Appalachian-New River Veterinary Associates

Great as usual. Dr. Kreis is awesome.

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This past December I got my dog Lola, a 7 year old Belgian Malinois. I soon noticed some unusual masses on her lower abdomen around her teats that made me fear she had mammary cancer. I contacted her previous vet, as she had just had a physical in October, and he advised me to take her to vet immediately. Due to her age and her not being spayed her chances of having cancer were more likely. Although I had lived in Boone, NC for a few years I hadn?t had a pet so I used Angie?s list to decide which veterinarian I would contact. I saw Appalachian New River Vet and specifically read that Dr. Kreis was recommended. I called and it was very easy to set up an appointment. The staff was kind, and very helpful. While filling out paperwork the receptionist came and introduced herself to Lola, who is very anxious, and gave her a treat. Dr. Kries was polite, nice, and informative. She was very respectful with Lola. She slowly introduced herself and then once Lola was calm, began the exam. After examining the masses she agreed that they had the potential to be cancerous and advised me to have them removed as well have Lola spayed. She went through all the options, gave me a clear estimate of all the costs and then went through each cost and explained them to me. I decided surgery was the best option and made an appointment. Unfortunately we had to reschedule the surgery twice; first because Lola began her heat cycle and then again because she developed a rash where the incision would be. Dr. Kreis was the epitome of accommodation. On each occasion she spoke with me personally, gave me her personal opinion of what she would do but made it clear that ultimately the decision to reschedule was mine alone. On the day of Lola?s surgery we had to drop her off between 7:30 ? 8:00 am. We met with Dr. Kries before and she answered any questions we had and explained the procedure and what to expect afterwards. Lola was given an injection for pain prior to the surgery during which I was able to hold her and even walk her to her kennel afterwards. They let me leave a tennis ball and a shirt with my scent on it to help her feel calm when she woke up from anesthesia. The surgery took two hours and then Lola stayed till 5:30 to allow the anesthesia to wear off. The staff, again, was so incredibly kind. When she first woke up a staff member was there to let her out of her kennel for some love and attention which I thought was very kind. Before leaving, Dr. Kreis went through Lola?s medications with me and advised me exactly what to watch for. She even gave me her cell phone number so I could reach her if anything came up after business hours. Lola is very aggressive towards other dogs so they let me use a separate entrance for Lola to avoid the extra anxiety of having to walk through the lobby after her surgery. Lola?s happy to be home now. She is a bit lethargic but that?s to be expected because of her pain medication. As for their prices I can't say how they compete against other local vets as I've only been here. However, I will say Dr. Kries is very upfront and clear about the costs. She doesn't make any decisions without consulting you first. Some veterinarians take advantage of caring pet owners and over-vaccinate or over prescribe medicine to run up costs and I can say that that was not the case here. I would definitely recommend Dr. Kries to anyone with high expectations for their pets, as well as wanting their vet to have genuine respect for their pets needs. 

They are wonderful. I recommend them highly!

My husband and I had to be in Boone, NC for the weekend to attend his nephew's wedding. We had also been dealing with my mother's illness and to make a short story long, I was 4 hours away from our home and staying with my mother in NW Pennsylvania and also had our dog, Flint, with me. I planned to drive directly to Boone from my mother's house and we needed to find an accommodation for our dog. I found this provider through Angie's List and called them and found they had room for her. Check in was very quick and easy on Friday afternoon.
My husband usually runs with our dog and he was able to get her out of the kennel for a couple of hours on Saturday morning to run with her. When my husband returned Flint went back into the kennel without hesitation. She actually seemed to be excited about getting to be with the other dogs again.
The only drawback to the service was that the kennels are not open on Sundays, the day we planned to leave town. I was only able to pick our dog up between the hours of 3 and 5 PM and only if I prepaid. Since we had at least a 6 hour drive ahead of us, I didn't like getting such a late start. However, I got there at ten minutes of 3 and the attendant promptly appeared and let me have our dog back. Flint came bouncing out clearly excited to see me, but also very willing to return to the kennel. It was clear that Flint was well cared for in the kennel.
If we need to be in Boone, NC again, and if we need to kennel our dog again, I would absolutely use this kennel again, just so long as we don't want to leave on Sunday.

