Pacchiano Joi DVM

Let me begin my review by stating that I was very excited that a vet in my area was trained and willing to see pet rats. I had called and asked about prices for my 3 female rats. I had specifically asked if they had multi-​animal discounts (all 3 had sniffles and only required a lung listen). The receptionist said that it was $ 58 for the first and usually not charged each pet after, occasionally 10 – 15 dollars per additional pet. She handled billing and said that worst case I would be charged a little extra per animal, but she’s never seen anyone charged 3 whole appointment visits. This price would not include medication of course, which I was told to be around $ 8-​$ 15. Great. I get all my girls ready and headed out in the cold weather on an early Saturday morning. I sat in the office for over an hour after my appointment time, with people walking in half hours after me and seeing the same vet (Joi Pacchiano) I had been waiting for. When I asked the front desk what happened, they informed me that Dr Pacchiano had an emergency call in, later proving to be a lie. After over an hour of my rats sitting in a DOG KENNEL, dirty waiting room, we were called in. When I asked her about the «emergency» appointment ahead of me, she replied she doesn’t see emergencies and seemed completely uninterested and acted rudely toward me being upset about the very extensive wait (we were the LAST people in the office, with one of the first appointments of the day). The first thing I asked was about the alleged multi pet discount that I had been promised over the phone. She completely discounted that, saying it was $ 58 each rat. I’m a college student, and no way was I prepared to spend over $ 200 for a case of the sniffles. When I told her I was only getting one examined (at that price… give me a break all she did was listen to her lungs!!) she got VERY defensive calling me out on not taking care of my pets (²⁄₃ of the rats I have only had for 5 days! I bought them sick and didn’t have the heart to return them). This really outraged me. If I wasn’t going to take care of my pets I would’ve not taken them to the vet at all or returned them! Give me a fricken break! She then proceeded to listen to the one rats lungs. Her diagnosis…“well I don’t know what’s wrong it could be a variety of things, so let’s put her on an antibiotic”. Are you serious!!! $ 58 and a «maybe» diagnosis!!! I was appalled. I knew more about my 3 rats then she did!!! I shut my mouth and paid for the medicine for the one ($ 45 for a tiny tiny bottle of Baytril, which I later found on 1800 pet meds, perscription free, for $ 1.37). In conclusion, I stressed out all 3 of my animals by bringing them to a «small animal trained vet» in the middle of a legitimate dog park waiting room for over 3 hours for the whole ordeal to get absolutely no diagnosis and waste $ 103 on a crap diagnosis and extremely overpriced medicine. Dr Joi Pacchiano knew nothing about my rats. at all. constantly referencing her untrained teenage assistant who once owned a rat… and running out of the room mid-​appointment to I assume look up medications for rats. I thought I was on punked… until the over inflated vet bills hit my credit card. I will never set foot in another office with Dr Joi Pacchiano, and I advise anyone with half a brain to stay as far away from any practice with her as possible. My pets were clearly discriminated against, which is embarrassing to say about someone who was trained in them, and willingly agreed to see and treat them. Words cannot explain what I went through that morning, and the funny part is that I don’t think the vet nor the office staff even cared at all about what went on. I really felt that I was viewed as «money» and not cared about. More importantly, my pets health meant nothing to her. Never again will I go back.