Who Does Spays or Implants in Ottawa?

[ChrisK]

I'd like to have Cookie and Cupcake spayed or implanted. I had gone to Dr. Auger back in 2010 for implants, but I don't want to go back to him if there are other options.

Has anyone who lives in Ottawa had their girlie rats spayed and/or implanted? I'd like to hear your good and bad experiences.

Or if you know of any vets who do the surgery here, I will gladly call them to find out the details.

Thanks in advance..
-ck

 

[megan123]

I've never been here, but it says they treat pocket pets. Might want to give them a try.

http://www.carlinganimalhospital.com/

I usually go to Dr. Auger and while he seems fairly knowledgeable I just don't get the right vibe from him. Plus he charges a fortune.

 

[Roo]

I've had a bad experience with Carling Animal Hospital. I'll never go back. They basically charged us $120 to not tell us what was wrong with our rat Nein, and then put her to sleep while keeping us in a different room than her the entire time. I'm 95% sure they didn't even give her a checkup. :redhot:

This isn't a helpful post because I'm a derp.

 

[ChrisK]

So far I've found only three vets in town will spay.

Dr. Mobarak
Dr. Auger
Two vets at Carling Animal Hospital

I called all of them, along with many others who said they will not spay. None of them instilled any confidence in me whatsoever. And I share both your concerns about Carling Animal Hospital and Dr. Auger.

I'm seriously considering making the drive to Montreal for implants instead.

 

[jorats]

Wow, I'm shocked that such a big city like Ottawa is seriously lacking in good vets.

 

[Bamboo]

I usually go to Dr. Auger and while he seems fairly knowledgeable I just don't get the right vibe from him. Plus he charges a fortune.

And I share both your concerns about Carling Animal Hospital and Dr. Auger.

Really?! You guys don't like Dr. Auger?? I've always been extremely happy with him (other then, yeah, he isn't exactly cheap) Admittedly, I've never had him look at one of my rats but still, he has a fantastic reputation with exotics...

 

[ChrisK]

Really?! You guys don't like Dr. Auger?? I've always been extremely happy with him (other then, yeah, he isn't exactly cheap) Admittedly, I've never had him look at one of my rats but still, he has a fantastic reputation with exotics...

Hey Bamboo... I don't follow you.. can you explain. He's never looked at your rats but you're happy with him. Have you brought other exotics to him or something like that?

 

[Bamboo]

Yeah, he's the only vet I bring my reptiles and amphibians to.

 

[megan123]

I have a regular vet that I take the rats to (Dr. Gerald) when I'm at school, but when I'm at home I use Dr. Auger. When I went home for Christmas, Rooney had a head tilt and a couple days after I got home it started getting worse and I wanted to put him on prednisone. Dr. Auger wanted to charge me $120+ dollars for a "second opinion appointment" before he would even tell me if he would give me prednisone, which wasn't even guaranteed (so I might have paid for nothing if he decided he didn't want to prescribe it). I realize that he needs to see the rat first but I thought this was a bit ridiculous. I just found his unwillingness to help me find a solution very frustrating, as I was very worried and stressed about Roo at the time.
I ended up calling Dr. Gerald and he called in a prescription to a compounding pharmacy here in Ottawa, so much more helpful and caring.

Technically Dr. Auger hasn't done anything wrong, I just don't sense he is the kind of person to go out of his way to help you. He is a very "business-based" vet that way.

Another thing that worried me is that I was told that rabbits spays can be quite risky and they are more dangerous if they are not done within certain age frames, and when I called Dr. Auger's office they said there were no age concerns or increased risks even though my rabbit is older.

 

[ChrisK]

Well here's what happened and what I've decided.
1. despite two calls to Bank Street Animal hospital, they still have not returned my call to say if Dr. Mobarak will spay and if so what's the cost. But Blackburn Hospital told me he will spay for $325+tax+meds.. so figure around $400 per rat.

2. Dr. Auger will do it for $320+tax +meds, but requires an initial exam, which comes to another $80 after tax. So figure at least $400+tax+meds per rat, probably more like $475. Also the receptionist refused to give me any info about his track record with spaying rats.

3. Carling Animal Hospital quoted me $473 per rat. Again, they gave me no information about the vets and their track record with spaying rats. I asked. They thought it was a strange question.

As mentioned previously, none of these vets nor their staff instilled any confidence in me, that they could do this surgery and would be successful.

So I looked into the deslorin implants. Dr. Auger is the only one in Ottawa who does them. He charges $229.39 for the implant PLUS he requires an initial exam which costs $80 after taxes. So total of $309.39 for each rat for the implant. I asked his office if he would give a discount if I brought in several rats at one time for the implants, and the receptionist said no, but she will check with Auger anyway and call me back. I'll be surprised if he gives a discount.

In the meantime, I checked into going to see Dr. Brieger in Montreal. His receptionist was very nice, helpful, and asked me to hold several times while she checked my questions directly with Dr. Brieger.. wow!.. that was nice! Dr. Brieger said he would give me a discount. First a group rate for an exam (I will bring 4 rats), then waive the cost for the anesthetic, and then a 10% discount for the implant... total cost will be $215 per rat for everything, taxes and meds included.

