My recent experience with Dick White Referrals has not been great. My dog was referred to cardiology for mitral valve repair. To begin with, the cardiac surgeon told me that my dog was a suitable candidate for surgery although he had already been diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension by my local cardiologist. Their process, which they stick to rigidly, is for the dog to go into cardiac failure before they will add them to the list for surgery. I was lead to believe that things should be straightforward once this happened as the dog should be relatively stable for about 10 months after the first incidence of cardiac failure. Nobody mentioned that other complications might occur (other than, rarely, sudden death of the dog which my local vet had already warned me about). After several regular reviews, they confirmed his condition was “static” although they said that his heart was very enlarged and he might go into cardiac failure soon. After this stage was eventually reached, he was diagnosed with failure of both sides of the heart. DWR asked him to attend another scan at another referral vet practice which I did. Then I heard nothing for almost 2 months despite chasing them for news on the phone and via email. I have finally received a call from them telling me that my dog is no longer suitable for surgery because of the bilateral failure. While I respect their decision and understand their reasons for it, they had originally failed to prepare me for the eventuality that something like this could happen. Added to which, they have taken an unacceptably long time to advise me of their decision (explained in part by the absence from work of their clinical coordinator - surely an organisation like this should have organised cover!). This has added to my stress and anxiety. My dog now faces maybe a few more months of life and then an unpleasant death that might have been avoided had they shown more flexibility over their criteria for surgery. In short, I would warn other owners to think very carefully and to ask a lot of questions before referring their dog for mitral valve repair. You may be on the path to false hopes and heartbreak. I’m sure the DWR cardiac team are excellent surgeons, but their client communications leave a lot to be desired. Also, I would urge them to reconsider their dogmatic adherence to the policy of waiting for MVD patients to go into cardiac failure before they will consider operating. I do wonder if they might make an exception if it were one of their own dogs needing surgery?

By far the best treatment for our dog we have ever received. Our 8 yr old terrier slipped a disc and was paraplegic. He was treated with care, passion and respect. DWR operated within 14 hours of his arrival, he stayed a week and is now making good steady progress. The handover back to us was superb. concise information and practical. Yes they are expensive and insurance will help with the costs, but that is separate issue from the most important thing. the1st class care our dog received, Recommend 100%

If I had my time again I would have gone elsewhere. My dog was admitted with acute pancreatitis and diabetes which had both appeared over a week. The referral process itself was smooth and staff were expecting us. The vet we dealt with seemed to be caring. Updates by phone however I felt didn’t give me much info, on the second to last day I was led to believe all was going well and they would call me if they hadn’t managed to remove the feeding tube. I hadn’t heard anything so it was a shock on the next day when I was told the tube was still in and her keytones were rising again. When we went to see her she was clearly in pain and deeply traumatised and didn’t seem to acknowledge us. There was a lot of discussion about funding as the insurance was about to Max out (7.5k) we did have the means but it was clear our poor little pup couldn’t take any more. When we got the bill breakdown it looked like the poor wee soul and been poked and prodded and tested to the extreme. No wonder she looked shell shocked. We had to say goodbye to her. It was a Sunday and the cheek of it they charge you extra for putting to sleep on a Sunday!! Then they passed the wrong address for our vet to the crem so her ashes were missing for a while, thankfully they were located by me at our post sorting office just in time to stop them being sent back to the crem. They were no help in the hunt and didn’t contact me to see if I had found them. No I would not use Dick Whites again. I wonder if we had taken the Cambridge referral of the outcome might have been different. Devastated, she was only 6 and was my shadow. I’m sure they do a lot of good but unfortunately my experience was a bad one.

Our pug ruby was stung in the eye by a wasp we were referred to dick White's as her eye got quite bad although the vets were helpful all dick white seem to worry about was the financial side of things and I found them very unhelpful after quite a few visits to them and a few thousand pounds lighter we were given a choice as under their care ruby's eye was getting worse did we want her to have her eye removed at the cost of another £4000 /7000 , needless to say we refused that option and I'm glad we did we took her back to our own vet and after many weeks looking after her her eye is almost healed,I will never take any dog back to dick white referrals

Our dog had her femorel head removed, we were deverstated when we arrived and Lucy was in a lot of pain, the total professionalism and knowledge these vets have is amazing, we can't thank them enough for what they did for Lucy when we picked her up she was pain free and happy, the follow up appointment was again amazing at how they treated her and above all they take the time to explain everything that can be done and all the pro's and con's for each procedure, and they don't hurry you out, Lucy has certainaly recieved the very best of care and treatment

So they're not cheap but wow do they know their stuff. We've been a few times with referrals on different conditions with our little 16yo kitty and they've been amazing beyond words every time. We have a great local vet, but as specialists they put everyone to shame with their amazing knowledge and amount of care they show for animals. My advice to anyone reading these reviews is to make sure you have pet insurance (regardless of whether you use these guys or not, sadly medical care for pets is outrageously expensive), ignore all of the bad reviews and trust in the good ones.

I cannot praise the staff at DWR highly enough. From the moment we walked in the door we felt reassured that our cat would be in safe and caring hands. Every animal that came through their doors while we were there were greeted with warmth, sensitivity and professionalism. Every single member of staff was so kind and wonderful. Thank you especially to Hannah and the surgeon who took such great care of my cat. While I hope my pets and I never have cause to visit DWR again, I know that if we did they would be in the best hands. There are several bad reviews about the cost of treatment and yes, they are expensive but the specialist care they provide would be expensive anywhere so my advice would be to check your insurance carefully before committing to any treatment. In my opinion they earn every penny!

These are only interested in treating your dog if you have insurance. Check your invoice as they charge for things they haven’t done. When you ask for proof to what they have told you they then back track. I would never take my dogs back there I would much rather have them pts than go through what we have.

Referred by our vet as our dog needed a kidney removed. The surgical team were amazing, she came home after two days. We were kept updated throughout and DWR claimed from our insurers direct and we paid the £30.00 admin fee.

Compassionate and caring, outstanding service to both pet and owner. We were kept updated at all times with the treatment of our precious pet. Alex spent so much time explaining out precious pet's conditions and medication, and even though our beautiful dog is terminally ill, the care could not have been better. Highly recommended.

Our dog was referred to Dick White Referrals after suffering seizures. They saw him at 24 hours notice. The facility is a well thought out and pleasant place, plenty of parking. The staff are polite and it is clear that they are invested in - the site is also a veterinary academy and we had two newly qualified vets in attendance as well. The resident neurologist, Alexandra To, could not spend enough time explaining things to us, walking us through the MRI results and reviewing medication needs. Unfortunately, our dog is terminally ill, but we felt that DWR were very compassionate. DWR is part of a larger group, Linnaeus, which probably explains the invoicing problems raised by another reviewer. Our experience was very different - they dealt directly with our insurer and we had only to pay £30 admin fee.

Unfortunately we will be issuing court proceedings against Dick White for in our opinion professional negligence. They couldn’t even get our dogs name correct on his paperwork and then a complete misdiagnosis. It was then noticed that Dick White Referrals Ltd also send out invoices with a company number or vat number that does not correspond to Dick White Referrals Ltd and such such portray one company but actually use another to demand your money, which is obviously illegal and classified as fraudulent trading. A invoice must include the limited company name, the company number that matches this company name and the vat number. This subsequently has been reported to trading standards and HMRC.