About Us

The Animal Doctors is an appointment based clinic. Making an appointment, allows our veterinarians to spend the appropriate amount of time your pet needs, finding out their history and performing a full physical examination.

We ask that clients try to arrive on time for their appointments. We do admit that there are delays occasionally when an emergency case may present. As a courtesy, if you are unable to make your appointment, we appreciate a cancellation call 24 hours in advance so that your appointment slot can be released to another pet in need.

We recommend that appointments for routine or major surgeries are made 2 weeks in advance. This allows for us to suit your preferred timing and also to allow for ample preparation for your pet’s surgery. Pre-op and post-op care is important and we can help you plan accordingly.

We do understand that your pet’s conditions can often be unexpected. In the event that we are unable to schedule an appointment for you on the day, walk-ins are accepted. However, waiting times for walk-ins are unpredictable and can range from 1 hour to 3 hours.

In the event of an emergency, your pet will be triaged by our nurses and veterinarians. Depending on the triage, critical cases will be attended to immediately. However, non critical cases will be placed in the walk-in queue.

If you are unsure or think your animal is in an emergency or in extreme pain, inform our staff immediately upon arrival.

It is our policy at The Animal Doctors not to euthanase animals with treatable conditions. Euthanasia is offered as a last option and is used to relieve pain and suffering from terminal illness.

It is also recommended in cases where our veterinarians have determined that the pet is suffering. Our vets will discuss in detail with owners prior to making this recommendation.

If you pet is presenting to the clinic in an emergency situation, please allow our staff to bring your pet immediately to the treatment area for triage and veterinary attention.

Although you may be upset, it is very important to remain calm and to try and provide our nurses with a detailed history of your pet. This will help our veterinarians to diagnose your pet’s condition quickly and to render treatment appropriately.

Often, diagnostic work up is required to determine the cause of the emergency. This can involve blood tests, imaging (X-rays, ultrasound) and oxygen therapy as a minimum. Please inform our staff if you do not wish for this to be performed. Financial concerns should be raised at this stage as well.

At The Animal Doctors, we strive to provide the best veterinary and surgical care for your pets. That means hiring quality employees, providing for continuing education to keep on top of veterinary advances, and purchasing necessary equipment and medications. We can continue to offer such care and maintain a well-equipped, properly staffed clinic only if we receive prompt payment for our services and products.

Full payment is required at the time that services are rendered or inventory items are dispensed. For your convenience, we accept Cash, Visa, MasterCard, NETS and PayPal payments. We also offer an interest free installment plan for certain credit cards (*Conditions Apply). We have a strict no credit policy and all outstanding invoices have to be paid upon discharge of in-hospital patients and upon completion of the consultation for all out-patients.

In non-emergent cases, you will be provided a cost estimate in advance for all surgical procedures, or non‐routine work‐ups. Please do not hesitate to discuss your financial concerns with us so we can discuss with you how to maximize the health of your pet while staying within what you can afford.

You may also request an estimate for routine care such as vaccines, heart-worm protection and intestinal parasite control before services are rendered. If you are unable to pay for all recommended services and inventory items, our doctor can help you decide which are most important for your pet that day.

When pets are seen on an emergency basis out of clinic opening hours, there is an emergency fee in addition to the normal consult fee.

For your protection, and that of others, we ask that:

– All dogs must be on a leash and properly controlled while in the waiting area or consult rooms.
– All cats must be presented in an appropriate cat carrier or on a leash.
– All exotic patients must be presented in carriers/enclosures appropriate to their species

Please notify our staff if you need assistance or if a pet needs special handling.

It is the responsibility of the owner to ensure that their dog or cat is appropriately vaccinated when arriving at the clinic. Infectious diseases like parvovirus and distemper can spread easily in a waiting room.

If your pet does not have up to date vaccinations, please inform our staff during registration and we can advise you on the appropriate action for the safety of your pet.

Pets that are unclaimed after 1 week, despite reasonable attempts to reach their owners will be considered abandoned at the clinic.

Ensure that all your contact details are accurate and that you can be reached while your animal is hospitalized or boarding with our facility.

In the event your pet is considered as abandoned, ownership is transferred over to the clinic. In these instances, the clinic will determine the next course of action for the pet. Cases of abandonment will also be reported to the authorities.

At The Animal Doctors, we respect the privacy of our clients. The information we collect about our clients (i.e. contact and account details) are strictly confidential and kept purely for our own personal records such that we can provide our clients with the highest quality service and maintain their current contact details.

Client information is not disclosed to anyone without prior permission. This includes other veterinarians and veterinary specialists who may provide services in connection with our own products and services. If a patient’s medical history is requested from another vet, we only disclose this information AFTER we have direct permission from the owner to do so.

We endeavour to keep our client and patient information as accurate as possible. Please contact us if you wish us to update any of your details.