McMaster & Heap Veterinary Practice

Fantastic experience: We've been thoroughly satisfied with all the staff here. There is a calm and caring culture for all patients at a time when they and us (as owners) need it. Our cat began to get sick and we were given an honest and realistic diagnosis. The on going care was first rate and right up to his last visit we had no complaints at all. We would totally recommend McMaster and Heap

Fantastic experience: McMaster and Heap have been fantastic at looking after our girl for almost 10 years(!) through some challenging heath circumstances. They’re always friendly, and willing to answer questions, I really can’t recommend them enough Plus, Luna loves coming to the cattery, and sometimes I think she doesn’t want to leave when it’s time to come home- thanks for all the love you’ve shown her team

Fantastic experience: Very good vet that paid careful attention to my dog's body language on the table and explained options thoroughly. Lovely people and good vibe.

Fantastic experience: After 20 years I had to have my dear cat “Mazoe” put down . The vet and nurses at McMaster and Heap were just so professional and caring . The kindness shown to me was very , very touching and made a hard day that much more bearable .

Fantastic experience: Staff are so friendly and genuinely love the animals. I love taking my dog there as they do everything possible to make the visit pleasant not to mention their knowledge of animal health. Wonderful place with great staff.

Positive experience: Friendly and helpful staff. Excellent follow up explanation by the vet.

Fantastic experience: Seriously fabulous clinic where all the staff from the front desk up are dedicated to ensure you and your precious babies are treated with respect and professionalism (and a few pats and treats for the furbabies along the way).

Positive experience: Interesting place to stop for a visit. I've driven past many times and this time I stopped and so glad I did. The rain didn't dampen (excuse the pun) my enthusiasm. Didn't try the coffee so can't comment on that.

Fantastic experience: We got referred here for an eye procedure for our French Bulldog Sadie. The team were outstanding in their care for Sadie and explaining the procedure and aftercare. I would highly recommend

Fantastic experience: Thank you Steve for going out of your way to care for Oscar and ensure he passed peacefully

Fantastic experience: This is one of those places, you walk through the door and you just know it’s going to be good. From the reception team to the consultation. So great! I had previously taken our wee dog to another practice but had a niggle and as I work in Radiology, one of our students said she previously worked as a vet nurse. The conversation lead me to book an appointment here and I’m so glad I did! I had a consult with Michelle and her knowledge and experience made me feel like we’ll get to the bottom of this. The detail given and then the after consultation was top notch. Will look forward to the 3 week follow up. Feeling really happy!

Fantastic experience: They've looked after my family of pets in stellar fashion. Professional staff with a real compassion when times get rough to help in every which way. Always accommodating with squeezing you in when the odd situation requires it and always make my loved fluffy ones care priority.

Negative experience: We were recommended this vet from other giant dog breed parents for being particularly good with the larger breeds. However our first experience here was not the greatest. We booked in to get our dog neutered, and were supposed to have a consultation beforehand. The vet saw us arrive in the carpark and came out to greet us, and then asked us what breed our dog was... Admittedly, the breed is uncommon in New Zealand, but we were surprised that he didn't at least check his computer beforehand for this info as we had provided the details over the phone. Immediately he said that he thought our dog looked nervous (he wasn't), and suggested we do the consultation in the middle of the carpark. In some ways this could be seen as thoughtful and that he didn't want our boy to be nervous inside the consultation room, but when he gave him the drugs to start putting him to sleep, our dog wasn't able to walk into the clinic and my partner who has a bad shoulder had to pick up all 60kgs of him and carry him into theatre. We were also advised by the breeder before getting him neutered that this breed of dog is more sensitive to anesthesia and that they need less for their weight than other large breeds. In fact, a puppy she sold to someone else died under anesthesia, so we were a bit worried about this. When I tried to communicate this with the vet it almost felt like he dismissed this, which was not very comforting or what I believe to be good bedside manner. Thankfully the surgery went okay and our boy is still alive. We initially were communicated that he would probably be there most of the day and that pickup would be in the afternoon. However we got a call at about 10:30am saying he would be ready for pick up at 11:30am, which is a little bit of a muck around because I had to leave work to go back. And when we got there, he still couldn't even walk to the car by himself without a lot of assistance because he was still so doped up! I'm not sure how he even got to the car because when we got home it was even harder to get him out. I don't think he was really ready to be discharged in all honesty... Then when we took him for his follow up appointment a few days later the vet who saw him (a different vet) asked if he needed to be muzzled. I believe this was purely based on his size - which, in some ways is understandable if you don't know the dog. Except he hadn't shown any sign of aggression. There was a schnauzer dog in the waiting room that was barking and growling at our dog, and our dog didn't even react. I wonder if they muzzled the aggressive schnauzer... (Probably not). It definitely seems they are more comfortable with small dog breeds and maybe common large ploddy dog breeds like Saint Bernards. Despite all the above, it wasn't the absolute most horrible experience we've ever had. It just could have been a loooot better. If our boy ever needs specialist treatment, we would come back and give them another chance. But we will stick with our regular vet for now.

