Montreal QC - Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital

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Unepuce

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
2,674
Location
Montreal, Qubec
My clinic - I wouldn't go anywhere else for the world!

Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital
6090 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC H4A 1Y1
Tel: (514) 486-5258
 
I am so grateful to see this thread!

I moved to Montreal last July and made sure that we rented a house near to this clinic, just in case, but I haven't been there for an appointment yet. Sadly, one of my rats has just developed what looks to be a mammary tumor, so today we go to a vet at the Bird and Exotic clinic - and I am terrified to be going to a new vet for this problem.

Which vets at this clinic are truly experienced with tumor removals and spays? I noticed that one of the AEVN-certified vets no longer seems to be at the clinic - does it matter to you guys if they aren't certified? Should I just be angling to have Dr. Lupu do the surgeries?

Any recommendations/experience with specific vets? Thanks so much in advance.
 
Dr Beaulieu is my Goddess... :giggle:

She is the most senior at the clinic, and has dealt with most if not all possible ratty issues. You'll love her!
 
Thank you soooooooo much for your prompt reply, Unepuce - that really eases my mind. It's bad enough to deal with these health issues, I hate not knowing if I can trust the vet on top of that. :thankyou:
 
Dr. Brieger left to be closer to home (he used to be my regular vet) but I have had surgeries done by Dr. Beaulieu and Dr. Saultnier Hébert and they both did a great job (as did Dr. Brieger). I prefer Dr. Beaulieu for more complicated issues/consultations because she's more experienced, but they are both very good. I think Dr. Lupu just does research and teaches now and doesn't see private clients anymore. (Everyone's bilingual too, if that's a consideration for you as it is/was for me.)
 
Thank you, victoria!

I actually just returned from the clinic, and you guys were right - the meeting/exam with Dr. Beaulieu (and her answering our trillion questions) really reassured us that she is knowledgeable and skilled. Even the way she handled Lily gave me a good feeling.

Since Dr. Beaulieu has a surgery day tomorrow, we decided to go ahead and leave Lily in the clinic overnight for surgery tomorrow, and I have to admit that I am feeling extremely anxious about it. However, I am a lot more confident now, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your recommendation!

While I am reserving my final judgement until the ordeal is over, our experience with the clinic has been a positive one so far.
 
Good luck to your Lily. I can assure you she is in very good hands. Please let us know how it all went!

Don't you just love the way Dr Beaulieu shines when she handles a ratty? You can see she really likes them. Or maybe I am the only one noticing it? :giggle: Either way, she is the softest, most caring and patient vet I have met so far (though I totally agree with Victoria that Dr Brieger was (is!) a gem too!) and the way she obviously cares for her little patients just bought me over for the last 4 years.
 
Gosh Victoria, what a horror story! How come you and I have such different experience with the same exact vet? Dr Beaulieu is my main vet, and she has always been willing to listen to my suggestions and help - she did get in touch with Dr Munn when I first asked for Bromocriptine and now prescribes it to me as needed. I never had any issue except in the case of Charlie, where we kept treating his ZGT as an abcess because it was acting like one, and there was nothing else to be done anyway. In retrospect, the 2 times she was not willing to do something that I was asking for, she explained she had to respect the rules from the Ordre des médecins vétérinaires du Québec, and what it was that was not within the rules.hich is

It really sounds to me like you two have a personality issue, and I agree it is not professional to leave a bunny in pain because you are the guardian. I do have a theory why she gets so defensive with you - as a senior professional, she might have gotten tired of being compared to other vets, and gotten tired also of all the confrontation... which is probably why I get what I want from her and you don't - I do not get confrontational, I suggest and question until she ends up making her own mind and decision. But I understand how hard this can be when your emotions are boiling...

Still, this is very disappointing. I know how deeply involved you are in the exotics community and you have proven time over time that you do things for a reason, which is why I take your suggestions so seriously - why I called the clinic and got Chester in today instead of Monday, for example. She should be aware of it and take it into consideration. I do agree that some vet techs are not where I would expect them to be (had a few issues with meds) and that today's receptionist does have a bit of an attention deficiency issue, but in general, I stick to my recommendation - rightly or wrongly.

Speaking of vet techs, I saw Liz today - she's back part time.
 
It is with a very heavy heart that I am updating this post - Dr Beaulieu is leaving the clinic as of today, she accepted a position at the Ordre des médecins vétérinaires du Québec.... I found out at my appointement yesterday, she wanted to tell me herself. :sad3: They are currently recruiting to remplace her, and I wish them luck in finding a vet as good and warm as she is.

I'm sure she would never have accepted this position if she felt the other vets were not strong enough - Dr Hébert-Saulnier is definitely promoted as my primary vet. Although very young, she is a very good practitioner, very professional, and an excellent surgeon. I have my reserves over Dr Labrecque, but since she is very allergic to rats and will not see them, those are non issues.

I hard to lose a vet that think so much like you that you feel you could have been sisters in another life... :(
 
I made that clinic my go-to place for medication-treatable illnesses a few years ago, but not for surgeries or for non emergency consults. I like some of the staff, but I too have had great difficulty getting any other treatments than what they want to do first. A long history of arguing to try for something other than Baytril and doxy; I've never gotten zithromax. I was pleased to hear from them about bromocriptine for PT when i finally took him in, bc I'd heard about it when PT was what I thought Archie had, but I already had prednisone at home. I didn't take him in when he appeared to have a rapid case of PT, I figured I would take him in when the pred ran out and then would argue for bromocriptine. But I should have noticed earlier that Archie was not experiencing PT and I was too superficial in assuming that was what he had and too tardy about correcting my mistake. I made it worse by a long shot.

