Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital of Louisiana

I brought my greenwinnged macaw into Dr Hill’s office because she began plucking herself. I thought that it might be because of her diet or because of mites or some type of parasites. Dr Hill did a physical exam and say the a $ 200 blood test was needed. Her blood test came by ok. Such things as cholesterol levels and triclestorides. Ok, great. He said that more of a behavioral issue and that he would contact me with a game plan. Twice I have been contacted by someone at his office. First said Dr dealing with emergency situations and that he would call me back with a game plan for my baby. I waited about 2 weeks. Only to get another voicemail message saying that there were issues with their new location and if I wanted to receive info via text or email. I didn’t spend close to $ 300 and travel 60 miles to get information from the internet. I did that from my home. And now the friend that referred me to Dr Hill is advising me to look for another Dr. Bottom line. I brought my baby in over a month ago, her blood work came back great. Behavior issues, we will talk with you about a plan. Only to get first that the Dr would call me with a plan. Then on second contact was to send info via text or email. So disappointed.

Would give 10 stars if I could. My boyfriend and I had quite the scare last night when we came home from our day trip to Gulf Shores (making it through a total 9 hours of Labor Day traffic) to find that my diamondback terrapin’s head had been stuck in our new filter. She looked like death– just awful, head swollen, legs limp, and barely breathing. It was about 11 pm and no place was open. We were provided Dr. Rich’s home phone number (impressive!!) by our usual exotic animal vet’s 24-​hour hotline when they couldn’t give us advice as to how to handle the situation. I don’t have dogs, or children, so my turtles are like my babies and I was so emotional. Dr. Rich listened and gave us advice on how to give Penny her best chance. His confidence immediately gave me peace of mind, but he did tell us that there was less than a 50% chance she would live– based on her symptoms and the fact that we had no idea how long she had been stuck in the filter. He told us that if she made it through the night, her odds would be better and he could see her immediately in the morning. We stayed up all night, and followed Dr. Rich’s advice… And she is doing wonderfully now just 24 hours later. She is not displaying any signs of respiratory distress, just a bit of swelling left around her eyes. Labor Day was also my birthday and Dr. Rich gave me a true gift. I am so thankful for his compassion, knowledge, dedication, and selflessness. If anyone in the greater New Orleans area ever needs a small animal vet, I highly recommend their services.

After 2 hours of calling trying to find a vet that could see our veiled chameleon with mouth rot on a Saturday I was finally referred here. We saw Dr. Pence who agreed to see us even though it was Saturday. She was so friendly and easy to speak with.
She examined and cleaned our chameleon’s mouth thoroughly and gently, checked her weight and skeletal structure for any other issues. Dr Pence asked about our husbandry to trouble shoot what may have caused the mouth rot and how to correct any issues going forward.
She said she’ll check in on Monday to see how things are going and to make a follow up appointment in two weeks.
I am so happy I decided to take her in today and not wait. I’m very relieved to find out we caught it early.
Huge THANK YOU to Dr Pence!

I can’t say enough good things about this clinic. Dr. Pence and all the staff are obviously very caring professionals.

My pet has passed away in the care of Dr Rich. He put her under anesthesia twice in one day — once for an x-​ray and once for surgery. On top of that, she was left alone in the clinic overnight after the surgery. I was not informed that the clinic is not staffed overnight so I trusted that she’d be ok there. Next morning I got the call that our baby died there alone «sometime between 11pm and 6am.» If I knew she was staying there alone, I would have picked her up. Yes, Dr Rich has a good bedside manner, very nice and polite to us but, unfortunately, he was not as caring to our pet. He did not carefully considered all the risks in this kind of surgery and recovery. My kids and the whole family are devastated by this. He took away my baby, my sunshine, the light of my life.

