Lower Mainland, BC

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Ratanist

Long Time Junior Member
Joined
May 17, 2008
Messages
28
Location
New Westminster BC Canada
BC Lower Mainland Vet Recommendations:

At any of the clinics listed below there may be other vets with less experience in pet rat care, so if you make an appointment there, please ask to see the specific vet or vets that have been mentioned. All of this information is current as of the date of posting.

Vets I have had personal experience with:

Westwood Heights Pet Hospital
Dr Melissa Ochotsky
Suite 312-1196 Lansdowne Dr, Coquitlam, BC V3E 1J7
604-464-3772
Extremely experienced with common rat surgical procedures such as spaying, neutering and mammary tumour removals. Can handle simple things like respiratory infections but is not a trained exotics vet and is not confident with complicated diagnosis. Very reasonable prices! Usually open until 8 pm on Thursdays. This is the vet I most often go to.

Port Moody Animal Hospital
Dr Judith Siegert
2810 St. Johns St
Port Moody, BC, V3H 2C1
604-469-5589
This is the vet I go to whenever I need a more complicated diagnosis or surgical procedure. She does have exotics training but charges quite a bit more.

Kennedy Heights Animal & Bird Hospital
Dr Linda Schild
8614 - 120th Street Surrey, B.C. V3W 3N6
604-591-5304
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.kennedyheightsanimalhosp.ca/en/home.html
Also an excellent diagnostician and surgeon, but is even more pricey. Open until 8 pm on Thursdays and on Saturday until 4 pm.

Little Paws Animal Clinic
Dr Joseph Martinez
130 – 12011, 2nd Avenue
Richmond, B.C. V7E 3L6
Phone: 604-241-PETS (7387)
Website: littlepawsvet.com
Email: http://[email protected]
Fairly experienced rat vet. Does excellent spays, neuters and mammary tumour removals. Practices both traditional and holistic medicine. Mid range prices. Very supportive of animal rescue. Might go to him more often if he hadn't moved to Steveston in Richmond.

Sunwood Veterinary Hospital
Dr. Pawel Cichon
460-3025 Lougheed Hwy,
Coquitlam BC, V3B 6S2
604-944-4442
Website: http://www.sunwoodvet.com/
Specializes in both traditional and holistic medicine. Not an exotics vet, but I have been to this vet twice in emergency situations, once with a near fatal bleeding emergency and once with a suspected case of SDA virus. Was very impressed with the service and competency of this vet.

Vets that come highly recommended by other BC Lower Mainland pet rat keepers:

Dr. Jackie Armstrong or Dr. Kathryn Mitchell-Poirier
Fraser Heights Animal Hospital
15585 104 Avenue, Surrey BC (right at the corner of 104 and 156th)
604-588-4161.
http://www.fheights.com/
Open 7 days a week, and until 7:30 pm on weeknights.

West Boulevard Veterinary Clinic
Dr Sarah Rurak
5383 West Boulevard,
Vancouver, B.C. V6M 3W4
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://wbvc.bc.ca/

Arbutus West Animal Clinic
Dr. Uri Burstyn
2809 West 16th Avenue (at MacDonald)
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6K 3C5
Telephone: 604-736-6701
Website: http://www.awac.ca/index.html
I have not been to this clinic since the former owner, Dr Jack Brondwin retired. I hear that Dr Burstyn is shaping up to be an "okay" rat vet but it sounds like some of the other new vets there are not that great with rats. This clinic is very supportive of animal rescue.

Eagle Ridge Animal and Bird Hospital
Dr. Hugh Upjohn
2599 Runnel Drive
Coquitlam, BC
V3E 1S3
(604) 464-3343
http://www.eranimalhospital.com/index.html
Open until 7 pm weekdays and for more limited hours on weekends. There are many vets at this large exotics clinic, however the one vet I saw there in an emergency didn't seem to know the difference between a rat and a rabbit. I do hear good things about Dr Upjohn though and can recommend him personally for pet turtles.

Atlas Animal Hospital
5696 Fraser Street,
Vancouver, BC V5W 2Z4
778-805-1514
http://atlasvet.rtrk.ca/
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week, very reasonable prices, mixed reviews on the level of veterinary care, probably due to multiple vets. Certainly no worse than an after hours Emergency Clinic, and yet much cheaper. Note: I would only take a rat to this clinic if all of the above mentioned clinics were closed, and I would phone first to ensure there actually is a vet on call, who is willing to treat rats. Note: there is an exotic vet clinic in North Vancouver that has the same name but no affiliation.

Emergency Clinics

There are 3 after hours Emergency Clinics in the BC Lower Mainland, all charge a ridiculous amount of money and all tend to hire vets straight out of vet school, with very little actual experience. I have been to all three clinics with mixed results. All should be competent to deal with something such as a bleeding incident or euthanasia, but if you need anything trickier, be sure to call first and ask lots of questions about whether the vet has ever done the procedure before. If you need an emergency spay, be prepared to explain to the vet how to do the operation, what pain meds to give, and how to suture up the wound. I learned that last one the hard way. Eagle Ridge Animal and Bird Hospital has all 3 Emergency clinics handily listed on their website, so I got lazy and will just post their link:

http://www.eranimalhospital.com/hours/emergencies.html

There are also some Greater Vancouver area vets I am inclined to recommend people stay away from but I would prefer to discuss those privately. If anyone here has encountered a problem with any of the above vets or knows of an additional vet they would like to see added to this list, please let me know.

Hope this is helpful!
 
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