Payment for services rendered  Payment is due at the time that services are rendered.  We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Debit cards and cash.  Due to a large number of dishonored checks we no longer accept personal checks.  We do not allow clients to charge on account.  Estimates will be given if requested.  A Deposit may be required on surgical and hospitalized patients.  If you have any questions concerning our fees, feel free to discuss them with our staff.                                                                                                                                                                 

Boarding and Hospitalization We require that all vaccines are current within the last year.  Any health conditions that may arise while your pet is in our hospital will be discussed with you and treat during their stay, with a reasonable charge made for our services.  For your pet's protection, animals hospitalized or boarded for any length of time need to be free from internal and external parasites.  We require that your pet be checked in upon entering the hospital and treated as necessary.  At our discretion, any animal that are dirty or flea or tick infested will be required to have a bath upon entering.  We will be happy to provide necessary leashes, bowls and food.  If you decide to leave any other items, they must be labeled with your name and your pet's name with permanent marker.  We will do our best to care for these items but are not responsible for these items being damaged or lost.   Any pet that is left at our facility for ten days after the scheduled pick up date will be deemed abandoned and necessary legal actions will be taken to clear up this matter. If you have any questions concerning our boarding policy, please feel free to discuss them with our staff.

Prescription refill requests You can call our office and request a refill of you pet's medication, flea control or heartworm preventive at any time.  Your pet's record will be reviewed by a doctor and the refill will be processed.  We require that you pet have a current medical history with our hospital and, if necessary,  have current laboratory information on file.  If the doctor fills your refill request, you will be contacted at that time. If you have any questions about prescription refills, please feel free to discuss with our staff.

Pre-surgical Laboratory testing University Animal Hospital has adopted the policy to perform mandatory pre-anesthetic testing on all surgery patients prior to going under anesthesia. Older patients are obvious candidates for pre-anesthetic blood work because organ function decreases with age. However, young patients are not immune to anesthetic complications. Young animals can and do have medical problems such as anemia, renal disease, diabetes, and liver malfunction.

In most cases, if a pet appears “healthly” based on history and physical exam, an anesthetic procedure will be uneventful. However, unlike humans, pets cannot tell us when they do not feel well. As a result of the animals’ instinct to protect themselves, oftentimes-sick pets will “hide” their illness. Therefore, the animal’s appearance of health may be misleading. For example, a pet can lose up to 75% of kidney function prior to showing any sign of illness. To understand your pets “overall” health it is crucial to obtain additional information through testing prior to anesthesia. 

Prior to anesthesia, we will take a complete history and perform a detailed physical exam on your pet. While history and physical exam provide us with important information about your pet’s health, it cannot provide a complete picture. Pre-anesthetic blood work testing provides us an insight as to what is occurring internally. If the results of the test are within the normal ranges, we can proceed with confidence knowing the anesthetic risk is minimized. Normal results also offer a “baseline” to compare future blood tests to. On the other hand, if the results are not within normal ranges, we may proceed as planed yet provide the additional medical support needed to ensure your pet’s health for his or her condition. In other cases, the test abnormalities may be significant enough to postpone the procedure in order to monitor and treat your pet.

University Animals Hospitals ‘s pre-anesthetic profiles include, but are not limited to:

 Blood chemistry – provides information concerning your pet’s vital organs such as kidneys, liver, pancreas, thyroid, parathyroid and intestinal tract. These tests can also indicate conditions such as anemia and dehydration as well as endocrine diseases and certain types of tumors.

 Electrolytes – In order to maintain life, the appropriate balance of electrolytes is vital. Certain diseases or conditions may result in electrolyte imbalances that could compromise a pet’s health and ultimately become life threatening.

 Hematology – provides detailed information on Red Blood Cell, White Blood Cells and platelets. The total WBC and differential (individual cell count) can indicate infection, leukemia, stress, inflammation, or an inability to fight infection.

If you have any questions concerning our pre-anesthetic testing, please speak your Veterinarian.