I had such an amazing experience at this clinic that if I could shout it from the rooftops; I would. Alas, it is 11 pm and I’ve got neighbors.
So I woke up on Thursday and my hedgehog was very lethargic. Short spaced out breaths, sunken in eyes. He hardly moved even as I picked him up. My boyfriend and I rushed to our usual vet that we go to for our other animals, Dr. Joe Dalgo at Barataria Animal Hospital. They were closed. So we quickly went up the street to Acadiana West. They knew nothing of hedgehogs but insisted on taking a look at him before sending us to this expert she knew of in Metairie [Dr. Rich].
She injected him with fluids and put him on a heating pad. Charged us $ 70 for 10 minutes of that… Yeah. I know. Anyway, he threw up, she called Dr. Rich, he said we should come right over to him. We sped over to Metairie and when we came in, the staff was waiting for us. They took him right back and gave us some information to fill out. We did that and then they said that they were going to do an xray and an exam on him. They had us sign a waver sort of thing to say we were willing to pay for it. [Very professional. We didn’t get anything like that at the other place]. So we sat in the waiting room for a while and then they asked us to come into one of the rooms. We sat down and Dr. Rich came in. He told us that my hedgehog had passed away before they could even x-​ray him. The doctor was actually sympathetic and as he continued to speak, you could hear the sadness in his voice. His concern for how we felt and the loss of an animal. He told us that he did the x-​ray anyway, at no charge to us [amazing], and he found a small blockage of sorts inside of him. [He had escaped his cage recently, we believe he ingested something off of the floor then] He also told us that even if he had gone through the surgery that he would have required, he would have passed away within minutes of the surgery. He said exotic animals such as hedgehogs don’t show signs of problems until it’s basically too late. He said if he had any weight loss from it, we wouldn’t have even noticed with all of his spikes.
He asked us if we wanted to take him with us, we said yes. He asked if we wanted to see him before he wrapped him up for us, we said no. and he went to retrieve him for us.
He gave him back in this nice little, perfectly sized, box. Closed with tape. It was honestly a nice little coffin for him. [I know this is weird, bear with me, please.]
He let us cry, he comforted us, he informed us politely. He didn’t make us feel stupid or at fault. He made it as pleasant as such a thing could be. I could cry now just thinking about how amazing Dr. Rich was.
My boyfriend asked him a few questions about how hard it must be to deal with losing animals and other questions about his job [He’s been looking into becoming a vet tech, but this scared him out of it a bit]. Dr. Rich restored my boyfriend’s interest and even wrote down information on a good school for becoming a vet tech. We also spoke of our ferrets and guinea pigs back home and how we were, now, worried about them too. He gave us info sheets that explain things people don’t always know about the animals. He ALSO, very politely and respectfully, offered to give me the number to a hedgehog breeder in the area who is very good. I was glad to have that offered, it was a nice gesture. You wouldn’t think THAT would be, but the way he offered was. Anyway, at this clinic, we were charged about half of what the other clinic [which was all around a bad experience and waste of time and money], only to have way more experience, compassion, and help. I couldn’t talk this clinic up enough, really.
Best experience ever, and for such a terrible situation. I can’t thank him enough.
There’s no question of «Is this place/​doctor good enough?» The answer is «Yes. 1,000 times yes.»
UPDATE: He also mailed me a card with «Thinking of you» on the front and «With heartfelt sympathy in the loss of your pet» inside. He hand wrote «I wish to pass along my sincere sympathy to you in the loss of Sonic. Your care and devotion were clearly evident and I admire these qualities immensely. My thoughts are with you in this time of sorrow. — Dr. Rich» We nearly cried, how amazing is that? To take the time to write out a personal letter and to notice our care and love for our little animal.” That’s just wonderful. We will be writing a letter back to him letting him know how much we appreciate him.

I brought my Holland Lop, Cinnabun, here to be «fixed.» They were very pleasant and explained the process to me in a thorough enough manner that I wasn’t worried (but I wasn’t grossed out either). They commented on how cute the bunster is, which a proud mama can’t help but love. The vet tech and vet handled him in a gentle but stern manner during the original assessment, and even clipped his nails for me free of charge. They called me before and after the surgery to report on Cinnabun’s well-​being, which was really considerate and reassuring, as Cinnabun had never been to a vet or in surgery before. I would highly recommend this vet for any bunny care needs you may have. (And if you don’t have a Holland Lop, now is the time to adopt one!)
Tip: It is very hard to get out of their parking lot. Please be careful for traffic traveling way faster than they should be.

In addition to the earlier review:
My pet passed away in the care of West Esplanade, and they were both kind and appropriate. Instead of letting a tech call me to update me, one of the doctors made the phone call. I got the distinct impression that the conversation would last as long as I needed it to last, with all the details of her life, illness, and passing explained as many times as I needed to hear them.
In addition, the doctor inquired about the pet I had at home (to make sure she wasn’t ill either), explained my options for dealing with the body, and offered his sincere condolences.
There is, at the time of this update, no charge for disposal of a pet that passes away at the clinic. (Some clinics in the area do have a fee, and rightly so.)
All in all, this clinic has it right. I’m so glad there is a place for the exotics of New Orleans to be cared for so well.

Since I wrote my original review of the WEVC my little guy got very sick. I was afraid I was going to lose him but, Dr. Rich, Dr. Pence & the entire staff took EXCELLENT care of the Voodoo bird (and me by explaining everything and answering my 101 questions). I’m happy to say that Voodoo is very well again thanks to everyone at West Esplanade Veterinary Clinic!
I have spend A LOT of time in there in the past 9 months and have seen they way they take care of every pet that walks in to that clinic, they are very good at what they do and thankfully so knowledgeable. Your pet deserves to have the best health care, take them in and get them a wellness exam and try and catch any issues early on.
If you have a pet bird, ferret, rabbit, hedgehog, or reptile this is the place you need to go for their total health care. Trust me, I couldn’t be more thankful to Dr. Rich and his entire staff!