Dr. Kreis provided much advice and care for our 17 year old kitty Bean, who had cancer in her lower mandible. Dr. Kreis explained all of the possible options for treating Bean, from managing pain to radical removal of her jaw. We chose to manage Bean's pain rather than putting her through the trauma of surgery at her age. When the time came to have Bean euthanized, Dr. Kreis was very understanding and let us choose whether or not to stay with Bean through the end (we stayed). They provided a small footprint with a quote as a keepsake. I didn't think I would care about that, but it is such a great memento of Bean. My only negative comment about New River Vet would be the cost of the euthanasia, which was about $200 greater than what I paid at my vet in Missouri, when we had to euthanize our other kitty who had kidney failure. Regardless, we really like Dr. Kreis.
In late May we acquired a 4.5 month old puppy, and Dr. Kreis handled him gently and expertly. She introduced herself to him, allowing him to smell and accept her before treating him. In contrast to that, a few weeks later (June 10) we had to take our puppy to a different vet while out of state in Colorado. The other vet (Dr. Ickles at Park County Animal Hospital) went right in and started aggressively man-handling Django, who did not take it well. It truned into a wrestling match, during which Django howled and whined in terror. Dr. Ickles blamed my husband and I for not getting Django used to having people handle his paws and touch his belly. (We rub Django's paws and belly daily and wrestle with him regularly with no problems!) Needless to say, we are waiting to complete further treatment until we can get back to North Carolina and Dr. Kreis! Also, in this case, we feel that care for our puppy at New River Vet is a good deal, as we were offered a puppy Paws Plan. This includes all of Django's shots, worming, and neutering, plus 4 other visits for $300-400.

All employees are very knowledgable and understanding. Overall I have been very happy after talking to them and feel like I have received wonderful service.

Pet Canine, Female, 2 years old was impulsively eating grasses for over 15 hours straight, drinking water, vomitting and soft stool, she seemed anxious. After trying Pepto Bismol and it still continued but the water consumption dropped off, this was out of the normal for this dog and I was suspecting she might have ingested something foreign. I went to App New River and want to see our regular vet (Dr. Cathy Kreis) whom I have a great working relationship with and understanding of knowing the cost prior to each test; unfortunately, I saw another vet in the practice and had no idea on how he operates or knows the business nor did he know this dog. Nevertheless, I wanted to see x-rays of the mouth to intestines, looking for a foreign object. The vet did see a large grass ball. Additionally, the vet performed all the blood also prior to giving me the info on the xrays. Which I felt that it made the bill much higher, on the other hand the vet was being thorough looking for infections since she came in with barely an elevated temperture. This vet as concern that the grass ball might yet stuck in the stomach and that she would be getting dehydrated. An order us to go to the 24 hour emergency vet down the road a mile or so for an overnight observation and hydration, its was 5:30 pm). Instead I decided after $480.31, I could not afford the emergency vet and I would go home and force fluids in her (work in a kennel when young and did some of this care) and watch carefully for any distress changes. I rubbed her belly and every 30 minutes for 5 hours gave her 4 ounces of gatorade for the electrolytes. By midnight she was calming down a resting well. In the morning she had a bowl movement and later that day passed a large grassy stool.
I love our normal vet Cathy Kreis and would highly reccommend her. She is very thorough, cost aware and justifies the need for each. Her knowledge is among the best vets I've met and she isn't affraid to call a specialist or Univerisity for other ideas (at no additional expense to me) when a pervious dog was very sick. And saved him for quite a while. And when the time can to euthanized it she made every effort to keep everyone calm and collected and came to the car to perform the procedure. She is so kind and loves the animals.
The question below makes no sense and I have no idea when the Veternarian built the office/home but it was remodeled in 2012

Vet was very thorough in her examination, and offered a variety of solutions to my cat's arthritis and other problems.However, people skills were just "ok"! Her explanations were a bit dumbed down -- I would prefer to be treated as an intelligent individual. However, her concern about my cat was evident.

