BIRD & EXOTIC ANIMAL VETERINARY SERVICES

General Information

This veterinary practice is run solely for birds & exotic animals (reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates - see note below). I work full-time with these species and do not routinely see any others. If you are looking for a dog, cat or small mammal vet, my host practice Abbey Veterinary Group (www.abbeyvetgroup.com) deals with these animals.

My practice has its own dedicated hospitalisation facilities, allowing most animals to be hospitalised in suitable housing which can be individually adjusted to the conditions required by your pet.

I also have access to a wide range of diagnostic and surgical equipment required for these species and a very extensive library on veterinary care of birds and exotic animals.

I can provide a veterinary service for any bird/exotic animal collection, large or small. This can be on whatever basis is appropriate, including the following:

• Veterinary Advice [Please note that due to legal/ethical restrictions I cannot comment on specific veterinary problems unless you are a client of mine, or at the request of your own veterinary surgeon]

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• Suitably long consultations to fully discuss the husbandry of the animal (normally 45 minutes for an initial consultation)
   

• Routine Health checks - a yearly check-up with discussion of the husbandry is strongly recommended. This will also give me a chance to keep you up to date with any husbandry advances you may be unaware of. Note that I offer reduced prices on all charges for regular clients!

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• Home visit service as required, for example for evaluation of husbandry set-ups - including assessment with ultraviolet meters 

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• Microchipping of animals

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• A wide range of treatments, both medical and surgical

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• In-patient or out patient treatment, as appropriate - I have hospitalisation facilities for most species

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• Supply of a range of husbandry accessories, complete diets for birds and books.

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Note on species treated

Normally I deal with birds (mainly psittacines - parrots, macaws, budgies, cockatiels, also chickens, waterfowl, finches, raptors), reptiles (all - tortoises, terrapins, turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, alligators, caiman), amphibians (mainly frogs, toads, newts & salamanders, but am happy to see caecilians), fish (mainly koi & goldfish, but also any freshwater or marine species - I have a particular interest in seahorses, keeping several species myself) and invertebrates (mainly spiders - tarantulas, also scorpions and other pet species).  

I do not routinely treat small mammals such as rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, rats, mice and ferrets, and claim no special experience with them. However, I do have an interest in exotic/wild species of all sorts, so if you have a particularly exotic mammal that you are having difficulty finding veterinary care for then please feel free to contact me.

I do have a particular interest in amphibians, tropical fish and invertebrates, and currently offer FREE (in normal hours) consultations for them (other fees, including out of hours charges, still apply, although they may be reduced at my discretion).

I will see injured wild animals if necessary, especially reptiles and amphibians (or even invertebrates or fish!). Injured wild animals brought in to the surgery during normal hours will normally be dealt with at no charge, though donations to help with costs are welcome! As usual this will have to be by pre-arrangement (see below), although with wildlife it may be possible to arrange for it to be left at the front desk. Note that uninjured wildlife should almost always be left alone (and in the case of some species, legally must be left undisturbed).

Current news/service status

Practice Policies

THIS IS IMPORTANT INFORMATION
ALL CLIENTS/PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS SHOULD READ THIS

Please appreciate that I run this service single-handed.
This means that I can be very busy (and pending successful cloning research, I can only be in one place at one time!). Please have some consideration for this.

Please see below for notes on opening hours, consultations, the initial consultation, emergencies and fees

General

Please note that, although based on their premises, my practice is a separate entity from the Abbey Veterinary Group. Other than possibly by special arrangement, they will not do anything for B E A V S clients. They do not have access to the B E A V S hospital or in-patients and cannot report on or release in-patients on my behalf. Please do not therefore use Abbey contact details to try to contact me - the staff are instructed to simply refer you to my numbers. Rudeness to Abbey staff will not be tolerated under any circumstances - any problem you may have with my business or policies is nothing to do with them, and I rely on their goodwill for help.

Opening hours

You need to be aware that B E A V S is only open by prior arrangement. Normally scheduled hours are as below, but are not guaranteed. If you haven't arranged an appointment, or collection of drugs etc, they will not possible.

I am normally available all year; however, please see current status above for notes regading any conferences I may be attending which may make me uncontactable.

Telephone hours

Currently, routine telephone calls are only accepted during the hours of 8.30 am – 6.30 pm weekdays and 9.30 am - 1.00 pm on Saturdays -  no routine phone calls are accepted at night (6.30 pm – 8.30 am), weekends or on bank holidays, and you should not leave messages during these hours. If I or my secretary are unavailable, you will get the answerphone. Please listen to the message as it may contain more up to date information, but generally during normal hours please leave your name, contact number, and a brief description of the problem/query, and someone will get back to you as soon as possible, normally within a few (working) hours. If your call needs to be dealt with more urgently than this, please use the emergency number (see below). If you do leave a message, please also try again if you have not heard back within 8 (working) hours - it does happen that numbers left on the answerphone are unclear, or I have found out I have the wrong number. 

