Current Considerations For A Small Animal Clinic

In light of COVID-19, we as veterinarians are having to adapt and change our plan of attack every single day.  There are new recommendations, new protocols, changes to yesterday’s recommendations, etc. We hope that our clients can be patient and understanding when we ask them to stay in the car while we examine their pet, when we can’t see you for vaccines today, or when your routine dental cleaning has been postponed until further notice.

It has been recommended by the AVMA, that we move to emergency and sick pet visits only.  This is to reduce our use of personal protection equipment, sterile gloves, surgical supplies, medical supplies to those patients in need, rather than routine well visits, vaccinations, spays/neuters, things that can safely wait.  Medical supplies are in high demand right now and we are facing supply shortages, so we need to be judicious in our use for people and pets. 

To decrease as much contact to others, veterinary facilities are adapting and using curbside pick up.  We can go out to the car and bring your pet into the hospital and then talk over the phone or video chat while performing our exam.  Social distancing in the veterinary hospital can be difficult as some patients are very attached to their owner, and vice versa. There is a lot of holding and handing off of the pets to our staff and we are within arms length at almost all times.  We want to try to keep you all safe, as well as keep our staff and their families safe. Please do not be offended if we come outside with gloves and or a mask.

With these changes, small businesses are going to be heavily affected by the reduction in services.  Although it may be more convenient to order online and have your prevention and medications delivered, consider ordering these drugs through your vet.  Often mail-in or online rebates from the veterinary office reduce the price considerably. We rely on sales to survive, to pay our staff, to pay our local county and city taxes, to keep the doors open.  So just consider this before buying from a big online company. 

We understand this may all be inconvenient, but please be patient with us.  As a society, we are all adapting, trying to make this work, trying to keep everyone safe.

Stay well.

Dr. Leah Wulforst, DVM

Riverside Veterinary Clinic