Should I Schedule my Pet an Appointment During COVID-19?

While we are all practicing social distancing and shelter in place initiatives during the unprecedented times of COVID-19, we want to remind our customers that our centers remain open for essential visits for your pet. But what does that mean? How do I know if my pet’s condition warrants a trip to see a doctor? We’re here to help answer some of those questions.

• Annual/bi-annual wellness visits:  No. We recommend postponing these appointments for the time being. 
• Vaccinations:  Yes. If you have a new pet at home, we recommend coming in unless you know that your new pet is current on vaccines. Preventive measures in booster vaccines can eliminate the possibility of life-threatening diseases without them. A pet’s lifestyle will play a big part in determining which vaccines must be administered.
• Heartworm:  Yes. We recommend that your pet is on heartworm prevention This may require testing and in some instances require an appointment.  Consult your veterinary team for recommendations about your pet.
• Flea/ Tick Prevention: Yes. With warmer winter months, many flea eggs did not die meaning we can expect a big upcoming season for parasites. We do recommend continuing prevention. 
• Medical Refills: Yes. We want to make sure your pet is healthy and cared for during this time and will still dispense and administer medication. Use of our online pharmacy may allow you to receive your pet’s medications at home. 
• Life-threatening and chronic conditions: Yes. We will still see your pets for these types of appointments.
• Surgical procedures: Case-by-case. For patients experiencing painful disorders, we will determine if the procedure can be delayed temporarily while maintained on analgesics. We will make sure your pet is a low risk before going this route, however, if it is not an option, we will perform surgery. Other non-urgent surgery will be postponed unless it poses a serious risk to your pet (ie: mast cell tumor, bladder stone, etc)
• Routine testing: No. We recommend postponing these appointments unless a delay would substantially increase the risk of complications.
• Euthanasia: Yes. In the unfortunate circumstances you need to say goodbye to your furbaby, we will do everything we can to respect the human-animal bond while limiting social interactions as much as possible.
• Grooming & Daycare: Yes. We will continue to provide these services based on state/local ordinances. Please note, this has affected some of our centers.
• Health Certificates: Yes. An appointment can be made for this service.

Please note: For all appointments being scheduled, social distancing and curbside drop-off and pick-up procedures are in place. To learn more about our COVID-19 response, check out this blog post.

While this is just a brief overview of what services are currently available, we are here for you. If you have further questions on what qualifies as an essential appointment, check out our locations page to find your nearest center and give us a call today. Our team will be happy to help!