Outside normal hours, please note that messages will not be received until next opening hours (i.e. when I next switch the phone on) - if your call is an emergency, please call the emergency number provided.

Please note that rudeness to the secretary will not be tolerated under any circumstances - if you have a problem with the service, please speak to me.

 The secretary or the answerphone message will give you an emergency number (see below) to ring if your call is for an emergency (genuine emergencies only please!).

Please remember that the emergency line is normally a mobile phone, so if you get problems with reception or no immediate answer (I may be operating, consulting or travelling) please try again in a few minutes (and allow it to ring for a long time). 

For non-urgent communication, the use of email is encouraged - I will normally check emails once or twice a day and reply within a few days, although this is not guaranteed. Emails may also go astray and so on, so telephone communication is strongly recommended for urgent matters. See notes below regarding Arranging appointments by email.

Note on text messaging: Bearing in mind that the phone may or may not be on when you text, and that texts can go astray, this method of communication is strongly discouraged. Please be aware that I accept no responsibility whatsoever for failure to respond to a text message.

Consultations

Again, please note that ALL consultations and collections of in-patients, drugs and equipment are strictly by appointment only. I am not usually available outside consulting hours (or even necessarily during them) so turning up without an appointment will be a wasted trip. 

Consultations and collections therefore need to be arranged on the phone - see Telephone Hours, above. Please note that, while it does vary and I will try to be flexible, my schedule may be full for up to several days in advance. Therefore same day appointments, or occasionally even next or succeeding day ones, may involve an overbooking fee if I have to add you onto an already fully-booked surgery. The same fee may apply if you can only make times which are already fully booked.

Please note also that I need to know if you are bringing in more than one animal for a consultation - this is not a problem, but it's not fair on other clients to keep them waiting while I have to examine several unannounced animals of yours!  I do offer a reduction (see below) on consult fees if seeing multiple animals, BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE BOOKED THEM IN!

Running late: If you are going to be late for an appointment (certainly more than 10 minutes late) please telephone to let me know (on the emergency number if necessary). I understand there may sometimes be traffic or other problems, and I will usually be able to see you, although you may need to wait longer. However, sometimes I may have other urgent commitments, and please note that if you are more than 15 minutes late, there may be a long delay and/or a surcharge.

Arranging appointments by email: This is possible, but due to the delays inherent in the communication, email appointments can only be made if you specify (preferably several alternative) surgery hours (see below) you can make so that I can email back a specific time slot for confirmation, and/or include a phone number so that I can call you back to arrange an appointment. While appreciating the ease of email, I can't afford to keep several slots blanked off for appointments pending replies that might or might not confirm, especially in the near future. Therefore no email appointments are possible for at least 4 days (or possibly longer, depending on how busy I am) from the day of the email. Computer or other problems may also result in delays in replying to emails etc. Note also that confirmation from me of a specific time slot is required - please note your appointment (if arranged by email) is NOT booked until I have received an email from you confirming a specific time slot I have offered, and I have re-confirmed that by email to you - if in doubt, please telephone. 

If you do wish to arrange anything by email, please check the current news/service status above - I may not have access to email.

Current normal consulting hours are:

• 11.00 am - 11.45 am weekdays

• 3.00 pm - 4.45 pm weekdays

• 5.45 pm - 6.45 pm weekdays

• 10.00 am - 11.30 am Saturdays

No routine surgeries on Sundays or bank holidays.

Home Visits - I can do home visits, which may be useful both for fully assessing the housing and husbandry of the animal, and will also avoid  the stress of a car journey to your pet. However, you do need to be aware that these will be much more expensive than a consultation at the surgery - please bear in mind that I have to charge not only for the car fuel/depreciation costs, but also for my travelling time to and from the visit. Visits are also likely to need to be arranged further in advance than consultations at the surgery, as they are obviously more time-consuming than consults at the surgery. 

Emergency case visits are rarely advisable as there is a limit to the equipment I can carry on a visit and much better facilities will be available at the surgery, but please telephone to discuss if necessary.

The initial consultation

If coming to see me for the first time with your pet, please note the following:

- I will want to discuss the husbandry of your pet with you as part of an overall assessment of him/her. Some of the information I will ask about, and which you should therefore have to hand, includes:

   The animal

• Species

• Sex

• Age

  The enclosure (vivarium/tank/etc)

• Size

• Ventilation source

• Substrate type

• Furnishings

• Cage companions

• Heating and lighting arrangement

• Temperatures

• Room it is located in - background heating, lighting and activity levels.

• Possible exposure to fumes - smoking/cooking fumes/boiler/heating fumes/air fresheners/other aerosols.

