Medicine for pets. Plain English for you.
Fernbrook keeps lab work, imaging, dental and surgery under one roof, so most answers arrive the same visit — and every estimate is agreed before treatment starts, never found on the invoice afterwards.
How this practice runs
Four facts about how appointments here are booked and billed. None of them is a claim about how your pet’s treatment will turn out — nobody can promise you that.
Independently owned, same corner of Fernbrook Lane.
Vets and a head nurse on staff — no locums.
Of surgical and dental work quoted in writing before we book it.
Consultation fee on an end-of-life appointment.
Six things people come in for
Consultations
Illness, injury, lumps, itches and the things that seem minor and often are not. Twenty minutes with a vet, $95.
Vaccinations & health checks
Annual vaccination with a full nose-to-tail examination, which is the more valuable half of the visit. $125.
Desexing
Priced by species and weight, including anaesthetic, pain relief and the post-op check. From $300.
Dental scale & extractions
With x-rays, because around half of dental disease sits below the gum line where you cannot see it. From $600.
In-house pathology & imaging
Bloods, urine, x-ray and ultrasound on site, so most results come back the same visit. From $100.
Senior wellness checks
Six-monthly examination with bloods and blood pressure for animals over eight. $225.
Vet bills are frightening. Not knowing is worse.
Most practices will not publish prices because pets vary. That is true, and it is also why we publish a range with the things that move it — weight, age, and what we find once your pet is asleep.
Standard consultation
Twenty minutes with a veterinarian — the exam and a plan you take home the same visit.
Annual vaccination & health check
The vaccine takes a minute; the nose-to-tail examination is the part that matters.
When to ring us today
Animals hide illness well, and by the time it is obvious it has often been going a while. Any of these is worth a phone call rather than a wait-and-see.
Straining in the litter tray. A male cat that cannot urinate is a life-threatening emergency within hours. Do not wait overnight.
A swollen, hard abdomen. Especially in a large-breed dog after eating. Bloat can become critical within hours.
Not eating for 24 hours. A cat that skips two meals is telling you something. Dogs are more forgiving; cats are not.
Vomiting repeatedly. Once is often nothing. Five times, or vomiting with lethargy, needs to be seen.
Limping that will not settle. If it is still there after 48 hours, or they will not put the leg down at all.
Sudden behaviour change. Hiding, aggression or restlessness in a normally settled animal is usually pain.
Who you'll see
Three vets and a head nurse, all on staff. You get a face you recognise, not whoever is rostered on.
Dr Marta Fern
BVSc · Veterinary Surgeons Board of Queensland
Dr Ossian Reyes
BVSc (Hons) · Veterinary Surgeons Board of Queensland
Dr Amelia Rourke
BVSc · Veterinary Surgeons Board of Queensland
Tilly Marchant
Certificate IV Veterinary Nursing
Questions we get every week
The things people ask on the phone before they book.
Why do vets cost so much?
There is no Medicare for animals. A dental under general anaesthetic involves a vet, a dedicated nurse monitoring the anaesthetic, x-rays, drugs, sterile instruments and an hour of theatre time — in human terms that is a hospital procedure, billed without a subsidy behind it. What we can do is tell you the number before you commit, which is the part most practices leave out.
Do I really need annual vaccinations?
The vaccine component is worth a genuine conversation and we will have it with you — some vaccines give three years of protection and we will space them accordingly. The annual examination is the part not worth skipping. It is where we find the heart murmur, the dental disease, the early kidney change and the lump you had not felt.
Can you tell me over the phone whether it is serious?
Sometimes, and our nurses are good at it. But some things genuinely cannot be assessed down a phone line, and we will say so rather than reassure you to save you a consult fee. If it is a male cat straining to urinate, bloat, difficulty breathing, a seizure or a suspected snake bite, come in, or go to Riverside if we are closed.
What if I cannot afford the treatment?
Say so early. There is nearly always a second option — a staged approach, an older and cheaper drug, treating the urgent part now and the rest next month. We also offer VetPay for larger bills and can point you to the RSPCA and Pet Medical Crisis assistance schemes.
How will I know when it is time?
Most people know before they are ready to say it, and our job is to give you honest information rather than false hope or a push. We will talk through quality of life properly — eating, mobility, interest in you, whether the good days still outnumber the bad. There is no consult fee on that conversation and no consult fee on a euthanasia appointment.
Consults, vaccinations and desexing are priced on this website
Ring between 8am and 7pm weekdays and one of our nurses will tell you honestly whether it needs to be seen today.