Rivergate Veterinary Clinic

I rarely write reviews but after realizing the difficulty of finding a new vet in NYC I had to share my wonderful experience. From the second I walked in the door everyone I met was friendly and professional. My doctor was very thorough without pushing expensive tests and treatments on me. My cat had a persistent problem and they were able to actually get to the source and treat it. I felt completely comfortable leaving her there for the day. I received several calls from my doctor with status updates. When I went to pick her up I could tell they really cared for her. They didn’t just pass her off to me and send me on my way. And while all vet visits are expensive I wasn’t completely shocked by the prices. And the treatment and experience was completely worth it. I am so grateful to have found them!

What can I say after I’ve said … Dr. Kross is amazing … he’s so very knowledgeable, patient, understanding … well I could go on and on but the bottom line is that he is the BEST vet in
New York City.
His staff is wonderful … they are friendly, courteous and professional.

There aren’t enough stars to give the best best vet practice I ever went to. The staff is caring .Dr Kross make you feel as if your pet
is his only patient. He is a kind, and knowledgeable vet. He is caring and patient.

Dr. Su was so wonderful. She listened carefully and expressed genuine concern for my cat. She was also very knowledgable and gave clear instructions. I would recommend her to any pet parent.

Rivergate is the best in town!!! Dr. Peter Kross is the only vet to see in NYC! He is the most knowledgeable, kind, and caring vet I have ever met. I have been seeing him for over 15 years. He has treated my three cats and two dogs~ from happy beginnings to bitter endings, and held my hand all along the way. He is kind, loving and patient. In Peter, you will find a personable vet who is wise and beyond competent. He truly loves you and your pets. He even takes phone calls when necessary.
Dr. Kross has been a life saver~literally! He has seen my dog through three bouts of cancer (the most recent one life threatening). My dog was given 7 months to live. Since his post-​op was so horrible I decided not to go with chemo or radiation, so Peter advised me to get a puppy to liven up my dog. His creative solution worked and my dog is still with me almost 15 months later! I am eternally grateful to him!
Dr. Marissa Sue treated one of my cats who suffered from life threatening asthma. She extended her life for 14 years! She is kind, caring and loving. She even made house calls, since my cat could not leave the apartment. When it was time to put her down, Dr. Sue was there for me emotionally and respectfully, and I cannot thank her enough! She is a gem!
You will also love the staff, from the front desk to the techs at Rivergate! They know you and your pets without having to look in a chart or on the computer. They are well equipped to answer any questions you may have ranging from general information to general medical advice.
At Rivergate you will feel safe and in the best hands possible. You will feel right at home since they treat you like family!
I recommend Riverate without reservation to any friend, family member, or anyone looking for the very best vet in town!!! You will love them, as I do!!!
Jennifer N

I simply cannot praise Dr Cross and his team enough! The practice manager Leo and receptionist are lovely, very friendly and personal, they very quickly sorted out my 3 dogs trans Atlantic travel documents for me and always try and acomadate my requests, even to the point of texting Dr Cross directly to inform him of my dogs illness. Dr Cross is absolutely amazing. He is not only incredibly genuine and friendly, but extremely calming both to me and my dogs. He never does any treatment that’s not needed to my dogs, no unessecary prodding or probing or excess testing. which is such a refreshing change. One of my dogs was critically ill yesterday with partial tick paralysis and lymes disease. He couldn’t walk and his breathing was labored, he diagnosed it quickly and started treatment immediately with great care and compassion to Little Bear who was distressed and in pain. He explained everything to me and made me feel at ease. The next day my dog is almost 99% better. Miraculous. Great Practice, great team.

This place was awesome. The vet seemed to care a lot about the pet. He even gave a free nail clip for her. I could tell from his face that he liked his job. Having tried one another vet in NYC, I could tell that this place was a nice find.

