Appointment Policy

Walk-in clients are welcome, however, appointments are preferred, and walk-in clients are subject to different or additional exam fees (i.e. emergencies). Emergency cases receive top priority followed by clients with previously scheduled appointments.

Patient Arrival Policy

For your protection, and that of others, all dogs must be on a leash and properly controlled while in the waiting area or exam rooms. We recommend walking your dog before taking him/her to your car.

All cats must be presented in an appropriate cat carrier.

If your cat is afraid of your carrier, follow these instructions:

A few days before your scheduled visit (preferably 1 week), take your carrier out of storage and place it near your cat’s feeding area. Next, leave the carrier door open and put your cat’s favorite blanket and some toys in the carrier so it becomes a familiar part of your cat’s environment. After some time, place some of its favorite foods inside or on top of the carrier. Because the next stressful event for many cats is simply traveling in your car, which always means a visit to the vet clinic, minimize your cat’s fear by taking it for a couple of short rides before the day of your visit. Another helpful alternative would be applying products such as the Feliway spray to the carrier 30 minutes to an hour prior to your arrival. Feliway pheromones can help reduce the signs of stress your cat may be feeling while at the hospital.

***For more information, please visit our FEAR FREE link.

Payment Policy

Our goal is to serve you and your pet in every way possible. This includes ensuring your medical team provides the level of care that fits within your budget. It’s important that your financial commitment and responsibilities are made clear before treatment begins. In the case of an emergency, your pet will be stabilized before your medical options are presented.

Payment, in full, is required at the time services are rendered. Feel free to ask for an estimate of charges at any time. If your pet is admitted to the hospital, the veterinarian will ask you to leave a deposit (usually 50% of the estimated treatment charges). Moreover, the veterinarian and nurse will provide a treatment plan and estimate for these hospitalized patients.

Accepted Forms of Payment

We accept Debit Cards, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, ScratchPay, and Care Credit.

Appointment Cancellation Policy

Unfortunately, like other medical practices, we also have the occasional late arrival or no-show appointment.  We do try and manage these as apart from impacting on those who have arrived on time for their appointment; it has a negative impact on the medical team.  Often there are cases being treated in the hospital and the staff attempts to schedule their day to ensure that they can meet the needs of those patients and scheduled appointments.  Arriving late or not showing at all impacts their ability to manage treatments for these pets.  Thus, we do have a few rules and guidelines that the staff work with in terms of late arrivals, cancellations, and no-shows.

Late Arrivals

Please be aware that our hospital has a policy wherein if you are more than 15 minutes late for your scheduled appointment time, we will adjust our schedule and move you to the walk-in/urgent care service when you arrive.  While we certainly understand that delays may happen, we feel we have an obligation and responsibility to do our very best to service clients and patients who are here for their appointments on time.  We strongly encourage all our clients to arrive at least 15 minutes early for scheduled appointments if possible, as we do have administrative paperwork that will need to be completed, especially if you are a new client or have a new pet.

No-Shows

When you schedule an appointment and fail to show or call and notify us of your inability to keep this appointment time, it impacts our ability to service clients who may be here already waiting to see a doctor.  If you fail to show or call and notify us about the difficulty in keeping your appointment time on more than three (3) occasions, you will be prohibited from scheduling an appointment with our medical staff.  We will still see your pet, but it will be as a walk-in/urgent care arrival only following three subsequent no-shows for appointments.  We recognize that your pet may need medical attention and we do not wish to turn your pet away, but you will be subject to any wait times associated with the walk-in/urgent care service.

Cancellations

If you must cancel an appointment, we ask for 24 hours’ notice without being financially responsible for the time. If the appointment is scheduled for Saturday or Monday, cancellation must be done the previous Friday, during business hours. For dental or surgical appointments, we ask for a 48 hours notice. If the appointment is on Tuesday, the cancellation must be done the previous Friday, during business hours.

The following fees will be applied to your account for not calling as required.

Late Payments

If for some reason payment is not collected at the time of the appointment, a late fee of $25.00 will be added to the invoice, weekly, for up to four (4) consecutive weeks. After the 4th week, the outstanding balance/invoice will be sent over to a Collections agency.

Missed Office Visits – No shows & Late Cancellation Fees:

1^st Missed Appointment – Our staff will call to ensure the wellbeing of you and your pet in addition to rescheduling your exam.

2^nd Missed Appointment – 50% of the current exam fee will be applied to your account for canceling an appointment a second time with less than a 24 hours notice

3^rd & Subsequent Missed Appointment – 100% of the current exam fee will be applied to your account for canceling an appointment a 3rd time and every subsequent time with less than 24 hours’ notice.

For a New Client appointment, or a Saturday appointment, which requires a deposit equal to the physical exam and consultation fee, you must cancel your appointment 24 hours prior (only during regular business hours) to request a refund or keep the credit in case you decide to reschedule your visit.

Missed Dental or Surgical Procedures:

For a Dental or Surgical procedure – a $250.00 fee will be applied to your account for canceling an appointment with less than 48 hours’ notice, or the deposit paid will be automatically forfeited.

Please Note:

• A missed appointment fee will need to be paid prior to receiving any new services, prescriptions, or food.

• Missing three (3) consecutive appointments or frequent cancellations/schedule changes will result in a prepayment of your appointment.

We thank you in advance for abiding by these policies and helping us keep our clients, staff, and patients on schedule and safe!

Please understand that we have created this policy out of respect for those clients who are waiting to have their pets seen.