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Dr. Nickel's Animal Hospital Policies & Protocols
Welcome to our practice!
We are a preventative care hospital. We will make recommendations that will be aimed at preventing disease and problems before they occur. Our hospital understands the veterinary- client -patient relationship. It takes a team to provide great health care for our pets. We all work together to provide excellent care. To acquaint you with our hospital's philosophy, please read through the following:
Conduct
It is vital, in order to maintain a healthy relationship with our practice, that you conduct yourself in a respectful and courteous manner when interacting with the staff. It is important to remember that we are here to provide product and services to help you and your pet. To this end we find that acting as a team will accomplish this best.
Any client who is verbally abusive or very disrespectful to any member of Dr. Nickel's Animal Hospital is grounds for immediate dismissal from the practice and loss of all veterinary services. The staff comes to work to provide respect, courtesy, care and kindness to all our patients and clients; the staff deserves to be treated in the same manner.
Medical Histories
We ask that all new clients have their pet's history on file here at our hospital prior to their first appointment. This allows the doctor(s) and staff to become knowledgeable about your pet's health history and will allow us to determine your pet's health care needs. A complete history helps the doctor know your pet's possible additional needs. If your pet's previous medical history has not been received prior to your appointment -we will need to reschedule your pet's exam.Requirements: Spay/Neuter
All pets at this hospital are required to be spayed and neutered, (unless medically unable to have surgery).Requirements: Vaccinations and Examinations
Dr. Nickel's Animal Hospital requires that dogs be current on their Annual Examinations as well as the following vaccinations: Rabies, DAPP (distemper) and Leptospirosis. All patients, in order to be considered active patients at the hospital and be eligible for urgent care or emergency care services, must remain current on the annual examination and vaccine requirements. The annual exam, FVRCP (feline distemper) and Rabies vaccinations are required for our cat patients to be considered active patients eligible for urgent care or emergency services. The required vaccines prevent the most common diseases your pet can be exposed to and protect humans from diseases that could be transmitted from animals to people.
Notifications of Test Results
Dr. Nickel sends your pet's blood work results as well as his interpretation to your email. Please be aware you will receive this from results@vetconnectplus.com
Cancellations of Appointments
If you need to cancel your appointment, we ask that you notify us 24 hours in advance. This will allow us to provide earlier appointments for the people and pets who are on our cancellation list.
Life happens and things come up that we don't expect. In order to provide the full exam time to each client as well as to keep the doctor on time throughout the day, we will reschedule your appointment if you are 10 or more minutes late.
Urgent Care and Emergency Services
Only patients that are current with the exam and vaccine requirements, are eligible to be seen on an urgent care or an emergency basis. Patient's will be triaged prior to the appointment to determine if they need to be seen on emergency or urgent care basis.
An urgent care patient will be admitted to the hospital on a drop off basis and examined by the doctor in the treatment area. An emergency patient will be examined in the treatment area and the doctor will interrupt all scheduled appointments in order to see the patient.
The treatment area is the area in the hospital where patients are hospitalized, treated and recover from procedures. Only authorized personnel are allowed in this area.
Services Not Provided
The hospital does not offer breeding services. It is in the best interest of your pet's wellbeing to be spayed or neutered. The hospital does not offer tail docking, puppy dewclaw removal, or ear cropping.
Euthanasia (End of Life Services)
Euthanasia is provided only for patients who have untreatable terminal disease, untreatable pain or when medical or surgical treatment(s) can no longer improve a patient's quality of life. Euthanasia means good death in the Greek language. As such euthanasia is not just the ending of life, it is the ending of life before great suffering and pain has been endured, but euthanasia is not for disposal of unwanted pet's lives. Dr. Nickel will perform a full physical examination and review the patient's medical record to determine if euthanasia is the proper treatment option.
Euthanasia services are only available for active patients at Dr. Nickel's Animal Hospital. Euthanasia is not an emergency service. To clarify, euthanasia may be recommended in an emergency situation in which there is no way to save the patient's life. End of life services, when a pet has a terminal disease that is no longer able to be controlled comfortably, is a scheduled appointment during hospital hours that takes place before the patient begins to suffer from the advancing disease/condition. The appointment should be planned to avoid allowing the pet to reach a point in which emergency euthanasia is needed.
Compliance
Clients who do not comply with the hospital's exam and vaccination requirements will be ineligible for continued services.
We hope to see your pet for years to come. Thank you for choosing us as your pet's health care team.
