Chicago Equine Medical Center

Absolutely HORRIBLE. If I could give 0 stars I would. Forget being in the loop, if you’re bringing your horse to this place. Staff refused to communicate what is going on and proceeded to tell us they need to run more tests without any explanation of why further action is needed after initial bloodwork. Was there for 5 hours and got 0 updates! The vet hid from us owners and would not go do a physical exam of the horse until we left and would not come out to talk to us face to face. They expect owners to drop off their horse and leave with no questions asked. They don’t like when owners stay on the property and refuse to keep owners in the loop.

I wish it were possible to give zero stars. Although they saved my horses' life with colic surgery, the ridiculous feats I had to go to even to get a simple response from their office afterwards is enough to not use them again. NEVER received a return call when messages were left. My husband had to drive over there to get someone to even talk to us when we needed paperwork to resolve our insurance claim. On the day my husband went to the office, I received three different excuses for the lack of response from the office manager. First she was on another call, second was she was at lunch, third time she was working from home. Not sure why working from home is an excuse to not return a call. Only after my husband went to the office did anything actually happen. Even then, my husband still had to follow-up. It was such a disappointing experience because they are good vets, but there are A LOT of excellent vets in the area that DON'T give clients the runaround & cause even more anxiety during an already scary situation like surgical colic.

I would give less stars if possible. My vet retired so I chose this group from google. Having reached the painful decision that my 27 y/o Cushings mare had become too senile for safety,I contracted this group for euthanasia. Dr. Morauw, having never met myself or my horse, arrived late and decided was too healthy to put down. Having planned this day a month in advance, her stall was already resold for the next day and the disposal company was paid for and waiting. Against my intended decision I was forced to let the disposal company take her for possible reforming. I want Dr. Morauw to know that she bought my mare one more week of life living in terror of people and horses she did not know after traveling for hours in a stock trailer with a dead horse for company. This is far from the peaceful end I had planned for her looking at me and eating carrots as she crossed the rainbow bridge.

Summary: Over promises and under delivers. Poor communication and follow through on the day of surgery when it mattered. Details: I adopted two orphan foals (colts) this April. One colt only had a single testicle descend which meant his castration would be much more involved. When I was researching equine surgical centers, the office staff at Chicago Equine were very friendly, helpful and understanding of my situation, wherein I wanted to bring both colts at the same time, keep them together, etc. I explained to them that these were my babies, and I was quite worried, but was repeatedly assured that they would take great care of them and communicate every step of the way. Due to Covid-19 I was told there would be no visitation allowed, but they would definitely send me pictures, video, etc to keep me apprised of their well being and progress. From a scheduling perspective, we had arranged to drop them off early in the morning and they would go into surgery shortly after and be done by lunchtime. Lunchtime came and went with no update, so I called. That office person indicated that there were a number of surgeries that day, and she did not know what order the colts were, but I should get a call shortly. 2.5 hours later, still nothing, so I call again. Samantha starts in with they have had a number of surgeries including an emergency which changed the plans. At this point, because I had heard nothing, I feared the worst and was in full panic and literally came unglued. I can understand emergency situations but a simple phone call to update me was all that was needed. I was once again assured she would personally go check on the colts and send me pictures, none of which happened. I chose this place not only hoping for excellent medical care for my colts but also support for their worried human Mama.

My senior gelding came in as an emergency on Friday night with colic. Dr. Moreauw cared for him all weekend and the staff were so kind and got him through it. She sent pictures to keep me updated and called at least twice a day to keep me posted on how he was doing. I could not have asked for more! Very grateful!