Advice for Pet Owners with a Referral Appointment
At this stage, you will have spoken with a member of our team to arrange a consultation with one of our referral clinicians. You should have received instructions on medication, exercise, withholding food, etc. prior to the appointment.
We appreciate that seeking specialist advice for a much-loved pet can be a very stressful experience. In order to minimise the impact of this on both you and your pet, we ask that you consider the following points prior to your appointment with us.
- Please ensure you have collected any X-rays, etc. from your vet to bring with you to the appointment. Please also bring along any medication your pet is currently taking.
- Please ensure your pet has had an opportunity to relieve themselves prior to the car journey.
- During the assessment of you pet’s condition it may be necessary for us to contact you to discuss our findings. It is therefore essential that we are able to talk with you directly, during the time your pet is with us. You should therefore make arrangements to carry a mobile phone, have access to a land-line throughout the day, or authorise a friend or relative to make decisions regarding your pet’s treatment on your behalf. Should we be unable to contact you, we will of course, act in their best interests. Unfortunately, given that we continually receive accident and emergency cases throughout the day, it is not always possible for us to give you a time that we are likely to ring with test results, etc., but we will do our best to keep you informed of developments as quickly as possible.
- We will discuss likely treatment costs at the time of your appointment but this will obviously vary according to our findings during subsequent investigations. However, we will endeavour to keep you fully informed of costs by making every effort to discuss different treatment options regarding on-going care of your pet. Again, for this reason, it is very helpful for us to be able to contact you without delay whilst he/ she remains in our care.
- Insurance: – If you wish us to claim our fees directly from your pet-insurers, you will need to bring along any paperwork relating to the policy. However, it is important to note that not all insurers will allow us to do this.
- If you are delayed due to traffic/ other unforeseen circumstances, it would help us immensely for you to let us know as soon as possible. Similarly, if you decide to cancel your appointment, we would appreciate some notification so your consultation slot may be offered to another pet owner.
If you have further questions, please do contact us.