Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital, Inc.

Dr Gilet was incredible for my little ratties. I brought in Pancake who had several tumors and sadly was not eligible for surgery. She told me my options around euthanasia and we scheduled the appointment for a few weeks later. She allowed me to have time with pancake during all stages of the process, and allowed her sister (Potato) to see her when she went as well. I had her assess Potato who only had one large tumor. She was able to take Potato in for surgery that same day and remove the mass. Potato’s recovery has been such a success. Her stitches have held so well (keeping in mind Potato is a very good girl) and seeing her regain her ability to walk and climb normally has been so amazing to see. Thank you Dr Gilet!!

First off, the staff behind the desk is super sweet and nice. Our Chameleon was seen by Dr. Gillet, everything good. Then our Chameleon got egg bound. We talked to Dr. Raguin while our snake was seen. We told her we think chameleon goes towards being egg bound - she said no she's fine as long as she eats. A week later we wanted a same day appointment. Emergency appointments are $150 - no problem, lady on phone said let me check with Dr. Raguin. Again she said no need to come in as long as Chameleon is eating. Few days later eyes sunk in so we called for same day and insisted on being seen. Told Dr. Raguin Chameleon gasped for air on way in which she never did. She blew it off. Eyes sunken in? No big deal, it's just a little bit. X-rays taken, Analgesia injection, iron injection, calcium injection, unknown injection, total bill $574. Injections to take home, chameleon will be fine but may need surgery if she doesn't lay eggs within a week. She passed away same night. I took a picture of her X-ray on screen in room, others vets said this was emergency surgery. If she would have been seen when we asked for the emergency appointment she would still be here. If the emergency would have been recognized night before she passed, maybe she would still be here but she was weak and left vet weaker then when we first got there. Thank you to office staff for helping us through cremation process. I will not bring another reptile to see Dr. Raguin. She did nothing about concerns, even when we said our Cham lays an egg a day which is not good, her response was oh some of them are just stubborn. And injections to take home were supposed to go in leg, we said we had them before and they went in along the spine. She had to google it to make sure we can do it along spine. Shouldn't you know as an expert?!

This review is probably the most important I have posted to google, I decided to write it up on my laptop because the work this vet clinic does can be a matter of life and death. My 2 year old Holland Lop is named Buddy. He is litter box trained and lives inside the house. Buddy is usually very outgoing and social, about a week ago I noticed his energy was off and quickly got worse. Sometimes with bunnies they can be temperamental depending on time of year, time of day, etc. Initially I was not worried until he did not eat his dinner. That was a red flag for me but because that has happened a few times in his life, I did not panic. Over the course of the next few evening hours, Buddy lacked normal behavior and he started having trouble keeping his head up or showing his normal alertness. By the time I felt I needed to get Buddy medical treatment, all the local exotic vets were closed and I could not afford the 600.00 bucks for the an emergency visits to one of the big box pet hospitals. I stayed up with Buddy all night, monitoring him and just encourage him to keep fighting. My bunny groomer had previously praised Avian so I put Buddy in his travel crate and took him there 30 minutes before they opened. This was on a Thursday. The clinic was already staffed and they immediately checked Buddy in. I cant say enough about how much I appreciated that Avian made Buddy a priority and the vet diagnosed him before they opened to their normal scheduled appointments. The vet believed Buddy has a life threatening infection and he was immediately placed on medications and I was to continue the treatments at home for the next week. Within a few hours of leaving Avian Buddy started showing signs of life but I had to force feed and drink Buddy for the next 5 days. It is very dangerous for bunnies to stop eating and drinking water, their bodies require constant nourishment. The vet did an awesome job explaining everything. I have just found my new favorite spot to take my bunny. The attention was fast and the price was a third of what the hospital wanted just to check him in. Thank you Avian for saving Buddy!

They helped me when one of our pet chickens was attacked by a dog yesterday. They were so nice ane caring. Also the visit and medications were very reasonable.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR PETS HERE!! I took my pet snake to be seen here in August because he was regurgitating his food, and the vet I got (a female) was very friendly and did a physical exam of my ball python. She determined he had an upper respiratory infection and he received a liquid feed and I was sent home with injections to give him every 3 days for a month. In September once his injections were done, I fed him and he did fine. October comes and he ate fine again, then he started the process of shedding. In November, he still had not finished shedding and I noticed he looked like he was losing weight. I took him in to be seen again to this vet on November 11th, and Dr. Jenkins was the one who took the appointment. He didn't do any sort of physical exam whatsoever, he just picked him up briefly and then set him back down telling me the issue was the snakes husbandry, and that I needed to keep it more humid and warmer in his terrarium. I was already doing this because of the long shed he had so I was surprised this is what Dr. Jenkins thought. The entire appointment was basically taken up by the vet talking about himself, telling us how he had so much experience with snakes and the type he had at home, instead of focusing on my pet snake or doing an actual exam on him. I left and went to buy more items from a pet store to put in my terrarium to make sure the humidity and heat were even more controlled. When I got home I noticed my snake was bleeding from a lifted scale on his body that directly exposed his flesh instead of new shed. I called the vets office to try to get some advice since I had literally just left their office an hour before. The office was closed and I left a voicemail urging them to call me back the following day. They never called me back. A couple of days later my snake looked like he lost a lot more weight and I took him to be seen at a different vet, an emergency one in Mission Valley. The care he received there was such a difference, they actually examined him and injected him with some fluids and meds, and they gave me an ointment to apply to his open wound. Since this was an emergency vet, they told me to do a follow up appointment with a regular vet the following day and they gave me a list of options since I told them I was not happy with the service we received at Avian & Exotics with Dr. Jenkins. 2 of the vet techs shared their similar negative experiences they had with him as well, when they took their own exotic animals to him. The next day I made an appointment at a different vet in La Mesa for a follow up, but unfortunately before we made it to the appointment my pet snake passed away. The vet at the new place in La Mesa told me that if my snake would have gotten blood work done, it could have been determined what kind of infection he had and perhaps it could have been treated in time. It's extremely upsetting and frustrating that my pet passed away in just a weeks time from being seen by Dr. Jenkins, and no type of tests were administered or even an actual physical exam during his appointment, where he could have also seen the wound that I saw when we got home. Of course there's no way of knowing if the true infection could have been treated in time, but I definitely know that the lack of care and negligence that occurred played a direct role in the last days that my snake was alive.