Norton Road Veterinary Hospital-NO

I made an appointment here after seeing that the two owner/vets at this hospital were members of the House Rabbit Society and the AEMV. I was scheduled 20 minutes from closing because I had to go home after work and pick up my guinea pig and drive pretty far out of my way to get there (over an hour). When I made the appointment, I made it clear I needed an xray because she may have a stone (blood in urine).

When we get there, 5 minutes late because traffic was awful and we ran into 2 accidents. But 5 minutes isn't bad right? Apparently not to this clinic. The receptionist asked us to wait "to see if the doctor will still see us". After driving over an hour, we looked at each other like, really?? Even if that's the case, why would you say that to us? She came back and said the doctor would see us but they couldn't do any diagnostics because it was "too late in the day". I still have no idea what that means or why they think that was a legitimate excuse. Does everyone run out there door at 7pm regardless of what they're doing? They said they could give me pain meds and we could come back at another time(?!?!). Being such experienced owners, we have every med imaginable to give a guinea pig. As a precaution (if it was an infection), we had already started her on meds. So there was nothing they could do for us. I asked again why they couldn't do an xray, so she went back and got an lvt.

The lvt came out and said "it's too close to the end of the day" AGAIN. And I asked why since an xray only takes a couple minutes. She said they need to sedate her to take an xray!! I said excuse me? Why in the world would you put an ill pig through all that stress? And she gave me some sort of bs answer about it being for their safety and "they'd break their backs" if they weren't sedated. I feel sorry for the girl and whoever fed her this misinformation. She said there's absolutely no way they go against this policy. She also said "we don't know if she needs an xray anyway". I told her I required one because of the blood in her urine. What kind of lvt or vet wouldn't take an xray right off the bat for blood in the urine??

So I beg the question, why would a policy like this be in place when the owners are 2 members of the AEMV and House Rabbit Society? They own the place, why would there be such an uneducated policy in place that can really hurt the animal? Never, in my 18 years, have I been to a vet that EVER required this to be done (and I estimated we've had almost 100 xrays done in the last 10 years). She said "you'll see that the majority of vets have this policy as well". I'm not sure about her, but I never do something just "because everyone else is doing it". What a cop-out excuse. To unnecessarily put my guinea pig at risk like that just to see if she had a stone is incompetence in running a practice as well as the care and anatomy of a guinea pig. Although I never saw a vet here, I know to never set foot in this place, who knows what other bad policies they have in place that could hurt your pet.