After coming cross town from another vet’s office and needing a second opinion, my neighbor told me about Rivergate. My cat was not getting any answers for a recurring urinary tract infection. This other vet charged me exorbitant fees and my cat was still in pain. I am so grateful that I ended up here where the staff was amazing, and got my cat out of pain immediately.
I am so grateful. And the fees were a lot more reasonable than my original practice. They even called to check up on Loki the next day.
I would recommend this practice to anyone who is looking for a great place where they care, can diagnose and do not charge too much.

I was a loyal customer for years despite the exhorbitant prices. When the practice was smaller, the staff was much more attentive.
My dog now has pancreatitis and diabetes, which i believe is directly attributable to the over prescription of steroids by the various doctors she was shunted through as the practice grew.
I left when she became incontinent. They didnt seem to know what to do, and i read up on it and found treatment suggested and the possible cause. I suggested the course and one of the many doctors looked through her chart, and said «wow she HAS had a lot of steroids.»
This is a few years ago and now am very happy with my current vet. I can only hope this practice has invested in record keeping since i was there.

Dr. Peter Kross was my dog’s vet since 2004, and always thought his prices were overpriced for the services. He always double dipped, for example, he charged $ 75 for an office visit then additional for the vaccination shots. But he often split up the vaccinations (stating it was better for the dog) but then charged the office visit again. So you make a person come back and charge them twice when it was you that wanted to split it up? I was always good for $ 300 for every visit. I only used him because my domestic partner used him in the past for her previous animals.
Therein lies my current issue. The ACCOUNT with this office was with my DP and when we broke up in 2012, I gained sole custody of my dog. I made a few visits afterwards and asked that my dog’s info reflect that I was in fact the rightful owner. They stated that they had to call my EX for approval and since our breakup was so fresh, I told them not to bother. I discovered that my EX has since gotten a new dog and the prospect of bumping into her was not something I wanted. So I called the office to have my dog’s records faxed over to me so I could bring her to a new vet. They refused my request and stated they had to call my EX again for her approval. What? Why the hell not? In the most moronic reasoning, they stated that they did not recognize me as an owner. Really Dr. Kross? It’s been over two years and I’ve always been the one to bring her in and brought her even after my DP was out of the picture. He then had the audacity to tell me to get over it when I told him that I did not want to reopen old wounds with my EX. I told him that his failing to recognize that my EX and I were legal partners at the time that we owned this dog together was as discriminating as hospitals not considering same sex partners as family and refusing them visits. I was the owner of that dog whether or not I was on the records and HE knew it and knows it. If you went by Rivergate’s reasoning, people in custodial partnerships have no rights to apartments where only one person is listed on the lease and they die. It’s shameful that I had to go through this just to get my dog a check-​up and more surprising that Dr. Kross didn’t give me the benefit, considering his lifestyle. All it entailed was getting information on when the dog got what and I am sure that ownership would not have been questioned had I just made an appointment with them to feed Rivergate’s money sucking operation.
After arguing back and forth with Dr. Kross, he states he’ll verbally give my dog’s next required shots or even better, have the records sent directly to another vet office. Well why the hell didn’t you say that before I was completely aggravated? But when I call back with the vet office’s fax number, they reneged again. I just lost it and tried to get Dr. Kross back on the line. They stopped taking my phone calls but I was relentless, leaving several messages, explaining that all I cared about was my dog’s welfare. It was disgusting the way they treated me for a stupid piece of paper.
Stay away from this place unless you’ve got money to burn. They don’t care about your animal. One of my most disturbing memories was watching Dr. Kross walk a pet owner out the exam room, obviously telling them the pet had to be put down. He matter of factly gave the grim news and then turned around to the front desk to tell them what needed to get billed.

Horrible! They did a nasty spay job on my dog which also got infected. I took my dog to get second opinions from other vets who said they’ve never seen anyone use that type of stitching on a spay and that it was obviously infected. The stitches were swollen, red, and very hot. My dog also had a fever.
I brought her back to rivergate and was furious about the job they did. I became even more furious when the doctor tried to pull a quick one by saying it doesn’t look infected to him but here are some meds just in case make me feel better.