Fantastic experience: Amazing specialist who do a great job and that really do care for your pets.

Fantastic experience: I could not recommend Mc master and heap more to anybody if I tried. They have gone absolutely above and beyond for my dog with hydrocephalus each visit (there’s been a few) they are so attentive and caring. They have so much knowledge and always do their best. Couldn’t be more grateful for the staff there. + Oakley loves visiting (tells me they are so extremely kind with him as he always get injections or something uncomfortable done each time!)

Fantastic experience: I was referred to this veterinary practice from my usual vet, Shirley Vets, because McMaster and Heap Veterinary specialise in eye disease. Since my first visit, my fur baby has been diagnosed with Dry Eye and is now on permanent medicated eye drops. She has much better vision and is back to her plucky self since she's been properly diagnosed. My only regret is that I didn't get her here sooner. All staff are fantastic. Highly recommend. Thank you all so much for the care and kindness shown to myself and my big girl Tequila.

Fantastic experience: Amazing clinic. The staff are all excellent, the space is clean, welcoming and accommodating. Highly recommend.

Fantastic experience: Great service. Lots of Empathy when needed.

Fantastic experience: Beautiful caring staff, clean friendly and understanding

Fantastic experience: The team at McMaster and Heap were very accomodating. They looked after my cat Lola. Steve was very kind and answered all my questions in detail. Thank you

Fantastic experience: Great place to take your cats and dogs

Fantastic experience: The most fabulous vet. Our pooch is treated so well and actually loves his visits.

Fantastic experience: McMaster & Heap with the help of Jacks opthalmology amazing helping Luna with her eye ulcers, putting her at ease and us. Cheers Jack for yr help

Fantastic experience: Busy place, 2 reception areas so go tru to the larger one. My cat was treated with the respect he deserved & purred on the way home. Claws only, $ 23.75.

Fantastic experience: This is the most caring, professional veterinary practice I have experienced in my 40-plus of using veterinary services. Lovely staff, very thorough, working in fantastic state of the art facilities. Highly recommended if you want the best possible care for your pets.

Fantastic experience: Great people, cared for my wee girl pebbles.

Fantastic experience: Very helpful, experienced and well equipped vet clinic. Easy to recommend.

Fantastic experience: Amazing team, service and our dog Charlie is so much better now sleeping after his surgery

Fantastic experience: Always kind and efficient when dealing with family pets, great service and go the extra mile when needed too. Really good vets!

Fantastic experience: My German Shepherd Ellie had to have an ultrasound last week as has been very ill McMaster & Heaps staff were very friendly & professional. Well done guys ‍♥️

Fantastic experience: Fantastic efficient service. Very knowledgeable staff. Pleasant at all times, and extremely busy at times!

Fantastic experience: Such an amazing vets, very Kind hearted. We are signing up, we've met them twice during bereavement both older animals, both times amazing sincere and heartfelt.

Fantastic experience: Helpful, kind, communicative and very friendly vet and team. Thank you for making a stressful time much less so.

Fantastic experience: Very friendly vet clinic, great experience

Fantastic experience: We have stayed with this practice even though we are now a long drive away, because of the stellar service. Always feel my pets receive top-notch care here. Great stuff McMaster and Heap! ‍⬛

Positive experience: Sadly had to put 2 dogs down here, one during covid. Staff were very kind, considerate and also honest which you need during difficult time.

Fantastic experience: Love the service and advice

Fantastic experience: Thanks to Elisia, her calm friendly nature really brings out the best in my dog (and me). Met with a few vets here and all have been great, the whole team have been amazing!

