Tldr: This clinic should not be treating rabbits as they do not understand the severity of GI Stasis and weight loss risk in bunnies. They won't fill prescriptions from specialists out of town, even for their own patients (who they were unable to treat and referred to said specialist). The receptionists seem like they're making things up as they go along and are either very badly informed or are lying.
Sorry for the long post. I take my pets' health seriously and think this experience is worth sharing. My bunny went to ACH a few months ago for her back molar overgrowth issue. Dr. Culver examined her and said they could not treat back molar issues at ACH. They said treatment would require sedation and a specialist.
So, I went to the closest specialist, who is in Des Moines. She had surgery and was initially doing well. Unfortunately, her molars are overgrowing again. She is in pain and refusing to eat almost everything. If bunnies stop eating, they can go into GI stasis and quickly die. It can happen in as little as 8 hours. Any time a bunny is at risk of stasis, it needs to be taken seriously and addressed quickly.
I called the Des Moines clinic and they said our bun will likely need another surgery. The soonest they can do it is in two weeks. They prescribed oral pain meds in the meantime to help her eat so that she won't go into stasis or lose weight. Bunnies are also difficult to safely anesthetise and they have a higher risk of dying the less they weigh. The Des Moines clinic recommended filling the prescription here so she can get her meds right away instead of waiting for them to ship.
I called ACH to fill her script and Nathan said he had to ask someone else. He came back and said they wouldn't fill it unless our bunny does another exam at ACH. I asked what this exam would be for, because Dr. Culver already said they don't have a specialist at ACH who can help with the molar issue. He did not know. I asked if I could talk to the person who he got this info from and he transferred me to Holly.
I explained the situation to her, as well as why it's urgent (stasis and weight loss risk) and again, asked what the purpose of the visit was. Holly replied that the visit would be to see a vet and claimed we only saw a tech the first time. I assumed this was a misunderstanding because I know we saw a vet but couldn't remember their name. I asked Holly for the name of the person we saw, and she replied that we saw Dr. Culver (literally a VET). Now I knew this wasn't a misunderstanding. Holly has the vet's info on record and lied by claiming I only saw a tech to justify the useless visit she was trying to make me do. I asked why she had lied about me seeing a vet and she hung up.
Since I got hung up on and wasn't able to get a solid answer, I'll explain what I suspect is going on. The receptionist, Nathan, did not ask a vet for help when I called, instead he asked Holly. Holly wanted us to pay for a visit that would serve no purpose (because, again, their VET already did an exam and determined they could not help). Holly didn't think I would ask questions. When I did, she didn't have an answer, so she decided to lie and say that I hadn't seen a vet as a way to justify the additional appointment. When I asked for the name of who I saw, she couldn't lie anymore and told the truth, Dr. Culver (I have since looked Dr. Culver up on the ACH site and confirmed that is who I saw). When I asked why she lied, she got scared and hung up.
I never raised my voice or said anything rude. I was asking, what I think were, valid questions and she still hung up on me. It's shady of a clinic to refuse to answer questions and address inconsistencies. Pet parents should be allowed to know what reasoning and care is going into their pet's treatment plan. The way ACH handled this tells me they don't care about our bun or her getting critical medication. They just want to ring as many appointments out of you as possible, knowing full well the appointments won't help.
Everyone from the front desk to the vet assistants and the doctors are wonderful. They squeezed us in today and were kind and very thorough. Ryah, Dr. Chen, and Rachel are especially great!