My husband and I got a puppy over the summer. We asked a bunch of dog owners in our building which vet they use, and everyone said Rivergate — so the decision to come here was pretty obvious for us. We loved Dr. Kross and our puppy loved him, too! As first-​time dog owners we had tons of questions and felt that Dr. Kross was very patient and thorough with us. Since having a puppy means going in for lots of vaccinations, we were frequenting Rivergate every couple of weeks it seemed. Our dog loved going each time and was treated well by the vet techs and Dr. Kross. We moved away from NYC and it will definitely be hard for us to find a vet that meets the standards set by Dr. Kross!

Dr. Kross is so empathetic and kind. He truly loves pets and gives you the time you need to ask questions. We received outstanding service at Rivergate every time we took our senior dog. From regular check-​ups until the day we had to put her down. Incredible service and very compassionate staff.

I rarely write reviews, an occasional negative one if I was extremely offended, but for selfish reasons not much in the way of positive ones since I don’t want my favorite places mobbed — I will make an exception here.
The staff here was extremely kind with Charlie, a hound with a terrible ear infection and some dental problems. He had 2 visits, including one where he was sedated, with two of the doctors. The front desk/​billing was very nice and the doctors were the kind of people we want to break bread with.
We thanked them profusely and will be coming back for his next visit in a couple of weeks to make sure it all turned out OK. And if they see this review, hopefully they know just how appreciative we are for their care.

My little guy Noël (Maltese) has been seeing Dr. Kross for almost 15 years. Peter is an amazing doctor, he is very intuitive and doesn’t up sell any unnecessary tests and procedures. Expect to pay dearly as Rivergate isn’t cheap but i am happy to pay for peace of mind knowing Noël is well taken care of.

I have been a loyal patient of Rivergate for more than 25 years and routinely recommend Dr. Kross and his excellent team to my friends and neighbors. I so appreciate their genuine concern for animal health and welfare. If you are seeking a wonderful Vet, you should visit this marvelous practice. You will be glad that you did!

I’m writing an update to my original review because our little Mac has had several procedures and vaccinations done recently and all went well. Dr. Marissa Sue was AMAZING and very thorough. She loved our little Westie like he was her own. He had a teeth cleaning (under anesthesia) and two benign masses removed. Everything went smoothly without problems. Mac was happy as a clam afterwards.
Also, I feel like the front staff has made some changes since I last wrote my review because they are much friendlier now. Every time I call to make/​change appointments or get copies of our dog’s up-​to-​date vaccination records, they’re much more pleasant and helpful.

This is an exceptional veterinary practice in every way. I have been bringing my dogs here for over eight years and everyone who works there is terrific. As many reviewers have noted, Dr. Peter Kross is a truly exceptional doctor and a genuinely nice person. My wife and I think he is the very best vets we have ever met. Additionally, the other veterinarians whom he has on his staff are also exceptional, especially Dr. Marissa Sue who has taken great care of our last two dogs.
In sum, this is a great place to take your pet. The doctors are terrific and the entire staff is helpful, friendly and professional.

I’ve taken my cat here and the front office staff is completely rude. Nothing good comes out of their mouths –not even a hello or a thank you.
The doctor we’ve had sounds like she is a character from South Park — NO JOKE! She says «M’kay» after EVERY WORD and is very condescending. I will NOT take my dogs here or come back here with my cat. They are less expensive than Animal Medical Center but they are closer to my home… but won’t return. Why? Because they are downright RUDE.
We obviously haven’t had Dr. Kross that others talk about here — because my experience has been pretty awful from day one.

Peter Kross is the finest Vet’s I have ever met in my lifetime.
I have been going to him for 25 years.
He is a brilliant diagnostician, and is the warmest and kindest man I know.
My father was a pediatricianan and the kindest of men, and Peter reminds me of the kind of medicine that my Father practiced. The time when, a patient was a person, and not a number. If Dr. Kross were an internist, He would be my Physician, and everyone else’s I know as well.
You can’t get much better than Peter. He is exceptional in every aspect of what he does.