Fantastic experience: Great care and easy communication. Dr. Steve is nice. Recommended.

Fantastic experience: Referred here from my regular vet. So very very nice. Excellent service and follow up. Nice range of toys and food at reception. Thank you for looking after Maggie-May

Fantastic experience: The Team is amazing the care and consideration shown to our family after having to euthanize our best mate was second to none. Thanks You so much

Fantastic experience: Very kind, caring and helpful staff. Good service.

Fantastic experience: My cat had entropian in both eyes .. Dr Jack operated on my cat Stars eyes to correct them...Excellent vets

Fantastic experience: Amazing service and staff. Feel like our pets are under the best care possible.

Fantastic experience: Absolute fantastic!!!! Silver complex issues. Different dog in no time!!!

Fantastic experience: Have a friend that works for the above been there many years now. Going back many years it was just a tiny vets, called Hillmorton Vets, been taken over they have expanded in a very large way, seperate part for dogs and another waiting room for cats . They have a MRI machine for your pets. As far as I know only ones in Christchurch. They have a full range of pet food, toys , leashes, collars etc.

Fantastic experience: Thank you for your help and support with the emergency treatment and follow up with our Frenchie.

Fantastic experience: Great service really helped my boxer with his eyes staff very helpful

Fantastic experience: Best vet in Christchurch Thanks heaps for putting up with my bonkers wee dog. Pepper loves the vets that much lol

Fantastic experience: My son takes his dog here.. Always good service and freindy Staff. His dog is now better and can see a lot better.

Fantastic experience: Very friendly staff, very professional. Highly recommended. 5 stars.

Negative experience: Our dog slipped and had to recover himself by jumping down as he was slipping off their high consult table. Been limping for just under two weeks. Please install safer and better designed consultation tables for H&S. Surely a practice of this size can afford to do this! Update! Months on, still limping, has had xrays with orthopaedic vet and is now under physio - costing us! Muscle in shoulder has been torn

Fantastic experience: Amazing service - let us borrow their cat carrier to have a stray check out. Super kind and accomodating, we will be back for sure if we ever get a pet!

Fantastic experience: Always there for my dog when we have an emergency! Thank you team

Fantastic experience: I will forever to grateful to the team at McMaster & Heap. Especially Dr Michele McMaster. My puppy had a serious heart condition where her heart would be in failure without the team and after her heart scan there they knew the cause of her heart issues and unfortunately the only option was very rare and extremely difficult surgery, but Dr McMaster was able to organise a specialist to come in and perform this life saving surgery on my puppy and I’ll forever be grateful for giving her the love and care she needed to allow for her to have a full life span without heart failure being a worry. Also a huge thank you to McMaster & Heaps son who scrubbed in and assisted as well as to the doctor who came in from the north island. I’ll forever be thankful for giving me the opportunity to have my baby live her best life and a long life.

Fantastic experience: This veterinary service is next level!! The staff are all extremely knowledgeable and very friendly. Appointments are a must here as they are extremely busy. We will be using them as our new vet

Fantastic experience: Great service, vet steve heap is very through and explained in detail, highly recommended

Fantastic experience: Waiting patiently in the cat lounge, on the high perch, for her turn to have a check up.

Fantastic experience: Very professional. Lovely staff. Very good with dogs

Fantastic experience: McMaster and Heep have always gone above and beyond for my oets. Can't thank them enough

Positive experience: Were very friendly staff. Helpful and explained things well.

Fantastic experience: We had RJ our cat euthanized today, the staff couldn't have been anymore caring and compassionate, thankyou so much

Fantastic experience: Lovely kind staff who looked after my dogs very well. A great selection of pet toys and treats available too. Looking forward to the pups being healthy and fit thank's to this great vet. Honestly have left this very cause the owners seemed to care more about money than our pets.

Fantastic experience: Everyone Was very patient and understanding with me in spending all the time I needed with my girl before she unfortunately had to go to sleep. All very lovely people.