            Feeding & supplementation

 - I believe that it is important to try to minimise the stress for your pet associated with a visit to the vets, where he/she might be prodded, poked and have needles stuck into them! This is particularly important for pet parrots. For this reason, with new parrots I will normally recommend that you bring the bird in either for a single registration consultation (no physical examination of the bird, at a reduced price) or for a full but split consultation (single normal consultation fee) - at the first visit I will take your details and discuss the husbandry, diet etc, but try to avoid to do anything to the bird that it might perceive as stressful. This will mean that I don't do a full physical examination of the bird, so that will be carried out at the second consultation a few days later. Note that this is obviously not possible if the bird is ill on presentation, which is why I would strongly encourage you to register and bring your bird along, before any problem arises. An ill bird doesn't need the extra stress of a visit to a scary, unfamiliar place! This is optional if you have difficulty getting to the surgery, but from your bird's point of view I feel it is much better.

It is also worth noting that the registration consultation automatically puts you on the reduced rate (gold client) scheme initially!

I would also encourage you to keep a food item (one readily available all year round) which is used only as a special treat for stressful situations such as a visit to the vet, and bring some along to the consultation.

- I will normally want to examine a faeces sample from your animal as part of the overall health assessment, so please bring one along if possible. The sample should generally be as fresh as possible, and kept in a sealed container with a little bit of water to keep it moist.

Emergencies

Veterinary emergencies will always be dealt with as soon as possible on a 24 hour a day basis; however, please note that there will be an emergency call-out fee outside normal surgery hours as it involves making a special arrangement to see you.

You should always ring my main number (07754 125302) first, which will give up to date information on the current situation, and whether emergencies-only service is operating (normally 6.30 pm - 8.30 am weeknights, all weekends and bank holidays, occasional other times).  During normal hours I may be on a personal emergency-only phone during consultations, operations or if travelling - if this is the case, the main line will give that number. Please bear in mind though that as noted I may be busy, or travelling through an area of poor reception, so please try again in a few minutes if you get no immediate reply.

Out of hours, I am pleased to announce that, after 15 years of being on duty 24 hrs a day, 360 + days a year, I have now managed to arrange some break! I have an arrangement for out of hours emergency cover with Great Western Exotics Service (website here), which will deal with my out of hours work. They will be happy to deal fully with any veterinary emergencies you may have.

Please note that this does mean that now you will not be able to contact me by telephone out of hours - if you have a query concerning the practice itself, please call back within normal working hours, or email me.

Fees

Unfortunately, I am not a charity. Drugs, facilities and me all require money!

All fees are payable at the time of consultation/animal collection; no account system is in operation except by special arrangement.
Payment may be by cash, cheque or most credit or debit cards (not American Express).

To give you an approximate idea of likely costs (these are not absolute):

• Initial consultations for a specific animal (as they are longer - typically 30 - 45 mins), to discuss the husbandry of your pet as part of the general assessment) range from £35 - £60 depending on animal - due to my special interest, FREE in normal hours for amphibians, small  fish and invertebrates! If the animal is from an enclosure that has already been discussed with regards to another pet of yours, it qualifies as new condition consult which is less - see below.

• Consultations for a new condition of a registered pet, routine health checks and recheck consultations are much less - £12 - £30 (still FREE in normal hours for amphibians, small fish and invertebrates)

• Visit fees are based on distance, starting at around £60 (which is in addition to consult fee) for visits close to the surgery

• Theres is a reduction (currently 25%) on consult fees for each animal after the first seen at the same time - but only if pre-booked in.

• The emergency cover practice is an entirely seperate entity, and their out-of-hours emergency fees, as well as any fees for consultations/hospitalisations/investigations/treatments that they carry out, will be charged by them where appropriate - you will need to discuss these with them directly as necessary.

Routine health checks and Reduced rate scheme

I encourage routine examination of your animals along with discussion of any questions you may have. Therefore, you should also be aware that I run a reduced rate scheme (Gold client status) which gives 10 - 20% off all my fees, (unfortunately this does not apply to charges from the covering practice, as it is independent of me). To qualify, your animals must be seen for routine health checks at reasonable intervals (once a year) – please discuss with me if you wish further details.

Location/Directions

The premises that I operate from is in Reading in Berkshire - reasonably accessible from Berkshire and most of south Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Bucks, Surrey and west London, although I do have clients coming from as far away as Kent, Bedfordshire and Portsmouth!

For directions to the surgery, please click here.

If coming by public transport and unfamiliar with the area, the surgery is approximately 5 - 10 minutes taxi ride (under normal traffic conditions) from Reading rail station. Taking a bus from the station is possible (a bus to the Royal Berks Hospital (NOT Battle Hospital, which is another part of Reading!), get off in Craven Road and walk from there) or even walking (about 20 minutes from rail station) but a taxi would be easiest if you are unfamiliar with the area.