June 4, 2020

America’s Best Veterinary Hospitals

Dear Readers,

Note: Only veterinary facilities that operate 24-hours per day, 7 days per week are eligible for TCR’s ‘Best Veterinary Hospitals’ list. The majority of veterinary practices in the United States, therefore, are not eligible. The reason a veterinary practice must be open 24/7 to be eligible for TCR’s ‘Best Veterinary Hospitals‘ list is simple: Nothing less would be expected from a hospital for people that meets the highest standards of excellence.

There are countless examples of top notch veterinary specialists and general practice vets everywhere from mobile practices to large specialty and referral hospitals, to small practices with less than five total employees. There are also practices like the Veterinary Orthopedic Sports Medicine Group (known as V.O.S.M.) in Maryland that are not 24/7 facilities (thus, not eligible for this list); however, they are regarded as among the best practices in the world by specialty. Thus, in 2021, TCR will be focusing more on smaller practices, including general practices with daytime hours, while continuing to report on larger specialty hospitals.

The hospitals listed here have profiles pending in our new veterinary hospital section. Please check periodically as long-term reporting work is now underway that will culminate in a special report at the end of 2020. That report will include our inaugural and permanent ‘Best Hospitals’ list for 2021. We will also take you behind the scenes of our reporting process, explain our methodology, and how we evaluated these hospitals.

We rate hospitals on a 1-5 ‘paw’ scale, and hospitals are searchable by rating. Many of the hospitals listed have not yet been rated.

Our goal is to help you make the best decisions for your dog by highlighting some of the best breeders, shelters, rescue organizations, and veterinary hospitals in the country. We believe that excellence deserves recognition and distinction. Our goal is also to help you steer clear of entities that we assess to be at the opposite end of this spectrum.

Your feedback is most welcome and sincerely appreciated at editor@thecaninereview.com .