Hi all!
I'm looking for a good vet in San Antonio. The reason I'm asking on the forum is that I used the hedgehog welfare society listings to find a vet (well, two vets), but I'm not entirely confident in them. My two oldest babies are a couple of months away from their annual check-up, and I was hoping to find a new vet before then. There's a long explanation as to why I'm looking, but you can skip to the very last paragraph if you're not interested in the details :lol:
I've been to Broadway Oaks Animal Hospital, and while they're not *bad,* they're not as good as I had hoped. I've taken Anya there three times. The first was for a URI, and I saw a great doc (whom I can't recall by name) who seemed knowledgeable and cleared everything up right away. The second time, I was looking for a mite treatment because I suspected she might have them. The older vet who saw her couldn't get a skin scraping, so he just told us to mosey on home. However, he also mentioned that they perform sulfur dips or inject Ivermectin as their only options for treatment, and they don't carry Revolution. There ended up not being any mites, but I was still a little apprehensive. However, my next visit was an emergency when Anya's eye proptosed. I didn't take her there personally, as I was out of town and she was with my boyfriend (who had as much experience as me at the time, so I wasn't worried). He said they barely glanced over her before prescribing some eye drops. There was no explanation, no nothing, just drops and a "see you in a week;" the entire appointment lasted less than 3 minutes. He was panicking, and I was a little frustrated with the lack of care for my little one. I don't know which vet he saw, but I decided they weren't my cup of tea.
The second vet I went to when I got back from my trip. Town and Country Animal Hospital. They showed more care, but the vet I spoke with argued that the cat food mix I was feeding was dangerous, and that I should switch to Exotic Nutrition Hedgehog Complete. Not happening, but not a *real* issue, since I know that most vets say something to this regard. The reason I'm not sticking solely to this office, despite it's very ideal location (24 hr vet with no emergency fees and less than 5 minutes from where I live) is because when I got my new hedgie, I again suspected mites (she was a surprise from the pet store) and I called this vet to find out if they had Revolution. The lady was very kind, but told me they only offered Ivermectin to hedgehogs.
I ended up going into a large animal hospital/resort (Becker Animal Hospital) and was able to get Revolution by pretending that I had a cat. If I need revolution again, I'll probably head back in with more false information, since it's been nearly a year, but I worry that they'll ask me to provide them with my little one next time. I should have bought more than a single tube, but I'm not sure of the shelf life.
So to sum up this long-winded post, I'm just curious as to if anyone has found an awesome, experienced hedgie vet in the San Antonio area. I do *have* a vet if I can't find a better one, but of course I want the best of the best for my little ones, and I'd like to keep things as simple as possible when it comes to treatments. :grin:
I'm looking for a good vet in San Antonio. The reason I'm asking on the forum is that I used the hedgehog welfare society listings to find a vet (well, two vets), but I'm not entirely confident in them. My two oldest babies are a couple of months away from their annual check-up, and I was hoping to find a new vet before then. There's a long explanation as to why I'm looking, but you can skip to the very last paragraph if you're not interested in the details :lol:
I've been to Broadway Oaks Animal Hospital, and while they're not *bad,* they're not as good as I had hoped. I've taken Anya there three times. The first was for a URI, and I saw a great doc (whom I can't recall by name) who seemed knowledgeable and cleared everything up right away. The second time, I was looking for a mite treatment because I suspected she might have them. The older vet who saw her couldn't get a skin scraping, so he just told us to mosey on home. However, he also mentioned that they perform sulfur dips or inject Ivermectin as their only options for treatment, and they don't carry Revolution. There ended up not being any mites, but I was still a little apprehensive. However, my next visit was an emergency when Anya's eye proptosed. I didn't take her there personally, as I was out of town and she was with my boyfriend (who had as much experience as me at the time, so I wasn't worried). He said they barely glanced over her before prescribing some eye drops. There was no explanation, no nothing, just drops and a "see you in a week;" the entire appointment lasted less than 3 minutes. He was panicking, and I was a little frustrated with the lack of care for my little one. I don't know which vet he saw, but I decided they weren't my cup of tea.
The second vet I went to when I got back from my trip. Town and Country Animal Hospital. They showed more care, but the vet I spoke with argued that the cat food mix I was feeding was dangerous, and that I should switch to Exotic Nutrition Hedgehog Complete. Not happening, but not a *real* issue, since I know that most vets say something to this regard. The reason I'm not sticking solely to this office, despite it's very ideal location (24 hr vet with no emergency fees and less than 5 minutes from where I live) is because when I got my new hedgie, I again suspected mites (she was a surprise from the pet store) and I called this vet to find out if they had Revolution. The lady was very kind, but told me they only offered Ivermectin to hedgehogs.
I ended up going into a large animal hospital/resort (Becker Animal Hospital) and was able to get Revolution by pretending that I had a cat. If I need revolution again, I'll probably head back in with more false information, since it's been nearly a year, but I worry that they'll ask me to provide them with my little one next time. I should have bought more than a single tube, but I'm not sure of the shelf life.
So to sum up this long-winded post, I'm just curious as to if anyone has found an awesome, experienced hedgie vet in the San Antonio area. I do *have* a vet if I can't find a better one, but of course I want the best of the best for my little ones, and I'd like to keep things as simple as possible when it comes to treatments. :grin: