ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING, DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER TAKING YOUR BELOVED PET HERE !!!! I have read a few other reviews here and have been shocked at how similar my experience was. I have always known there was something very troubling about my experience at this place, and what happened the night my beloved cat went rapidly downhill and died there. When I arrived there was another pet owner crying hysterically, should have been a warning sign. I felt terrible for her and glad that my beloved 10 year old cat was not THAT bad, he had just developed a cough. They took whisked him away on arrival and did not invite me to go with him. After a very extended wait, the vet finally called me in to see her. Like another poster here, I was also told that I needed to pay thousands of dollars or put him down. I was not allowed to take him back or get a second opinion. I could hardly believe what I was hearing, that he needed to be 'put down', he just didn't seem that bad and this was a complete shock. Talk about manipulation, they don't have the right to take your animal off you but they make you believe that you don't have a choice. After about 40 minutes of talking she asked me to go out the back and see him. To say I was horrified at the state he was in was an understatement! I could not believe that she left him in that state while we calmly talked about money and options for 40 minutes!!! SHE KNEW. I had no idea, the poor thing could hardly breath and his tongue was dangling out of his mouth, he was sweating profusely and looked like he was on death's door. In the car on the way he was happily nudging and licking my hand in his cat box so I know exactly what state he was in. I just don't know what they did to him and why he was in such a terrible state. Afterward when I rang to talk about it the vet was extremely nasty and kept saying he was 'in a terrible state when he arrived', this was completely untrue. At the time there was a barking dog out the back and they dumped my cat right next to him without a second thought. When I said that being there was very stressful for him they just looked at me as if I was mad. It was like a bad dream. They definitely do things their way and you feel powerless and out of control. Pay thousands or your pet dies with no possibility of leaving, just like another poster on here experienced. It seems to be standard procedure and a good way to make money. I made the terrible mistake of letting them keep him overnight and within an hour of course they called to say he had died. They were also aware that I did not have all that money. I can honestly say that he was nowhere near death when I took him there and I have always believed deep down that he died unnecessarily. I have always felt that whatever they did to him that night and their dreadful, rude and uncaring behaviour both during and after the fact, plus their manipulation and money grabbing left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Please go somewhere else, don't risk your pets life at this place.

have had a good experience in the past after my dog was hit by a car, Luckily I was uncontactable at the time and they couldn't destroy him, He lived for another 8 years after having orthopedic surgery I sourced from another facility. More recently with another canine companion, there model of care seems to be:Dog sick, Dog not happy, Destroy dog, Interesting policy for professionals who trained for years to heal animals. Regrettably I allowed the lady vet to convince me to destroy my friend, Even after I made it clear I wanted him treated.

My beloved best friend of 10 years had obvious symptoms of very bad tick poisoning, after removing the tick that had completely buried itself into the top of his head we made the very regretful decision of taking my little Maltese to the AEC. As soon as we got to the emergency hospital and waiting a long period of time (even though there was no one else there) we finally met the veterinarian, the vet obviously had no compassion in her job, she was obviously very money hungry more than anything. The vet then carried on about how there was no tick as theres "no ticks in Victoria" Although it was tick season. She insisted that it was just a problem with his heart and she had "no idea why". she gave us two options to either spend literally thousands of dollars on tests and scans to look further into it or to put him down. I requested to take him home hoping that he would last the night so we could take him to a different vet in the morning. After that she continued to guilt trip me calling me cruel and stupid and refused to let me take him. I lost my bestfriend that night. After he had been euthanized she came into the waiting room where I was sitting in absolute hysterics, dumped the body bag in my arms with no compassion or sympathy what so ever and demanded payment. Ontop of this clinic making you feel very unwelcome and iggnorant it is heavily over priced. I would not recommended the AEC to anyone, I hope people see this review so no one has to go through what I did.

Recently I had to rush our 18 month old dog to AEC after she had managed to get to a whole package of snail bait and was suffering hyperthermia and severe muscle tremors and seizures. From the moment I ran in the door and shoved her into the arms of the waiting vet nurse, I felt that the care she received was second to none. The vets kept me informed every step of the way and pitched the information at an appropriate level (knowing that I was a nurse, they provided me with a level of detail that allowed me to determine *exactly* what was going on and make informed decisions). After the initial resus period, I was briefed on potential complications, treatment options and costs by Emma who was very professional & informative but also compassionate. Throughout the two days that our girl was with them, I was encouraged to call at any time and did - each time I was given a thorough update, ongoing prognosis and cost estimate. I was also encouraged to visit with her and was allowed to stay for as long as I felt I needed. We had the option to transfer to our local vet but chose to leave her with AEC based on their commitment and to allow for continuity of care. Yes. it was expensive, but if most people knew how much their visits to the ED costs, they wouldn't be surprised. I cannot fault the care, compassion or communication of AEC during what was an extremely difficult time and would like to thank Emma, Adi and Rebecca in particular for guiding out girl out of the woods and to a full recovery.

A little more costly then the normal vet visit but that is to be expected from an emergency service. The care was great and happy to answer all questions and give all options.