Harrier Veterinary Surgery

- Reviews consistently praise the practice’s low-stress approach, particularly with anxious dogs and nervous cats. - Owners often describe the vets as approachable, knowledgeable, and happy to answer questions, which helped them feel more comfortable during appointments. - Reception staff are a recurring strength, with several reviews highlighting warm, practical help beyond routine booking and check-in.

Harrier Veterinary Surgery is a CVS-owned small-animal practice in Southampton, established in 2001 and listed as an RCVS General Practice. The practice offers routine and surgical care, with in-house diagnostics including X-ray and ultrasound, and sees a range of pets including rabbits, small furries, and backyard poultry. It is also listed as a Veterinary Nurse Training facility. Reviews consistently highlight calm handling of nervous pets and a reception team that is especially helpful in practical situations.

Services

•Routine and preventive care: consultations, six-month health checks, vaccinations and boosters, microchipping, and parasite control.
•Surgery and clinical treatment: neutering, general surgery, dentistry, and diagnostic work-ups including X-ray and ultrasound.
•Nurse clinics: blood pressure checks, grooming and nail clipping, and anal sac expression.
•Species seen: dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and backyard poultry.
•Examples mentioned by owners: booster vaccination visits, cat check-ups, and especially thoughtful handling for anxious pets, including taking time to build confidence before examining or vaccinating.
•Visits and emergencies: home visits are listed, and emergencies during normal opening hours are handled by the practice; out-of-hours care is via MiNightVet.

Pricing

Published prices suggest the clinic sits above average, based on a partial sample of comparable services. Reviews also suggest it is not cheap, but some owners still feel it offers good value for money, including mention of a healthy cat plan that seemed good value.

People

•Hazel (vet): repeatedly praised for helping nervous dogs settle, using treats, and making visits feel less stressful.
•Josh: mentioned alongside Hazel for helping an anxious dog relax before treatment.
•Richard (vet) and Phil (vet): named by a long-standing client, who said both had 30+ years of experience.
•Reception team: regularly described as friendly, welcoming, and helpful, including helping a client attend with a newborn and assisting with reuniting a cat with its owner.

Reviews

Google rating: 4.8/5 from 116 reviews.

•Reviews consistently praise the practice’s low-stress approach, particularly with anxious dogs and nervous cats.
•Owners often describe the vets as approachable, knowledgeable, and happy to answer questions, which helped them feel more comfortable during appointments.
•Reception staff are a recurring strength, with several reviews highlighting warm, practical help beyond routine booking and check-in.
•Pricing is mentioned only occasionally: one reviewer says it is not cheap, while others felt the service and pet plan offered good value.

Reviews for Harrier Veterinary Surgery

Note: Showing the 10 most recent Google reviews out of 116 we track in total. Recent reviews may not be representative of overall sentiment.

Cassandra Evergreen

9 months ago

Can’t recommend enough! Such a lovely and welcoming helpful reception It was my Chappy first visit there and had to come in with my newborn and everyone went extra mile to make us feel comfortable My 2yo staffy had a bad experience at vet for pets once and since than he’s scared of vets Hazel and Josh made sure to make friends with my boy and showered him with treats and love (I’m sorry he’s been a piece of work) We had to schedule second booster vaccination for another day but Hazel reassured me we can work on my boy confidence around vets I’m so glad I live near by and having vet I can trust 🙏🤍

Ali

11 months ago

Brilliant receptionist helped me find the owner of a cat I thought might have been a stray. Great customer service 👏

D E

1 year ago

Really lucky to have this as my local vets - reception staff are lovely and Hazel the vet is brilliant. Their are no cheap vets anywhere, but at least here you do feel you are getting value for money! Lovely staff who make vet visits less stressful.

Megan Gray

We have two young british shorthair cats who we adore. After some poor experiences at other local vets we decided to move them both and try Harrier Vets. Naturally we were nervous about taking them to a new vet. We took both cats at the same time for a vet check and were really pleased with the whole experience. Parking was easy and the receptionist was really helpful. The vet was fantastic (Unfortunately I can’t remember her name) and really approachable. At previous vets we have been made to feel like bad cat owners despite our very pampered cats, and previous vets have not seemed to have confidence around cats; this was not the case here. The vet was knowledgeable and really happy to answer any questions we had. She handled both cats (one who is exceptionally nervous) really well and made us feel very comfortable. We were given really helpful advice and their healthy cat plan was explained to us and seems good value for money. We can’t recommend them enough and are pleased to have finally found a vet that we feel comfortable with.

Lucy Wynne

2 years ago

I take my Assistance dog and my cats, Kittens to this practice. Staff are always friendly, polite and helpful. All of my furry family are happy to visit here. I wish that they treated humans too :-) Highly reccommend them one and all

Gordon Mclean

9 years ago

Ollie has been cared for brilliantly by Harrier for 13½ years. The team are kind, friendly and helpful. The vets, Richard and Phil have over 30+ years experience each, so I am confident that they can deal with anything that presents.