North Central FL Vet

[gwhoosh]

This is just to let anyone in the Gainesville, FL area know that Westside Animal Hospital is NOT a reliable exotic animal vet.

I won't speak badly about the actual doctors, but their assisstants have NO knowledge of rabbits - including handling.

I've had my rabbit there 3 times for a nail trim. She is fiesty and difficult to handle (why I take her to a vet to get it done in the first place). The 1st time was fine. The 2nd time, the guy was scared of her, and I had to "assisst" him by holding her while he clipped. I was still charged full price ($11).

The 3rd time, the girl wanted to weigh her first. She handled her by holding her around the middle, no back leg support. My rabbit spooked when she tried to pick her off the scale and freaked out and began struggling. The girl had NO idea how to calm her down and continued holding her around the middle. My rabbit started SCREAMING - something I've never heard before, and never want to again - so I jumped in and covered her eyes, she calmed immediately. The doctor came and held her in a towel as the girl clipped, explaining how a rabbit can hurt itself with a powerful kick. The assisstant was totally unaware of this. They then wanted to charge me $7 extra for an "assissted trim" which I refused. (I'm keeping a watchful eye, the assisstant may well have caused my rabbit injury)

They also took lousy care of her when she was boarded there. (it was a last minute need or I never would have done that either)

So, just to warn anyone in that area. I'd only take your rabbit there in an emergency. Again, I'm not bashing the practice, or the doctors, but be aware that everyone else is clueless.

 

[XxMontanaxX]

I'm so sorry about your terrible experience. Maybe you could write a letter to the office, telling the doctors about what happened and express your opinion. Tell them that the assistants should be trained better at handling these animals or something like that?

 

[ra7751]

That is an awful experience. I can understand your frustrations and concerns. In my rescue, I see an awful lot of vets, techs and assistants. I have never met one, and I am talking thousands of people, that would intentionally injure or mistreat an animal. They are in the business for the love of the animals....and it's not because of the money. But I do remind people that "exotics" are something that are fairly new to the vet community. Many vet or tech schools offer limited, if any, hands on experience with exotics. I have an advantage in living near a major vet school and my primary vet teaches there and she is an exotics specialist. So our animals, many of the "special needs" are used to help give hands on experience to these senior vet students in a way the school doesn't. They get real world experience with real world rabbits that have conditions that most vets will never even see much less treat.

My point in this rambling response is that you have a unique opportunity for an educational experience....and this sounds like a training issue. I would highly suggest you schedule a one on one meeting with either the clinic owner or chief of staff and the lead tech. Let him/her know of your experience and your concerns....and be diplomatic. The doctor will understand your concern and I can guarantee there will be some training for their staff. This is a business and like all others, these clinics can't afford to lose clients due to something like this. And offer your services to come into a staff meeting and help train their people on proper handling of rabbits. There will be numerous benefits to something like this. I can bet your rabbit will never be mishandled again. The staff will fully understand how important your rabbit is...and sometimes they need that little "kick in the pants" since things get routine sometimes and they need to be reminded of just why they work with animals in the first place. And you will be helping all the other clients of that clinic since these type of educational meetings and their messages will get them improved treatment also. You can have a very powerful hand in the direction of that clinic....please use it wisely. Just some thoughts from someone that has been "around the block" with countless vet clinics.

Randy

 

[Leaf]

Randy, that reminds me of a Petfinder experience was involved in.

My pound is listed on petfinder and I'm a member of the forum there, though I rarely post on them.

I ran across a posting once - someone was "trashing" an shelter for their picture of some pups they had listed.

When the picture of one pup was taken the animal was being held by the scruff with no bottom support at all. Of course it didn't take long for so many people to start talking bad about the facility and people were wanting to send hate-email to the people.

I ended up emailing the lady myself and invited her to read through the thread so she had an idea of what was going on with the public reaction.

It turned out she had volunteers doing the petfinder listings since she was otherwise occupied during the day and she had no idea how the pictures looked or how the animals were being handled.

She was able to do a lot of damage control on the forum, had the pictures removed and when new ones were up they were much better in content.

She said she'd work with her volunteers with proper handling skills and hopefully things were resolved. There is no telling for sure, but at least now her pictures look more "compassionant" than they once did.

Education is definantly a key in many factors.