Long Island Bird & Exotics Veterinary Clinic — Local services in Town of North Hempstead

This review is for the treatment of a homing pigeon.

I have six rescue animals and I rehab others in addition to that so I have a decent amount of experience at veterinary offices. On average I spend a few thousand a year on medical care for rehab/rescues. Vet visits are never a pleasant experience but what you hope for going in is professionalism, kindness and transparency.

Front desk staff are cordial enough and professional. They saw me almost right away despite my very early arrival. The facility is bright, clean and pleasant. There was a sweet little conure hanging out in a large cafe in the lobby.

The nurse I spoke to (Jacqueline (sp.?)) was really great at her job and made me feel comfortable. She asked a lot of questions and took notes regarding my pigeon's home life. I assumed these questions were diagnostic but I think they also have a vested interest in ensuring these animals are properly being cared for given their uncommon nature. They gave me a pretty comprehensive pigeon care consultation.

The doctor was prompt and professional. She gave me the impression that she was very knowledgeable about bird anatomy. I did not necessarily agree with the stance that an indoor pigeon's normal laying cycle = chronic egg-laying = give your bird hormonal birth control, but I understand the concern about calcium depletion and will take extensive measures to guard against that. The doctor was comfortable handling my pigeon and seemed genuinely concerned for her pain. She answered my questions and tolerated my anxiety. The knowledgeability is why I choose avian vets. At regular vets, birds are like an afterthought. My doctor was also honest about prognosis and gave me clear instructions for aftercare.

Price is an awkward sticking point during vet visits. Obviously, staff have to be paid and procedures require special equipment and supplies. However there is an inevitable conflict of interest anytime a medical service is provided by a for-profit entity--mainly because any clinic only stands to benefit from providing and billing for unnecessary procedures. It's an industry that, at its worst, can capitalize on client ignorance.

I've only visited this place once but I think they strike a fair balance where that is concerned. Unusual pets will naturally be more costly to care for. My pigeon, as I suspected, had broken her shoulder. I came in hoping it would be possible to bind her and boost her chances of being able to fly again. The doctor offered me a comprehensive treatment plan which made sense for the most part. I'm generally against frivolous blood work for young healthy animals (or for treating injuries unrelated to systemic disease) as I feel that is pushed excessively at vet clinics so I declined it. I understand that holistic wellness is important but I go to the vet for acute injury/illness and I like to buy services that are truly necessary for improving the animal's condition. I would have paid a couple thousand for surgical intervention if it could guarantee that she would fly again but that just isn't the case.

I deeply really appreciated that the doctor was forthcoming with me about costs and was willing to work with me when I refused certain aspects of the treatment plan. It sucks having to negotiate over a sick animal. She showed me an itemized list of procedural expenses and allowed me to look over it before proceeding. When I didn't want to pay for certain things, she was absolutely respectful of it and helped me figure out a more conservative treatment. Her injury is in such a location that it wouldn't even benefit from being bound / set. The more conservative diagnostics/treatment confirmed the injury well enough workout the need for sedation. I asked if additional diagnostic testing would improve her chances of flying again, or would change her home treatment plan. They were honest with me and said no, so I chose not to pursue additional testing. That alone deserves more than five stars.

Thanks for your help guys! I hope to not need your services too often but I'm glad you are...

It’s important to have a good relationship with your vet, unfortunately I dread every conversation I have to have at this office.

At first, my husband took our pet here for her appointment. Afterward he remarked how rude, condescending, tongue in cheek, and just personally awful the team was to him. The doctor was super chatty beyond necessary to the point of wanting to pull your hair out. Also the most I’ve ever spent on a pet just for some diagnostic and common medicine, yet I’ve had full surgeries on my pets that cost less.

I took the pet the next time to her next appointment, and experienced the same thing. Every person there I interacted with was rude, condescending, fake smile with a twitch in their eye like they have a gun being held to the back of their head. I agree that The doctor, unnecessarily long winded as well. After my appointment, The technician went out of her way to come into the lobby , and unprompted- chose to make extra snide and rude comments insinuating that I was not going to be ontop of my pets treatment .. no idea why she believed such. meanwhile I’ve had this Type of pet my entire life, probably longer than she’s been a tech.

Overall every time I call, I’m placed on hold 1 million times - sometimes even mid sentence. I just feel like if you can’t hold a conversation longer than 30 seconds and then were better off just letting it go to voicemail.. on the phone, i’ll be talking to the receptionist and tell her one thing and she’ll repeat it back to me a completely different way.

