if in Melbourne I would always recommend lort smith animal hospital. My cat had a blockage in his intestines a few years back, and the university hospital (using vets in training!!!!) wanted me to pay $3000 in advance for the surgery, after $800 for xrays (and not including the lengthy stay that he would have needed for his recovery)!!! Lort smith did the same thing for $1200 including keeping him there for 5 days after surgery. Saved his life, AND gave me a payment plan so that I could afford to do it over time.

Don't get me wrong - I would have paid the 3k if I didn't have another option... I'd already lined up a loan from my parents until my finances weren't so tied up (I was in the process of seeling my house and buying a new one, and everything from my savings was paid as a deposit to the new place until the settlement of the previous house came through). The payment plan at Lort Smith allowed me to pay them once all the settlements took place and I had available funds again, although they basically said "pay what you can, when you can. It doesn't matter if it takes 6 months or a year" They were awesome.

When DH and I married a couple of years ago we requested no gifts, and instead asked people to donate to Lort Smith. I think the well and truly earned more than the damned vet training hospital would have (albeit about 4 years later)

I'm sure that there are other non-profit vets around, but LS are the ones I know of in Melbourne.