My wife and I are very particular and judgmental when it comes to exotic pet vets, mainly because a ton of them "claim" to be exotic but actually have very little experience with pet rats, and mainly ... Read More
My wife and I are very particular and judgmental when it comes to exotic pet vets, mainly because a ton of them "claim" to be exotic but actually have very little experience with pet rats, and mainly focus on birds and rabbits. In addition to that, all of the exotic pet vet places we've gone too have either not been clean, felt like it was a money-grabbing business, or just felt sketchy overall. It's hard to explain, but I think that anyone who has a sick pet is going to scrutinize the vet as much as possible because we all care and love our pets so much. Anyways, I digress.
My best friend, Rattata, was our pet rat, we had been together for 2 years and she had traveled with us all across the world. She cuddled and fell asleep at my feet every night, played with her other ratties, and I (we) was as close to her as you could be with a pet. She started growing two large tumors, and we had set up multiple appointments at different vets. None of them felt right to us - rat tumors can go into hundreds of dollars, or more, and have sizable risks, so we wanted to make sure the doctors and care would be the best that could be.
We drove over 50 minutes to make an appointment at All Pets Animal Hospital - and were subsequently blown away by how friendly the staff was, how clean and warm the facilities were, and how knowledgeable the doctors seemed to be about pet rats and their care. They told us that we could wait and see if the tumor got any bigger, and if so, to make an appointment. We made an appointment about two weeks later with Dr. Nicholas Helfrich, who did the surgery on Rattata. Unfortunately, she passed away during the surgery, but not through the fault of the surgeon, the tumors were so big and there were so many that she had to be on anesthesia too long and ended up not waking up. Nick, to my surprise, was just as upset about her passing away as we were - something I couldn't have imagined. If it had not been for his kindness, compassion, and helpfulness, the experience or her passing would have been by far much worse.
After they had given us the options for our next steps, they gave Rattata a beautiful little boxing with flowers, pillow, blanket, and gave us a chance to say goodbye to her. Nick helped us on our bill citing that they were not able to accomplish what they wanted, which was not only one of the kindest gestures we have ever seen, but helped us significantly during our financial stress. They were also so kind enough to send a card with the entire staff's signatures and notes expressing grief for our loss. It brought tears to my eyes.
I highly recommend that if you have an exotic pet that needs care, to not wait, and to bring them to All Pets Animal Hospital. They will take care of your pets like they are family.
The ONLY, and I stress, ONLY negative thing I have to say, was not even the staffs fault: when we gave the nurse our rattie before surgery, I really wanted to say goodbye and good luck, just incase something went wrong, but I didn't. Sometimes I think about that last moment and feel sad that we couldn't say goodbye - I stress that if you take your animals to surgery, to always wish good luck and give kisses before sending them off. This was not the nurse's mistake, but forsure, I recommend that if the nurse is ready to take her off, don't wait for permission from her/him, ask to say goodbye/goodluck before a surgery - you will be glad you did either way.
Thanks again for reading everyone, and thank you so much Nick, for caring.
David & Samantha Read Less