For example, I told her I had maybe about 3 days left of medication left for my pet, maybe more as it’s unmeasurable because the bottle is dark green. and she kept repeating it back to me saying i had only 1 day left of medication. She was being rude, saying I shouldn’t wait so long. I asked her how long I should’ve waited and she told me about 3 days….. Which is exactly how much I said I had . I don’t know if she was trying to show off in front of somebody else because they’re always on some kind of rude power trip, or if it was that she kept placing me on hold so many times that she can’t even remember what I’m telling her. By the end, She ended up passing the phone to someone else who finished scheduling my appointment. Obviously there was some kind of issue they had with talking to me, again, no idea why they have been treating us this way since we stepped foot in the door.

One of the medications they put my pet on. They told me that I had to call it in and have it delivered to my home. So I called it in and paid for it and it wasn’t delivered for over two weeks even though I had paid for expedited shipping. When I was going to a vet Manhattan and needed the same type of medication, the Manhattan vet was able to hand it to me then and there and also have it delivered to me without my own effort, … so don’t know why they don’t have this type of access as well .

Either way, I am already driving 30 minutes to get to this vet. It will be no different for me to drive the hour to Huntington Station. I had spoken with some other people in my area who run shelters and have the same type of pet; and when I mention to these different people that I went to great neck Exotic vet they always have the same response which is puff and say how much of a bad experience they have here, how rude everyone is, and they recommend that I go to Huntington Station instead

It is really unfortunate that I could not go here as I’ve never had an issue with a doctor or a vet before -and I have never felt so stressed out anytime that I have to communicate or go to this place, but I cannot put with this nonsense any longer. We have no idea why they would be interacting with us this way, all we’ve done is give them hundreds of dollars and show up.

Edit- they didn’t like the Google review so removed our medication dependent pet as a patient knowing she is low on medicine. Obviously, This is a...

I adopted a 40 year old parrot about 1.5 years ago. I've never been a bird mom before and Duke just sort of fell into my lap. Long story long, his owner passed away and my friend (owner's extended relative) knew my in-laws loved birds so she reached out to me because no one in her family could take care of this poor parrot and I said they'd absolutely take him in. Duke wound up hating my in-laws (he lunged at them several times - it was both sad and quite funny), but he really connected with my husband and me. And that's how I became a bird mom to a 40 year old Yellow Naped Amazon Parrot. Once Duke settled in with me, I figured I should find a good vet, so I asked a friend who has an African Grey parrot and he heavily recommended Long Island Exotics in Great Neck. He said there's no one like them - great docs and staff. I called them and immediately they were super friendly on the phone and helped me find the right date/time that would fit my schedule. I saw Dr. Malka on 8/12/21 at 7pm. When I arrived, I handed Duke off to an assistant (either Hallie or Liza) and she was very polite and courteous. I waited outside for a little while, maybe 10-15 minutes, and Dr. Malka came out. He hadn't finished examining Duke yet, but he wanted to talk to me about any possible history Duke had, which was almost none prior to when I adopted him, and what I was feeding him, his toys, treats, etc. Dr. Malka was so kind and patient with me. I'm obviously a new bird mom and he saw that and didn't treat me like I was ignorant. Instead, he gave me really helpful insight and tools to help give Duke the best care possible. No more seeds and peanuts! Obviously, that's not the only thing he said, but it's certainly among the more important things. He also didn't bombard me with so much info that I felt my head would explode. He gave me just enough so that I wouldn't get confused and then said he'd give me some brochures to fill in any missing info. He also said I could call and ask his staff anything if I had follow-up questions post-visit. When I called to make the appointment, I didn't request a specific vet, but I am VERY glad Dr. Malka saw Duke. He went back in to complete the examination and do some blood work. Kat, the vet assistant, came out about 10-15 minutes later to give me the bill and the informational brochures regarding food and behavior for Duke. Kat was an absolute sweetheart. She was so knowledgeable, friendly, and just a warm and caring person overall. She told me Duke was a gentleman in the exam room and was SUCH a good boy, so of course I am a PROUD bird mom and totally beaming because this is like a child bringing home a good grade on a test. Ok, parents of human children, I get it now. If there was a piece of paper from Dr. Malka and Kat that said Duke was pretty calm during the exam and didn't bite anyone, I'd absolutely put it up on my refrigerator for all to see. I am so happy my friend (John) with the African Grey (Ruby) recommended LI Exotics. No one wishes their pet will have to see their vet more frequently, but if Duke did need something like that, I wouldn't think twice about where to bring him. Thank you to everyone I met during his appointment: Dr. Malka, Kat, Liza, Hallie, Sarah, and Isabel. Everyone was wonderful and I will recommend you to anyone I know with a bird or other sort of exotic animal. What an...