 So here's a scenario. Let's say you get home from work, check on your guinea pigs, and you notice one of them is not eating, not really moving around a whole lot, and is really just sitting hunched in a corner. You know your pet is sick, but you don't really know if there's an exotic vet anywhere near you that would be able to see guinea pigs. So what do you do? What you really want to do is be prepared by finding an exotic vet ahead of time. Today we're going to talk about how you can find the best exotic vet for your animals in your area. Let's get started. Hey there, welcome to the tiny herd where we talk about daily care for guinea pigs, rabbits, and other small pets. If you want to learn how you can keep your pets the happiest and healthiest they can be, make sure to hit the subscribe button and turn on notifications so you don't miss a video. Alright guys, so part of being a responsible pet owner is recognizing that at some point your pet is going to need vet care. One of the common misconceptions about small pets like guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, and mice is that because they're pretty inexpensive and easily available in pet stores that they're not going to need vet care at any point or worse that they're not worth spending that money on. So I very much disagree with this line of thinking. I think if you are going to bring an animal into your life then you have to be prepared for all of its care which includes vet care. So how do you go about finding the best vet for your animals? For the purposes of this video I'm going to assume that you have an exotic pet. So guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, hamsters, chinchillas, reptiles, etc. Finding an exotic vet can be a lot trickier than finding a vet for a cat or dog. It's not something that's taught in all vet schools so it does require some specialized classes and it can be some pretty specialized medicine. Finding a vet that is experienced and knowledgeable about your particular type of animal is very important and it's not always that easy which is another reason why it's so important for you to take the time to find a great vet now before you're stuck in a medical emergency. So step number one is going to be research vets in your area. So the easiest way to do this is to hop on Google and type in exotic vet near me or exotic vet for guinea pigs, exotic vet for rabbits, whatever animal you are looking for and then you want to look through the websites of these vet offices and see if they offer services for your particular animal. I would write out a list of four to five vets in your area that say they see what type of animal you have so that you can do a little bit further research on them which is what we're going to talk about next. So step number two is try to find some reviews. See if you can find some reviews about the specific vets and vet offices that you're interested in taking your pets to. Reviews can be a great way to get an idea of what type of service and experience a vet has regarding the types of animals that you have. Do keep in mind that people usually only post reviews if they had a really good or really bad experience but if you're seeing 50 reviews that all discuss the same negative customer experience that's probably a pattern. Try to find reviews online for the specific vet or specific office that you're interested in taking your animals to. I also like to ask around to people in the area that either have other exotic pets or the same type of pet that I'm trying to take in to see if they have any recommendations or if they've had experience with that vet as well. Step number three is to narrow down your options. So at this point you have a list of vets that you've written down and you've looked up some reviews about what kind of service they provide to their customers. The next step for me is usually to do some research on the actual vet themselves. A lot of vets offices that do see exotic animals actually only have one or two vets that do see exotic animals and the rest of them see dogs and cats. So what I like to do is do some research on those actual specific vets to see if I can find anything out about their education. What types of pets they have themselves. What type of animals they like to see. What animals they like to treat. Just to get an idea of whether they keep up to date on current accurate information on the different exotic animals they see and really just what their skill level and experience level is with those exotic animals. The situation I like to avoid is going to see a vet that does see guinea pigs but their education is 15 years out of date or they took one class in college. The vet that I currently go to has these little bios on the website and one thing that I really like is that it tells what animals or what pets the vets have themselves. There are a couple of them that see exotic animals that do have guinea pigs, chinchillas, rabbits, different animals themselves and I really like to know that information because if I'm taking my guinea pigs into a vet that has their own guinea pigs there's a higher chance that they're going to be up to date on current information and are going to provide better care for my guinea pigs because they do like and have guinea pigs themselves. And if you really want to get some detailed information you could call the vet's offices and ask to speak to the specific vets or ask to get a little bit more background what type of care they provide, things like that. So there are ways you can do research and figure out if a vet is going to be a better choice for your pets than another one. And finally step number four is make an appointment. I would highly recommend taking your pet in for a wellness exam or a health checkup with the vet that you have decided on. This will give you a very upfront hands-on experience with the vet if they talk about care that you know is incorrect or prescribe something you're not comfortable with then you'll know now that this is not a vet that you want to work with. It's much better to find these things out about the vet now instead of taking your pet to them the first time during a medical emergency and realizing that the information and knowledge that this vet is working off of is very out of date. So those are the four steps that I use to find my own exotic vet for my animals. A couple final thoughts that I want to mention in this video. First, don't be afraid to make it clear to your vet that you want what is best for your animals and that you are wanting to make decisions based on actual tests and information. Some vets are used to owners that will either agree to everything regardless of cost or agree to nothing because they don't want to pay for it. I'm usually somewhere in the middle. I'm not going to refuse a procedure based on cost but sometimes you have to be realistic and make the decision on whether a procedure is actually necessary and appropriate for your pet and their situation. Remember that you are the advocate for your pet and if you feel like a procedure is not in the best interest of your pet you are absolutely allowed to turn it down. I would recommend bringing research to your vet so that they can have a discussion with you and recognize that you are fully invested in the health and welfare of your pet. Another thing I wanted to mention here is that being prepared for vet visits means being prepared for the cost. You really need to think ahead and have a vet fund set aside a savings account for your pets so that if they do need a emergency procedure or you need to take them to the vet unexpectedly you don't have the added stress of trying to find the money to pay for that vet visit. You can also look into pet insurance depending on what type of animal you have and that can be another great option to help cover the cost as well. I currently have six kitty pigs two bunnies three mice and a dog and I usually keep about a thousand dollars set aside at any given point to cover expenses related to vet visits for my animals. Now I've had very big surgery costs in the past when June had her surgery in 2020 that ended up costing us in total about a thousand dollars so you have to take into consideration what potential things could come up with your animals and determine what amount of money is going to be appropriate and what is going to make you feel comfortable to have that peace of mind with your vet fund. And finally the number one quality that I really look for in a vet is them really being open to discussion. I don't want to work with a vet that thinks they have all of the answers and that any research that I've done or experiences that I've had are not worth discussing because they know everything. I work with vets that are going to talk me through what procedures we're doing, explain why we're on certain medications, I want to have an open dialogue and I want them to know that I am the advocate for my pet's health and I'm going to make the decisions but I want to make educated and informed decisions and obviously they have all of the schooling and all of the knowledge that can help me make those decisions so I really want to depend on the vet to do the tests we need to do, tell me what illnesses the symptoms are showing and that sort of thing and then explain it to me, have a discussion with me and explain what their side of the story is so that together we can make an informed decision to keep my pets in the best health possible. I have managed to find a great vet that is very open to discussion. She loves getting all the detail and all the information about the situation because it helps her decide what we really need to be doing and what tests need to be done so just keep that in mind. You are absolutely allowed to have discussion and do research and bring it to your vet to be the advocate for your pet's health. Thank you so much for watching today's video. If you did find this video helpful please give it a like and subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. I would love to see you in my next video. Thank you guys so much for watching again and I will see you in the next one. Bye.