Positive experience: Very professional and great when you need someone who can help with emergency care

Negative experience: A vet from McMaster and Heap prescribed our dog painkiller medication for a couple of months for his joints. We then got repeats from the vet until he was to go in for a in person check up. We saw another vet and they said that our dog was on some pretty high dosages and should be taken off of them or else it could cause problems for our dogs liver. We then had to pay for tests to make sure our dog was okay. They then have gotten us into taking our dog every month now for a vaccine for his sore joints which costs $120 per month and that is what they told us it would cost each month. Today it costed us $220 because a nurse wasn’t available, and they waited to tell us that after giving him his vaccine. How is that our problem that there weren’t any nurses available? Yet we booked in advanced.

Fantastic experience: Wonderful treatment here. Rapid response to a potential emergency situation. Really kind, gentle with the dog I bought in. Very clear advice and treatment plan. Really dedicated team. Thank you so much.

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff, I know my animals are always well taken care of when we visit

Negative experience: We sent our lovely cat to this Vet for an abdo scan and acities draining. She now has damaged teeth, can't swallow, weak, and tender abdo. Rung the mcmasters and heap vet clinic. The receptionist was rude and not willing to help explain what had happened or find someone who could help. The receptionist just didn't care. Now our cat is so very weak she can,'t push out a poo. Terrible place and experience.

Fantastic experience: Amazing service and very reassuring for you and your pet

Fantastic experience: Lovely people Nia happy having her eyes seen too

Fantastic experience: Jack was a really nice vet to deal with and done a great job with my cat Turbo

Negative experience: Over $400 for blood test and pre medication for dental work. Mcmaster and Heap could not perform the procedure and still charged me for pre meds. Don't mind paying for work that is completed but this is absolutely morally wrong. Then they wanted to book my dog in again for 'another go at it', I don't think so, at the risk of incomplete procedure and money down the drain because of your own incompetence. Have spent thousands over the last decade on our pets and at top dollar. No more, you have lost a long term customer. Any complications from my dog having sedation for no reason and I will take further action. Shame on you Mcmaster and heap.

Fantastic experience: Always good looking after our dogs.. great service advice and knowledge/skills

Fantastic experience: Great people, they love our pets as much as we do ❤️

Fantastic experience: Great caring vets. Nice having dogs separate from cats area.

Fantastic experience: Fantastic vet clinic, very caring staff who have gone above and beyond for my animals

Negative experience: I am not a person who reviews the services of providers but i have been troubled by the events and our family experience at the end of 2022 when we had our much loved dog Cookie euthanized at home, thinking this would be the best outcome for our lovely Cookie to end her life. Unfortunately the vet botched the attempt trying 5 times to find a vein and thus stressing Cookie before eventually giving her a sedative before the fatal dose. Needlessly to say our pet died in stress and we were left in tears. After a week or so i visited McMaster & Heap to express our displeasure in the way our dog and family had been mistreated and don't forget at a "cost". We wanted the practice to realize that they may have a training issue with the procedure and how it is performed. Our personal vet was shocked and saddened by what we told her and she said she would pass the information onto the relevant persons. We have not heard back from this practice, which indicates a lack of caring and just a money grabbing institution.

Fantastic experience: Great customer service, Willow had some fans. Also on the flip side, thier compassion and love around pets who have past and have come to rest again, so I thank you for that. I'll be back.

Fantastic experience: Very professional, showing us the right way to handle and administer medicine, ready to accommodate our needs. Thank you.

Negative experience: Took our vomiting dog in, suspected she ate something on a walk and vomited a good dozen times, all staff were mucking around, no sense of urgency, I asked what the costs for treatment would be first and was advised that the charcoal is cheaper at the pharmacy... No mention of dose, real stand offish. Always ask for a breakdown of costs first as I'm sure if you don't you will be paying lore than required.

Fantastic experience: Excellent commitment to all animals. Very understanding and kind people. I trust my animals with them and it takes a lot for me to trust others with my pets.

Negative experience: Mc master & heap wrongly gave my dog medication twice as strong as they should have which could have badly effected her but luckily we caught it early, rang 5 times over 5 days being told the vet would ring me back but never did. ended up driving back to get the right ones, only met with excuses with no owning up to them not checking what they prescribe, have now found a vet that check before giving out medication.

Fantastic experience: Very Professional Vets, friendly and helpful. Can highly recommend them.

Fantastic experience: The people who work here are worth their weight in gold. I took our beloved Labrador over to Christchurch to McMaster and Heap from the West Coast in an attempt to save him after he became critically ill. If it weren’t for the team here I wouldn’t still have my baby, but they worked quickly and effectively and were able to help him recover from a very scary place. I honestly cannot thank them enough for their compassion, dedication to quality veterinary care, and for giving me hope when I thought there was none.

