How I Work
I will always need to do an initial in-person consultation with you and your pet to allow me to examine your pet and do a full clinical exam before embarking on any course of action.
In cases where follow-up is needed, where possible, I will ask for photos to be sent to allow me to be updated on how things are going and follow up with a telephone consultation. This allows me to know how my treatment plan is going and if modifications or alterations to the plan need to be made.
Other times an in-person follow-up consultation may be necessary. This might be because we have had several telephone consultations and I now want to do a full clinical exam to make sure that your animal is coping with treatment. Or it may be, as in the case of a cardiac patient, that I need to listen to heart and lungs and check for any signs of concern.
Whenever possible, and where I do not believe that it will be unsafe, I will do phone consultation follow-ups in order to save on your costs and to cause least disruption to your pet.
I charge for all consultations, in-person and telephone consultations. I will schedule consultations with you in advance.
I do not charge for WhatsApp exchanges such as photo requests. I do not charge if I make a call to you that is not a phone appointment.
During a consultation, it may become clear that a procedure is needed. Where possible I will do the necessary work there and then. This adds time on to the basic consultation and a charge will need to be made for the procedure in addition to the consultation.
It is only when an investigative procedure is needed to support treatment or to allow for a diagnosis that I will suggest testing (e.g., urine testing). If I am able to perform the test in-house I will do so to keep down costs and to allow for a faster diagnosis. I do not like to do testing unless absolutely necessary as your animal doesn’t want to be tested! And I appreciate that testing, especially lab testing, is expensive.
I order in and dispense any medications that your pet needs. It is always your right to ask for a prescription from me for the medication so that you can order the medicine online. If the medicine is needed urgently then ordering online may be too slow. If your animal has a long-term condition that requires ongoing medication then it may work out cheaper for you to have me issue you with a prescription for you to use with an online supplier. I make a charge for prescriptions but I do allow for repeats for a reasonable length of time, after which time I would need to examine your animal before issuing another prescription; this is to ensure that I am being responsible and that the prescription is still appropriate.
PGVS at home consultations are priced for the local area. If you wish to use PGVS for at-home care and you are not very local to the practice, there will need to be a charge for travel. I will raise this at the time of booking the appointment to ensure that you know what the charge will be. The travel charge varies depending on how long the drive time is.
If anything is not clear at any point please feel free to make enquiries.