A Step Up Veterinary Clinic

This was an amazing vet practice! Being from out-of-town, I could not get into other places I called, that day. Rivers had walk-in appointments; Gidget could be seen that day. I was worried about her, and Rivers took great care of her. They explained everything, gave me meds, and did a result/check-on follow up. If I lived in Pittsburgh, Rivers would be my vet. I was relieved my girl was in good hands. 💕 Thank you

Had an absolutely terrible experience here, and I don’t want another innocent animal unnecessarily hurt. This incident happened when a tech took our cat for blood work. The vet examined our cat and documented that she looked well. Our cat was handed back in distress and needed a blood transfusion that day at the ER because her one blood value was too low. There was no internal bleeding at the time after a chest x ray. So, there is no reason/ diagnosis that the internal medicine vet could find at blue pearl in the north hills for the past six months (and has had follow up consultations) or our new primary vet as to how that could have happened. I can only assume that they withdrew too much blood from our cat, and they didn’t alert us to that fact and hoped it would go away. They need to offer higher salaries to their vet techs to attract better talent that won’t make mistakes like this. Ultimately, this comes down to management. The buck should stop there. Very disappointed and heart broken that our cat suffered unnecessarily and our trust was betrayed. An owner tried to call us and made sure to record the phone call while telling me my cat *could* have cancer and that could be why it happened. Well I called all the vets that worked on her and they said if we thought it could be something like that we would have told you. Not cool to tell someone that their cat *could* have cancer to try to save yourself from taking accountability. Also when our cat was ill prior to this time they initially thought it was something blocking her intestine, and said the machine in the back couldn’t even measure the liver enzyme level. Well, we go to the med vet on 19 and they said the machine at a step up must be broken or they used it incorrectly because they actually have the same exact machine and while her values were high they were able to be read on the machine. So either it’s user error or they have subpar equipment to perform their jobs well. The vet at a step up actually voiced concerns over the abilities at the med vet which were the people that repeatedly saved our cat. A step up can probably can handle very healthy animals, but I wouldn’t rely on them for cats with prior health concerns/ surgeries. I’m not sure that you can trust them.

For those that own exotics, this is a great vet practice to bring them to. I have a bearded dragon whom I was very concerned about health wise, the quickest they could get me in was about 6 days after I called to make the appointment, the next day they called me back and were able to get us in 5 days earlier than expected. Even with such short notice, Dr. Griffith did a thorough, thoughtful exam and answered the many questions I had with no sense of rush and complete patience and kindness. You can tell the the entire staff truly cares and goes above and beyond!

If you are looking for a vet that goes above and beyond for your animals then A Step Up is the best choice. If I have an urgent question/concern for one of my animals they either get back to me ASAP or they try and squeeze me in to at least have them checked out real quick. That being said If they aren't able to do that for you please understand that they are a very loved veterinary practice and usually busy for that reason, so if they aren't able to then they really are at max capacity. Everyone there works so hard and I appreciate you all so much! If you're in an emergency situation it's best to call the emergency vets (I love MedVet personally) but if it's something not life threatening they really try their best to see you as early as they can. Also! Their pricing for most visits are very reasonable and one of the best around in my opinion. Of course it all depends on what your animal needs, but for their routine visits and vaccinations it's pretty great pricing. They also always inform me of any rebates to save me some money on prescriptions!

We take our rescue puppy here for her routine health appts and could not be more pleased with the vet techs and veterinarians. The staff is very transparent about costs, options, risks, and proactive wellness recommendations. We are particularly fond of Leah and Crysta. They never make us feel rushed or like any of my questions are silly. Our puppy also loves the staff and gets excited to enter when we bring her for appointments. Her comfortability is a testament to how compassionate and skilled this office, is and that is very important to us.

This was an amazing vet practice! Being from out-of-town, I could not get into other places I called, that day. Rivers had walk-in appointments; Gidget could be seen that day. I was worried about her, and Rivers took great care of her. They explained everything, gave me meds, and did a result/check-on follow up. If I lived in Pittsburgh, Rivers would be my vet. I was relieved my girl was in good hands. 💕 Thank you