Small animal vet?

Hi there,

Apologies if there's already a thread about this but I've searched and couldn't find one....

I'm looking for a good small animal vet. Can anyone recommend one? I need to take my hamster. I do know of a few vets in Sheffield, one friend has recommended the place where she takes her dog, but she admittedly doesn't know how good they are with rodents. I'd like to know if anyone can recommend one which is particularly good with small animals such as hamsters, as I know a lot of places count them as exotics...

If anyone has any good ideas that would be great, otherwise I'll just take him where my friend takes her dog. Thanks!

any vet should be able to help. ring round a few vets in your area, for advise.

good luck with the hammi

Hunters Bar....I believe Anita is quite up on rodents as well as rabbits after our chat today

There is a vet reccomendation thread somewhere on here, will go and find it for you if you like.

I know Park used to deal with rodents. I had a hamster that started choking and we took him straight down to them, they treated him as an emergency and sorted him out.

It's at Millhouses and is called Park Vets http://www.parkvethospital.com/ worth giving them a bell.

I can vouch for both Hunters Bar and Park Vets as have used both for a variety of animals.

I always found Hallam Vets to be good, they have a branch in Crookes and one in Hillsborough. They seem to know what they're doing and don't class rodents as exotics.

I always found Hallam Vets to be good, they have a branch in Crookes and one in Hillsborough. They seem to know what they're doing and don't class rodents as exotics.

 

Don't go to Peak vets in Woodseats, I just had an extortionate bill for an operation Hallam have done three times for much less... And Peak didn't know what they were doing and the stitches are all messy - no where near as tidy as Hallam.

However, saying that... The consulation was the same price as Hallam so if it's something less complicated you may be fine.

I use Peak Vets and would recommend them to anyone! They've been fab with my dogs and foster dogs we've had.

Sue

any vet should be able to help. ring round a few vets in your area, for advise.

 

good luck with the hammi

I'm afraid this really isn't the case with rodents/many animals except cats and dogs. I've had enormous problems finding vets that know anything about guinea pigs and their ailments. Experienced owners often have greater knowledge of their illnesses and treatment. I've been charged extortionate amounts for treatment I found out later was incorrectly administered and could have caused adverse effects. Most common veterinary drugs aren't licensed for use in rodents so vets use doses extrapolated down from those used for cats and administer them via the same routes.

Peak Vets at Woodseats are great with small animals I take my mice there all the time. I took one recently who was having difficulty breathing. He took me through all the possible causes i.e chest infection, tumor, heart condition and through the treatments he could offer and was really thorough.

Excellent, thank you all very much for your help!

Twiglet, I have to agree with you - hamsters are not so much of a problem I think, but I also keep gerbils and have certainly found that I often know a lot more about them than the professionals. Sadly it seems that knowledge of small animals, especially if they are deemed as 'exotic' (GERBILS?!!), is overlooked and yes I find they are often given inappropriate treatment (a course of ornacycline for ANY small ailment, which is not really suitable for gerbils in the first place!) - and don't get me STARTED on the misinformation given about small animals by pet shops/sellers.....

Sorry, it was good to get that rant off my chest though!

......He's going on Saturday by the way, if anyone's interested, for an entirely routine teeeth-trimming session at Hunter's Bar. Thank you for all your help, it's been really useful and it was nice to get so many replies.

I guess Woodseats is a Gerbil free zone then, because Peak Vets knew very little about them. Yes they were thorough, and yes they asked a lot of questions regarding my Gerbil, but they openly admitted they had never performed my surgery on a Gerbil.

But hey, I gave them some experience so perhaps other gerbil owners in the future will benefit from it

NeedAFlat - I know exactly what you mean! It must be difficult for vets to know everything about all animals though... But yep, I didn't realise any Vets in Sheffield still classed anything, never mind Gerbils as exotics! When I took my Jird to Hallam they didn't even class her as exotic, even though they'd never seen nor heard of one before! It wasn't until my operation recently at a new vets on a Gerbil that I found out it was still used

Good luck with the teeth clipping

Just a small defense of those vets who treat small pets. There are some vets who don't seem to know a lot about small furryies/exotics/non cat-dogs (or whatever the collective noun is for these pets), but there are some vets who do try to take an interest and increase their learning. Anything smaller than about 100g can be difficult to diagnose (your stethoscope is generally bigger than the animal), blood sampling is rather difficult, xraying some parts of the body is impossible without anaesthesia.

On top of that, there are almost no drug companies that produce medications that are small animal friendy (excluding of course, the ever present baytril), so trying to break a tablet up that is designed for a 10 kg dog into a dissolvable amount suitable for a 25 g animal is rather tricky

I hope all your small furries are well.