Vet Name: Steve and Laura
Practice Name: Skeldale Veterinary Centre
Address: Skeldale Veterinary Centre, York Road, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 3BT
Telephone: 01845 522297
Website: Skeldale Veterinary Centre, Thirsk News
Comments:
I'm listing this practice by nature of the thread, however really I'm only reccomending a couple of specific vets. It is a mixed practice in a very farming-centric area - so not all the members of staff have quite the same, er, standard of care for small rodenty things.
Laura keeps hamsters herself, and she's sort of "the hamster person" at the practice.
Steve is the vet I've seen most and I'm training him up to be a very good rat vet.
I tend to ask to see Steve first (for rat and hamster things), but will happily see Laura if he's not in.
While not an experienced vet (he only graduated a couple of years ago), Steve used to own rats himself, genuinely likes them and wants to do the best he can for them. This is extended to hamsters and other small pets. He's friendly, approachable and explains everything through very clearly so I know exactly what the options are. His examinations are also
incredibly thorough and he's very good at handling both very wriggly escapist rats and senile, grumpy likely-to-bite hamsters. Steve is also happy to take advice from other vets (I've taken along a print-out of an email conversation on dosages) and knows [and is happy with the fact that] I get advice from both more knowledgable friends and online resources.
One of the things that made me trust him initially is that he's also incredibly honest - both with regards to capabilities and experience. And said information is volunteered, rather than having to be weedled out as with some other vets. If he doesn't know something medically he's also willing to look up there and then if possible, or to look up the info later on.
Steve is also happy for me to take an active role, rather than passively going off things he's said. I've been allowed to listen to chests by stethescope to get more of an idea as to what he's going off. Also when a rat of mine was seriously ill over the festive period and was on daily dex, he showed me how to inject it myself so that I didn't need to pay a daily out of hours fee.
Occasionally I will also see Laura too, but as said she's my second choice. I've only used her for diagnostics post-death so can't really comment on her skill there, but in this specific situation her thoughts were on the same line to mine. She's very good at handling hamsters and good at handling rats so long as they're not overly pingy. She's happy to prescribe non-liscenced drugs at suitable doses, and goes out of her way to put the animal first. Laura's approachable and also very good at calming one down and making sensible suggestions should you phone up panicking and being angry/ upset with how another vet [different practice] handled a situation
Both vets are happy to let me buy meds by the bottle and give good amounts of drugs to keep costs down my end. I've only been using this practice since moving to the area in August 2011, but so far my rats (kindly having lots of health problems...) and hamster have been prescribed: Baytril, co-amox, doxy, septrin, zithromax, draxxin, loxicom [cheaper brand of metacam], vetergesic, dexamethasone, prednisone, frusemide and bisolvon. Cephalexin and galastop have also been considered, and ruled out for reasons to do with the situation rather than external pressures such as stupid lisencing rules. In other words, they don't treat rodents or rodent owners as lesser beings, and are willing to try the less common based on the merits of the drug itself and the sitution in question.
Additionally prices are on the cheap side. Hamster consults are ~£10 ("child's pet") and this price isn't bumped up for an extended consult or if you bring multiple rodents. Follow-up consults aren't always charged, depending on specifics of the situation. Out of hours fee is £50 and they have a rota for that themselves, rather than employing seperate people. PTS costs £7-14 for rats, so I'd assume lower end of that for hamsters. Their preferred method is gas chamber before fatal injection. As an owner you're more than welcome to be present - unlike some surgeries who think it's a H&S risk to let you go out back. Drugs are cheap too, especially those in pill form.
I've not needed any operations doing while I've been living here, so I can't comment on that specificially myself. If you're wanting to talk to them about it I'd phone up and ask to speak directly to one of Steve or Laura - they're more than happy to help on the phone.
So overall, while they're not necessarily specifically experienced, they have all the other qualities of good vets. Personally I'd rather vets like this than a specialist who treats customers like dirt. And I say this more than just theoretically - this situation happened when I took my rats to an exotics vet in the area, and I refuse to go back.
[edited review from a rat POV]