Negative experience: Woman with the tattoo and fringe was extremely rude and the price was not right for 2 minutes worth of work I won't be back

Fantastic experience: We were referred to Steve by our usual vet when our cat was having eye problems. He was patient, compassionate, and really went out of his way to explain what he was seeing in our cat, what it meant or could mean, and giving us options for next steps. When after a few months it became apparent our cat was going to lose his eye Steve answered all our questions, was completely up front about costs and recovery time, and did an excellent job on the surgery. While we hope to have no more animals with a severe eye problem in the future, if we do we know we'll be in good hands with Steve :)

Positive experience: It’s very appreciated what they do but at the same time very expensive, specially when they scared you with some suggestions which I think ware to put the cost higher deliberately

Fantastic experience: Very good ,understanding my dogs situation with not being good with little dogs.

Negative experience: Charged me 350$ for a little bottle of ointment for my dogs ears and pills to help his paws no results what so ever feel like ive been ripped off never go back there bloody rip off

Fantastic experience: Steve and the team have been fantastic every time, would highly recommend.

Fantastic experience: Our beautiful old lab is on palliative care and we couldn’t ask for better care from McMaster & Heap. We appreciate their honesty and their efforts to ensure Meg is pain-free and happy. We live out of town and while Meg has had several visits lately, McMaster & Heap are just a phone call or email away as well.

Fantastic experience: Very professional, skilled, and they have empathy towards the people and pets. Wish the news was as good as the people and service provided.

Fantastic experience: McMaster & Heap were able to see our kitty cat at short notice and took utmost care of him. They rang me throughout the day to update me on how he was getting on. We felt he was in very safe hands and well cared for, thank you!

Fantastic experience: Wonderful people, I wouldn't take my dog and cats anywhere else

Fantastic experience: Beautiful and caring humans, every time I've been in they've been warm and friendly. Could not fault them in any way

Positive experience: This is like all vet practices it is very handy when you have one handy as you will probably require it some time in the near future. So a very handy need.

Negative experience: Firstly, I am very grateful that Steve always makes room for our emergency appointments, and I have brought a couple of birds to him with no problem. Unfortunately, this time I was left rather upset. I brought a bird in with significant damage to the eye and was told there was no infection and given Metacam to give him twice daily. A couple of days later, I realised that the Metacam dosage was less than half of what it should have been, and had to work out the correct dosage myself. One week after our first appointment with Steve, I felt the bird needed to be seen again; the wound was still open and weeping significantly, and the bird was in significant pain and discomfort. I spoke to Steve over the phone and explained our concerns to then be told that it would eventually stop weeping and to contact him again in 2 weeks. I was not happy with this and decided to contact another vet I trusted to get a second opinion. Three days after my phone conversation with Steve we took the bird to this other vet. The vet was rather shocked at the state of the bird; the bird has now been admitted to intensive care and has lost 2KG since we first saw Steve, is dehydrated, has a very low heart-rate and has massive infection in the eye which the vet thinks may have gone past the eye socket. They are now trying to stabilise him and hopefully remove the eye tomorrow. I am extremely upset and feel that McMaster & Heap have really dropped the ball in this case. If I had waited the 2 weeks like I was told to, he would have died and still might.

Fantastic experience: Amazing ,very friendly and understanding treats your pets as there's own .awesome service great team ,highly recommended

Positive experience: My wee girl went for a scan today . I had had no sleep the night before because I was so worried about the results. Drove all the way from Oxford. Arrived and didn't even get to talk to the vet about her history or there procedure. Arrived around 10.30 , the receptionist said they would ring me. Did what I needed to do at the local mall. Drove back to Vets , sat in the car park till around 1.30 . Decided to go inside to see if I girl was ready to cone home. Receptionist didn't even look at me,carried on talking to the other receptionist. Finally she said how can I help . I explained the situation, wanted to see how My Ruby was . She went away to find out if Ruby was ready, came back and I was waiting for a answer but no I must of been invisible . Finally got a answer. Yes she was . Yaye. Had to ask about after care. Really No instruction sheet Communication and customer service was very disappointing. No compation at all.