Johannesburg Specialist Veterinary Centre

I recently had the pleasure of consulting with Dr. Liezle Crous at the Johannesburg Specialist Veterinary Centre for our nearly 8-year-old wire-haired terrier, Whiskey, who was having difficulty eating over the weekend. From the moment we arrived, Dr. Crous was incredibly attentive, listening intently and asking insightful questions to narrow down potential diagnoses based on her initial assessment. We had to leave Whiskey overnight for further testing and a procedure where Dr. Liezle skilfully drained an abscess located behind his left eye, accessing it through his mouth—a task that seemed quite challenging. I was impressed by her confidence and competence throughout the process. Now, I'm happy to report that Whiskey is back home and doing wonderfully; he’s eating like a champ! The care provided by Dr. Liezle can be summed up in three words: confident, competent, and caring. I highly recommend her services to anyone looking for exceptional veterinary care. Thank you, Dr. Liezle, for your dedication to our furry family members!

SHOCKING EXPERIENCE AT JOHANNESBURG SPECIALIST VETERINARY CLINIC (JSVC). THEIR HORRENDOUSLY POOR POST-OPERATIVE CARE HAS LED TO IMMENSE PAIN AND SUFFERING OF MY PET AND LIFELONG DAMAGE AND COSTS. I took in my cat who had growths in her mouth to have them removed at their suggestion by specialist surgery. Note that the cat was happy and healthy, eating like a champ, and in no pain prior to the surgery other than oral lumps which we still had to biopsy to rule out cancer. Twenty five thousand rands later, due to overnight staff clearly not having monitored my cat whose tongue swelled up massively, post-surgery; she could no longer eat and drink, and was at death’s door in the week to follow. She looked like she had a saucer in her mouth her tongue was so swollen. Although I was PROMISED pre-surgery that the night staff check on the animals EVERY HOUR, she was in a SHOCKING CONDITION the next morning (a Friday). I was assured by the vet that even though my cat would sleep in her little cat “igloo” overnight, they would take her out of the igloo and check on her every hour to monitor her condition. In trying to find out what went wrong I was met with silence or told absurd and conflicting stories, with staff members trying to cover up for each other with more, clearly nonsense stories. They took no responsibility for the damage they had done and were indifferent to my cat’s dreadful deterioration. Over that weekend I had to bring her in daily for cortisone injections to try to reduce the swelling. She was unable to eat since the operation on the Thursday so almost four days without food other than the tiny amounts I could syringe into her mouth. The weekend vet then told me to force her to eat which led to her biting her tongue off almost right through. At this point I had lost all trust in them and decided to take her to my usual vet to restitch her tongue (which is now permanently damaged) and insert a feeding tube as she had lost a massive amount of weight and would have died of starvation without being tube fed as she simply could not eat on her own. These extra surgeries required at my local vet cost me a AN ADDITIONAL thirteen thousand rands, to fix up the damage THEY HAD DONE THROUGH SHEER NEGLIGENCE. Three months later she is still on a feeding tube and cannot eat on her own. Her quality of life is severely physically and emotional impaired, and I too am suffering financially, emotionally and socially as I am unable to attend to my work duties and social activities properly as I cannot leave her unattended for longer than 3 to 4 hours at a time. I owed this practice a 2000 balance after the operation, costs which were incurred as I had to bring her in twice for the follow up cortisone injections over the weekend to fix the damage they had caused by letting her tongue swell so massively unchecked through the night. Instead of making recompense and absorbing the cost of this damage, they threatened to withhold her cancer biopsy results which I had already paid for (which I later found out were negative) and tried to intimidate me to sign an acknowledgement of debt. They were therefore happy to make me and my cat suffer more and hold possible cancer results hostage over a small amount outstanding which I should never have been charged for in the first place as they needed to fix up the mess caused by negligence. Eventually they conceded to release the results after I called them out for their unethical behaviour, as withholding the results (which I did not know at the time were negative) could have led to her health being threatened even further. My experience was this practice is all about money, lack of accountability and negligence. Unfortunately, as animals do not have the same rights as humans, according to the law, I cannot sue them for negligence and damages. So, use this practice at your own risk to the safety and happiness of your beloved fur baby. Simply put, they just don’t give a damn! I would give them zero if I could. Just posted one star as i could not complete my review without clicking on a star.

If or when your local vet cannot assist you, they'll refer you to the proper professionals at this centre. Professional, friendly service. The specialist vets know what they are doing and you can trust them to do what they need to do to get your dog or cat back into tip top shape Seems like they underwent a recent refurbishment and it's looking good

Great service and professional sound advice. Our fur baby procedure went smooth and efficiently. Price was fair. Warm friendly staff.

Very grateful to Dr Liesl for looking at my little boy when I was worried about an adverse reaction to the standard vaccines. She ran full test panels and took me and my concerns seriously. My boy is eating and drinking again, and almost completely back to his old self. Also, I'm very grateful to the insanely kind and empathetic receptionist, who was welcoming, accommodating, and friendly when I walked in a disheveled mess.