"Best" Veterinarian on STX

Paul Hess, DVM at Island Animal Clinic is the vet I use. He's great with my dogs & cats. He has a friendly and knowledgeable staff. He also does boarding and grooming. His number is 340-718-3106. Good Luck!

Are you moving your pets down with you in August? Hope none of them are going in cargo and will be on the plane with you. Remember the heat factor for August thru September is above the 85 degree mode for airlines to transport animals...Dr. Hess is very good...

My cats will fly in the cabin with me. The dogs unfortunately are too big to fly in the cabin. Whether they go down with me in August depends on whether or not our house in Dallas has sold. If it hasn't, they will stay here with my husband until it sells. If it is sold, they will come with us. I have done a search on the forum, and I know it will be absolutely crazy getting the dogs down here in the summer, but from what I've read, it can be done. It just may require an overnight stay somewhere, or a charter, or driving to Florida. I know that moving is going to be stressful, but moving my pets will be the most nerve-racking for me.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll call Dr. Hess's office this week.

I really Like Kasey Canton 340-718-1256. My dog has been on allergy meds 2x day for about 2 yrs now. When we moved down here-his allergies didn't seem as severe. He's down to one pill a day. Maybe that will happen for your pets.

Dr Hess and Dr Kasey are both wonderful. I prefer Kasey because he's always gone out of his way and called me back even in the wee hours of the night when the dogs get bit by a centipede or manage to eat something horribly wrong for them. He's never charged me for these or other minor emergencies that required no treatment other then assuring me they were fine. He's always friendly and happy to see my dogs and that makes me happy. He has 2 locations center island (la grande princess) and east end (gallows bay).

Dr Dweller is on the west end. He sell medicine cheaper the most. I do not like the condition of his office. It never feels or smells clean in there. And where they board the animals in the back just seems really awful.

Duke just sold his office/practice to a new stateside veterinarian who is expected on island soon. So there should be another excellent vet on island to chose from!

As far as Duke goes, I've always taken my dog there for simple things like vaccines and neutering and have never had any problems. I live West so it is much more convenient. But if anything serious happened we would go straight to Hess or Kasey.

Dr Boswell, the lady Vet. working with Dr Hess is very good. She is thorough, and very kind to the animals. One of my dogs is really afraid of Vets, but he liked her. She would be my first choice - Dr Hess is there if you feel like you need a second opinion, because he is more experienced.
I also think Kasey Canton is good, but I was unable to reach him once in an emergency, and that is very important to me. (Dr Hess' Clinic will answer the phone 24/7)

Dr. Stacia Boswell is now the on-staff vet at the animal shelter and is no longer w/Dr. Hess @ Island Animal Clinic.

You are crazy to move pets during this time, in fact check with the airlines....they won't do it.

thanks for the advice Cam - I've already spoken with American Airlines. As I mentioned in my post, we have different options that we are pursuing including the option of my husband staying here a little longer.

Just talked to Dr. Hess's assistant. She was very helpful, but as I suspected, I'll be switching most of the foods that they are eating now because they are not sold down there so I'm glad I called. She assured me that they will be able to get their medications so hopefully their transition won't be too stressful - I'm sure it will be for me! Thanks again for the recommendations. I appreciate it very much.

What food do you use now? Superior Pet Supply has an assortment of quality foods.

I'm actually going to call them tomorrow. The dogs are on Canidae. 2 of the cats eat Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. The oldest cat eats a combination of a prescription food and California Natural (which to be honest, only a couple of stores carry it here in Dallas). We went through such trial and error with her that I can't change her food, but the others can be switched over and according to Dr. Hess's assistant, the pet stores do have several premium brands so I'm sure we won't have any problem finding them something to eat!

Check here. They have Canidae. I didn't check for the chicken soup.

http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/

Thanks Trade - I called them yesterday. It would be an extra $48 to ship 1 bag of dog food. That's an $80 bag of food! With 2 large dogs, we go through a bag of food pretty quickly. I'll definitely be switching their food for that price. 🙂

Not familiar with Canidae, but Superior does have Chicken Soup for dogs and cats.

I thought the site said they used USPS. I used to order pet food from another site. Let me see if I can find that place.

They sell it here on St. Thomas & St. John at 3 locations. Maybe you can figure out a way to get it from here to STX?

Cruz Bay Canines & Cats
340 693-7780
PO Box 37
St John, VI 00831

Black Ice Feed & Pet Supplies
340 714-7064
392 Annas Retreat
St Thomas, VI 00802

Pure'Ly Paws
340 715-7297
6501 Red Hook Plaza Suite 201
St Thomas, VI 00802
map and directions

wow - thanks for that info. I'll check it out.

I too was nervous about flying with my dog in february.....but things went very smoothly.

make sure your dogs fit in the crate that is allowed on the aircraft. i thought my boy would fit in a large and he was extra large so i had to reschedule my flight to fly directly out of miami to stx because the airlines out of san juan and stt didnt allow the 3 inches difference in crate size.

i also made signs for the crate to personalize it,because i had heard horror stories. i put signs on with clip art of golden retrievers that said 'hello my name is abe,please be nice to me." the baggage guys got a kick out of this...but when i turned around they were playing with him and calling him by his name. i also taped the flight schedules, my name, my cell number and my final address here in stx. i included instructions for feeding and watering and stating that the dog was leash trained and did not bite incase there were major delays. i put these signs in page protectors and duct taped them on the top of the kennel. i put a small bag of dog food on top of the kennel and the baggage personal helped by also duct taping this down. i also had an empty water dish inside the kennel that attached to the door where it could be accessed easily. i had dog tags madewith my new address on them too (which is a good idea anyway because all of the tag machines seem to be broken down here)

i was really nervous to leave my animal but 8 hours later when i arrived in stx, everything was absolutely fine. my dog was perfectly fine, he barked all the way around the luggage belt in the stx airport and since then has turned into a big beach bum 🙂

i agree with the others and like dr. hess.

you may want to bring extra flea preventative, i have found that Promeris (new preventative) works the best. many fleas are immune to frontline now and i haven't seen a flea with the other stuff. it was cheaper for me to bring this than buy it once i was here. you may also want to bring extra heart worm pills.....(things seem to be more expensive here)

goodluck with your plans!

hi from southwest florida, great post islandgrace. i plan on moving to STX next fall, hopefully october (as soon as it cools off enough to fly a 60# mutt). i do Heartgard for heartworms but the mutt goes boating a couple times a week and the salt water keeps the flees away. in between boats i had a terrible time with flees even with frontline.

We are moving to STX on Monday 4/7 with a dog and 3 cats. I read someplace that a vet had to check health certs when you arrive at the STX airport. Is that correct and how does the process work? Who calls the vet and can it be pre-arranged?

West,
Not correct, no Vet at the airport, just bring them home with you. If you have all their medical records from your Old Vet bring them with you to give to your new Vet on island, this is not required but could save a little money if he/she wants more information about your pets and proof of shots. Welcome to the Island.

Don't they need a health certificate to fly? I know they don't need to be checked at the destination airport, but I thought they had to have the cert. in order to get on the plane. Maybe that's just leaving VI, going to the states, and not the other way around. I haven't flown with an animal in about 10 years.