband took off an afternoon of work to go with me b/c we have a big Labrador Retriever and he is a handful. We were in the exam room waiting for the Vet to come in when some very snotty young woman named Allie came in and said she was "The Practice Manager" and read me my Facebook post from March back to me, like I was in grade school. She was rude, accusatory and had a real attitude problem. She said "they were surprised we were back, after my Facebook post and she takes her job seriously" and asked what our problem with them was. I said they skewed pricey. She said they would recommend "lower priced Vet options" and subsequently lectured me in a very condescending manner on all of the costs a Vet's office has. No shit Sherlock. Next, she refused to have my Labrador seen there. My husband was absolutely livid in 2 minutes and walked out with the dog. My husband is literally the nicest man in the world and a well known and very highly respected Marshallton BoyScout Troop leader for 12 years. It takes a A LOT to piss him off. I stayed and was beyond outraged and I wondered why that stupid, snotty, rude young woman didn't call us before we trucked in there with our dog to tell us they wouldn't treat our dog. I am a 57 year old corporate lawyer and it was absolutely the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!! Sadly, they had provided excellent veterinary care for 2 of our dogs for about 20 years prior to this horrific experience! Very sad ending to a 20 year relationship. My own mother (she was a very well respected and well known private Golden Retriever breeder in Chester County for many years) sold the founding veterinarian practice manager (Dr. Joan Yarnell) a Golden Retriever back in the day. Such a shame....

Very kind and friendly vet that takes good care of our dogs. They're honest and don't overcharge.read more

I would like to take this time to publicly thank the personnel in general and Dr. Julie Schneider…read morein particular of Cape Horn Veterinary Associates for having saved the life of our beloved little dog Bella who was in the early stages of a deadly pyometra. Words alone will never adequately convey how grateful we are for the successful labors of Dr. Schneider and her staff in sparing my wife Marcia and I the unspeakable tragedy of losing Bella so soon. Yet in expressing our thanks, we would be remiss in not publicly owning up to the error in judgment we made as pet owners in never having had Bella spayed. So let the following serve as a cautionary tale to those who bring their pets to Cape Horn and any facility which treat our four legged furry family members. It goes without saying that no pet should ever suffer, let alone perish, as a result of his/her's owner(s) mistake; however innocent & unintentional that mistake may be. In Bella's case, I had never even heard of pyometra, which Dr. Schneider explained is an infection of the uterus which often develops in un-spayed dogs & cats; an infection which is always fatal if not immediately treated and causes the animal great pain. Now spaying any pet is not cheap & it is certainly an unpleasant experience for the pet. As Dr. Schneider also pointed out it is considered in more than a few countries as a form of animal abuse/mutilation and is thus outlawed. Yet it is a well established fact that spaying & neutering your dog & cat, especially the females, reduces the risk of your pet developing this infection almost to nothing. Yes, times are tough for a lot of people & this understandably leads some individuals to decide not to spay & neuter their pets for cost saving reasons, particularly if the pet is kept inside as was the case with Bella. Yet we, my wife & I learned to our distress and to great risk to our little dog's life, that we made a mistake; a horrible mistake by not having had Bella spayed due to the cost when we should have. Of course over time this delay led to a much greater expense and the near loss of Bella herself. We were fortunate that were now in a position to handle this crisis. Had it occurred at any time during the previous seven years of Bella's life we would not have been and Bella would have been lost. So to those of you who are reluctant to have your pets fixed for financial or other reasons, let it be understood that a failure to act now will more likely than not result in a much higher cost later; either in the form of emergency surgery to combat the infection, the loss of your pet as a result of it, or both. In closing, let it be said that there is nothing really redeeming in a blunder such as this except for the fact that by publicly owning up to it, my wife and I may perhaps prevent others from repeating our mistake, and thus spare them from having to absorb the high cost to their pet and to themselves that such a mistake will invariably entail. Again, my most hearty thanks to Dr. Schneider and the staff of Cape Horn Associates. May future clients who walk through your doors be secure in the knowledge that their beloved babies will receive the best possible care and in the most loving of hands. With Most Kindest Regards, Eric and Marcia

Our dog was struggling with gastrointestinal issues, and not only did Dr. Ludwig help us identify…read morethe problem, but our dog is now full of energy again, like a puppy. It's clear that Dr. Ludwig truly cares about animals and doesn't want to see them suffer. He always puts the animals first, and that's exactly what you want in a great veterinarian.

We took our dog Chloe there Dr Ludwig was the best vet we have ever had. He took the time and…read morelistened and got down on the floor with Chloe. He knew what he is talking about. Yes now he May have made the wrong choice in his personal like but he is human and we do make mistakes. I hope things work out for him bc he is a good vet!