I waited a little longer in the examination room, but I was fit in for an earlier appt. the day before. All staff very professional, helpful, and friendly!

They are awesome. They have an individual pet portal online, which gives details about your pets vaccinations and checkups that is going to happen. They send personalized postcards with the picture of a dog of the same breed. They are on time and take care of your pet and you. The facility is very clean and they get me in and out easily. Every time I go there it is very personalized and I will use them again in the future.

Dr. Cathy Kreis has been Bebe's veterinarian since May of 2010 when we brought her to Appalachian New River in a near-comatose condition. We weren't sure what was wrong. All we knew was that Bebe's vet at the time - the owner of another local practice - was out of town and Bebe had seemingly overnight become dangerously ill.

When we discovered that Bebe's usual vet was not available, we began calling around the area in a panic. Several of the other local practices said that they would have to get back to us. (All of them subsequently did call us, offering later appointment times.)

Even Appalachian New River was fully booked for the day, but the staffer who took our call asked if we could hold while he'd see what he could do and, after keeping us on hold for no more than four or five minutes, returned to say that Dr. Kreis would fit Bebe in an hour later if we'd come ahead. This was perfect timing for us, as we live 30-45 minutes from Boone, where this practice is located.

We had no idea what to expect, as many practices do not appreciate pet owners who show up for the first time in the middle of a pet emergency. Dr. Kreis, however, was totally professional and compassionate, her only concern the condition of our much-loved cat. She discussed with us several possibilities as to the likely cause of Bebe's sudden crisis and described tests and diagnostic procedures that could help pinpoint the specific cause. She made recommendations as to the approach she thought the least invasive for Bebe and also the most likely to provide the necessary information on which she and we could base treatment decisions. We authorized the tests and some intensive intranvenous feeding that day. It made us feel much better when the staff allowed Bebe to remain in her hiding hut while being given the IV, as we knew this would make her feel more secure. (A couple of times in the past, a vet practice has refused to allow our pet to keep his or her personal bedding.)

As we prefer for an ill animal to have the comfort of home as much as possible, we collected Bebe late that afternoon and took her home. The next two days we followed the same routine - taking her to the vet's for IV feeding and observation during the day and bringing her home at night. By the fourth day, she was showing significant improvement.

The test results showed that she had renal issues, as well as high blood pressure and a little bit of a heart murmur. Dr. Kreis prescribed a daily medication routine for us to follow, a routine that she has fine-tweaked a couple of times since. The first few months after Bebe's near-death experience, we took her to see Dr. Kreis once a month for monitoring. For a few months after that, Dr. Kreis felt that once every two months was adequate. For the last half year, Dr. Kreis has recommended quarterly monitoring.

Bebe has responded brilliantly to Dr. Kreis's recommended treatment. We did not realize that she had slowed down in the period before her illness until we observed how she has perked up this last year. She romps with her Siamese companion - who is 7 years younger - several times a day, literally bounding up and down stairs in the process. Her appetite is excellent. Her eyes are bright and her coat is terrific in gloss and texture.

We couldn't be more pleased. In fact, we now take our other cats - four in all, another Siamese, two Maine Coons, and a big ginger shorthair - to Dr. Kreis for their annual checkups, vaccinations, any necessary tooth cleanings, etc. One thing we've noticed while on the Appalachian New River premises is that - in addition to cats - the staff members seem to be extremely comfortable with dogs of any size, from the smallest to the largest. We noticed this particularly because we have had extremely large dogs in the past and knew that many practices definitely do NOT know how to handle them.

Over the years, we've had a number of pets, both cats and dogs. As a result, we've had many positive (and a couple of negative) experiences with vets in several states, experiences that give us the confidence to recommend Dr. Kreis and her staff without reservation.