Karori Vet Clinic is a well-established, fully serviced companion animal practice at 20 Parkvale Road in the Wellington suburb of Karori. Together with its sister clinic in Island Bay, it offers comprehensive medical, surgical and dental care, and its compassionate, dedicated team has been caring for community pets for 50 years — treating both its human and animal clients with great respect and care.
The clinic's owner, Dr Glenn Armstrong, took over the Karori and Island Bay practices in 2001 from Bryan and Gael Gartrell, who founded them in 1980. A Sydney University graduate with a particular interest in orthopaedic surgery, Glenn leads a large, experienced team of vets, nurses and receptionists, several of whom have been with the clinic for well over a decade.
Services span the everyday to the advanced: annual health checks, vaccinations, desexing and microchipping sit alongside soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery, digital X-rays, in-house IDEXX laboratory testing, abdominal ultrasound and echocardiography, certified PennHIP hip screening, full dental care, house calls, and chemotherapy provided at the Island Bay clinic. Long opening hours — 8am to 7.30pm on weekdays and 9am to 6pm on weekends — mean care is there when owners can actually get there.
Warm and community-minded, the practice proudly supports the One Percent Collective and welcomes new patients through its online pet registration.
Karori Vet Clinic sits at 20 Parkvale Road in the Wellington suburb of Karori, a well-established, fully serviced companion animal practice offering comprehensive medical, surgical and dental care. Together with its sister clinic in Island Bay, it forms a practice whose team has been caring for community pets for 50 years, treating both its human and animal clients with what it calls great respect and care.
The clinic was founded in 1980 by Bryan and Gael Gartrell, who also started the Island Bay and Miramar clinics. Bryan sold Miramar in 1995, and in 2001 handed the Karori and Island Bay practices to their current owner, Dr Glenn Armstrong. A Sydney University graduate, Glenn worked in Sydney and London before moving to Wellington with his family. He has a particular interest in orthopaedic surgery and, away from work, is a keen competitive sailor who coaches young Optimist sailors at Worser Bay boat club.
For a suburban clinic, the offering is wide. The preventive essentials — annual health checks, vaccinations, desexing and microchipping — sit alongside soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery, dentistry, digital X-rays, ultrasound, chemotherapy and certified PennHIP hip screening. In Wellington, cats over 12 weeks must be microchipped and registered on the NZCAR, and dogs registered by three months and microchipped by five, so this is a regular part of clinic life.
Surgery gets particular attention. The clinics monitor patients with a Doppler Blood Pressure Monitor and a Mindray PM-5000 ECG, use quality anaesthetic drugs, recommend IV fluids especially for older animals, and run pre-anaesthetic blood tests on the morning of surgery to check kidney and liver function. Experienced surgical nurses monitor every patient, and complex cases can be referred to trusted specialist surgeons.
Diagnostics happen largely in-house. Both clinics run the latest IDEXX analysers — the ProCyte haematology, Catalyst One biochemistry and Sedivue urine analysers — plus a microscopy lab for blood, urine, faeces, skin scrapes and even ear wax. Results arrive in minutes rather than days, which matters most on weekends when external labs are closed. X-rays are captured on a digital AGFA CR30-X unit, shortening anaesthetic times. Two services stand out: PennHIP X-rays, performed at Karori by certified vet Dr Emily Phua to assess hip dysplasia risk from sixteen weeks of age, with films scored by the University of Pennsylvania's Hip Improvement Programme; and ultrasound led by Dr Kiki Majert, who completed a Graduate Certificate in small animal abdominal ultrasound through the University of Melbourne in 2021 and trained further in cardiac ultrasound in Germany. Her echocardiography can stage heart disease early — medical support started at the first signs of compensation has been shown to extend pets' lives by up to 15 months.
The team is experienced and clearly invested. Practice manager Jen Maxwell began nursing in 2001 and once worked as a zookeeper at Wellington Zoo; head nurse Frances Allan joined in 2009 with a special interest in emergency care; head surgical nurse Juliana Zuchinalli brings strengths in internal medicine and critical care. Veterinarian Dr Kate Robinson has been with the clinic since 2003 and adopted her diabetic cat Oscar from the clinic itself. Chemotherapy within the practice is provided by Dr Sarah Northover at the Island Bay clinic, her special area of interest, drawing animals from all over Wellington.
Hours are long: 8am to 7.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays, making early-morning, evening and weekend visits workable for busy owners. House calls are available on a case-by-case basis — commonly around midday, between normal consults — and many clients choose them for the emotional process of saying goodbye at home. New clients can register their pets through the clinic's website.
The practice also gives back, proudly supporting One Percent Collective, which makes it easy for people to give 1% of their income to community projects.
Whether it's a puppy's first vaccination, a senior cat's dental, or an ultrasound scan for a much-loved family member, Karori Vet Clinic pairs decades of local history with modern equipment and a team that plainly loves its work.