But I was once given a lime sulfur bath to give a mouse with parasites. Not appropriate, and it burned his eyes. I've been charged $25 for a tube of revolution to treat one rat, and one of the receptionists - not Kerry or Eliza or Liz - gave me real attitude when I protested, which resulted in my reducing my visits to that clinic a great deal. No client likes to feel disrespected. I had already worked at another vet by that point and I see it as reasonable that vets should be keeping vials of Revolution or ProFender to draw the very small quantities they need for small animals, and charge for that portion, not the whole thing. (Another clinic charged me $25 for 5 pre-dosed syringes of Metacam. Didn't return there, either.)

I'll miss Dr. Beaulieu but I wish with my last visit that she had made more of a deal about refeeding my starved rat at the same time as going over the meds. The meds worked. I didn't have the best knowledge and supplies for giving him the nutritional support he needed, fast. His low weight was why she recommended euthanasia. He lived another week, but I'm still kicking myself for not getting out the big guns on the food side earlier and I needed that advice, and some Nutrical which is hard to come by anywhere else.



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These stories are so far away from my own experience with them! Everytime I have suggested a treatment, I was explained the risks and was given a choice. I believe I am the one who convinced them to start using Bromo, as I got Dr Munn to speak with Dr Beaulieu about appropriate litterature on how to prescribe it and have never had an issue getting it. I am prescribed Zithro, but never as a first choice - then tend to try the large scale abs first and escalate to more aggressive, more prone to second-effects abs, and I do not disagree with the approach unless diagnosis obviously calls for a very strong abs, which might have been the case with your baby.

All I can see as a difference is that you and Victoria both are much more "determined" than I am about getting your ways. I usually accept their view and then propose mine, and this results in a discussion when sometimes I go with their recommendations, sometimes they agree that I do have a point and I win my case (ex Bromo).

I have to admit I do have reserves on how low they wait to diagnose heart issues. Chatouille and Penelope were not diagnosed at all until it was too late (treated for resp infection), Hunter was diagnosed too late to really have a chance, but Jay was taken on time, only because his symptomes were too similar to Hunter's to pass on. I now know what to be on the look out for, but I do wish they would no just mention it as a remote possibility, but that they'd raise more awareness on the possibility. Gosh, what were the odds that I would get 2 rats of different ages with heart issues at the very same time? They must be more frequent than we think! BTW, I am glad to report that as of Thursday, Jay's heart has returned to a normal shape and size and we are adjusting Lasix for oedema, but he is doing MUCH better!

My only other "bad" experience was with giving Tanner one last chance with an exploratory surgery for the internal mass that was killing him (if it's an abcess, drain it, if it's a tumour, euth him on the table) - and the receptionist I believe you and Victoria had an issue with called me back to say my vet refused to do it. I was really upset and started engaging Dr Brieger to do the surgery, but after a few days I found out that the vet was actually told I wanted them to operate on Tanner no matter what! No wonder she refused, as she had warned me a year prior that they could not re-operate on that site (I need to mention here that his previous abcess removal lasted 3 hours, and it was a miracle he even survived anesthesia that long). They finally did the exploratory surgery and it turned out to be a huge tumour with a small abcess, so he was let go anyway, but at least I was given the choice to try one last time.

EDIT - I edited the part about Zithro, as I first thought Smallvic was referring to TrimSulfa....
 
Actually, you're wrong about my being determined. What's the point? I go in, I ask, they say no. They say why they say no, but it's about their own expertise. If they refuse to give me what I ask for, what am I going to do, go to another vet? (Yes, but usually not after having already paid the exam fee with one. Edited to add: and not to counteract treatments either until all courses have been run.). Because they haven't been open to trying new therapies in the past, I don't expect to discuss new approaches now. That way I'm pleasantly surprised when they give me new information, such as that injecting Baytril directly causes necrosis at the injection site, so to administer with the sub-Q fluids. I deal with the issue with what they are willing to give me and just be happy if it works and it is in line with what I read on here. My giving them new information usually results in skepticism.

When a treatment doesn't work, I say so, but they think I'm a pain in the ass so they don't take it seriously (e.g., when I called about trying to find some way to stimulate Archie's appetite, they didn't call me back) until I show up with the rat in no better (if not worse) condition. I do appreciate that they do half-price reevaluations, though in going over my files, this was not always done consistently and I did pay full price on a re-eval once. I have just really had to be evidence-based on my own experiences such as one rat dying of pneumonia after only getting oral antibiotics, so that the next one I've had to say "Oral drugs are not strong enough, I need injectibles." "Two courses of baytril doxy isn't working, let's try something else." I would just really like them to be less risk-averse when it comes to client requests, and a more holistic aggression in treatments. And, like with all vets, who the public sees as if they had a license to print money, we need them all to be a little more aware that their choices have a price point and to be sensitive about that. (Edited to also add: I feel sorry for people in Ontario when it comes to prices of vets, and feel lucky to be here. Ontario needs to fix their vet pricing!)
For example, the concentration of the doxy they prescribe you has a big price difference. I'd rather give 0.12 cc at $18 per 2-weeks than 0.03 at $36.

Lasix is EXACTLY the case I've had issues with there. If it works in relieving symptoms, why can't that be used as evidence in the diagnosis? But they really want to see the excess fluid around the heart showing up in the $50 x-ray before they go there - and yet Lasix is not as risky a drug to use as prednisone, for example.

It's not like I get novelty and everything I ask for when I see Dr. Woodlock, but I know it's worthwhile reading up because he'll tell me more about it, or he'll take my reading and add it to his research. And he will also sell me an entire bottle of Metacam for the same price that a dispensed amount of Metacam will be at any other vet, which is less than $25.
 
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