It's about a two and a half hour drive each way, so we could do it in a day, no problem. There's such a huge difference both in cost and in the way I've been treated in each office.. I'm inclined to just make the drive... I'll post again when the decision is made for sure and on how it goes.

Also, for anyone in Ottawa who might want me to take their girl rats along to Montreal for implants, please pm me.

 

[megan123]

Please, please do not ever trust Blackburn to do anything more than prescribe Baytril.

Glad you found someone good!

 

[ChrisK]

Please, please do not ever trust Blackburn to do anything more than prescribe Baytril.

Okay.. I'll bite... Why do you say that?

-ck

 

[ChrisK]

I've had a bad experience with Carling Animal Hospital. I'll never go back. They basically charged us $120 to not tell us what was wrong with our rat Nein, and then put her to sleep while keeping us in a different room than her the entire time. I'm 95% sure they didn't even give her a checkup. :redhot:

This isn't a helpful post because I'm a derp.

-They advised me to put down a rat who was not suffering.
-They quoted me $1000 to have an external, unattached growth removed from behind my girl's ear (Dr. Liston did the surgery for us for $120).
-They put down one rat for me in an emergency situation, but would not let me be anywhere near her thru the process, took 45 minutes to do it.. I wish I knew more at the time than I did..
-The first time my girls had mites they told me I'd have to bring them in for weekly injections. Then after they saw my face drop and I told them I couldn't do that, then they offered me the option to purchase revolution and dose them myself.

I'm not impressed with Carling Animal Hospital either.

 

[megan123]

Blackburn has a bad reputation in Ottawa among the other vets. I went there once and had a pretty traumatic experience involving getting my rat's teeth trimmed. It's just not a clinic anyone will generally recommend.

 

[jorats]

Wow, I'm just so shocked at how you were treated with your calls to the different offices. Asking for a vet's track record is perfectly normal. I did that with my own vet when I started doing spays.

 

[ChrisK]

Wow, I'm just so shocked at how you were treated with your calls to the different offices. Asking for a vet's track record is perfectly normal. I did that with my own vet when I started doing spays.

Thanks for saying so, Jorats.

Both places that gave me attitude when I asked that question.. the vets there have always approached me with the "I'm the Doctor and I know best" type attitude. (As opposed to the "I'm here to help you help your beloved pet" attitude. ) Really, I wouldn't even have called them to ask about spays, except they seem to be the only ones in town who do spays.

Looks like my husband and I are going to drive to Montreal and get the girls implants instead... firming up a few things today...

 

[RKbusy]

Two of my grils are going with ChrisK on her trip to Montreal

I did NOT have a good experience with Dr. Auger and Carling Animal Hospital. It was just all business. COMPELTELY. The only thing they seemed to care about was getting more out of you. I got sent an invoice for $60-some just to have a PHONE consultation with a vet at Carling. And all he told me was that quote "the risks of spaying a female rat far outweighs any benefits". Right.

I donno why anyone would have bad stuff to say about Blackburn Animal Hospital though? What was the issue? Something about trimming teeth? I know Dr. Mobarak doesn't have the best bed-side manner with animals, but he knows his stuff. And he's the ONLY vet that has given me his cell number.

 

[megan123]

I have only been to Blackburn once and didn't have a good experience, I found him overly rough with my boy while trimming his teeth. He also wanted to neuter my boy to get rid of aggression (as he was saying this, my boy was lying on his back in his hand like a big squishy pansy...) In addition to that I have heard through the grapevine that other vets in Ottawa don't like him/the clinic for whatever reason. It is probably unfair of me to give a negative review on that though. If you say Dr. M knows his stuff, I trust you though! I definitely don't have enough one on one experience to say he's no good. Just wanted to warn to be safe.

 

[ChrisK]

Just thought I'd give an update.

I booked the appointment for implants with Dr. Brieger in Montreal. And honestly, I've called several times for information and with more questions. The staff AND Dr. Brieger have all been exceptionally good with me. My husband and I are driving out on May 10th. Dr. Brieger offered us a discount price because we're bringing four rats for implants.

After waiting about a week, I finally got a call back from Bank Street Animal Hospital. They told me that Dr. Mobarak would do the spay on my two rats for $225 per rat, which would include meds. Then I asked about Dr. Mobarak's experience with spaying, and the vet assistant didn't know a lot about his experience to tell me, but at least didn't give me any attitude about it. The price is way lower than I'd expected, but I didn't ask why. Probably a discount because I'd be bringing in two rats. But when I heard the price quote, I felt like the lady running in the Ikea commercial .. "Start the car!"

I like Dr. Mobarak for the most part. I'd have to speak to him to get a better grip on his experience with spays. I know he's done some in the past, but not how many, how recently, nor how successful he's been. With the implants being such a minor procedure in comparison, and considering the other facts on hand, we have decided to stay with our plan to drive to Montreal for the implants.

Looking forward to our big adventure!
-ck

 

[jorats]

This is really great because the more people do implants the more we can gauge how well it works. I'll be following the progress closely.

Vets need a special license for doing implants? I wonder why that is. Or is it to bring in the implants?