General FAQ

• I work full time and it is often hard to set an appointment with the veterinarian. Do you have late hours or Saturday hours available?
• What forms of payment do you accept?
• Do you perform surgery at your clinic?
• My horse is ill and I cannot manage his daily care. Can his care be handled at your clinic?
• Do you service your own emergencies or will I have look to another clinic or veterinarian for an after hours or weekend emergency situation?
• We live in the mountains and are a considerable distance from town. Do you service this area?
• Can I request the doctor of my choice?

Q: I work full time and it is often hard to set an appointment with the veterinarian. Do you have late hours or Saturday hours available?

A: Yes, we do have both. We have the ability to schedule an appointment as late as 4:30 PM and in some instances we can schedule a Saturday morning appointment. With our latest weekday appointment being at 4:30 we hope to accommodate most situations. Although our staffing is reduced on the weekends we still make appointments between 8AM and 12 Noon on Saturday. The Saturday morning appointments are limited in number and scope, so please call early in the week if you would like to schedule for this time.

Q: What forms of payment do you accept?

A: We accept checks, Visa or MasterCard and of course cash. For approved accounts we can offer billing and credit terms. We do have a short credit application that is required when applying for open account billing. Once approved for open billing, our standard terms are net due upon receipt of invoice.

Q: Do you perform surgery at your clinic?

A: We do many types of surgeries right here at the clinic. We have the ability to perform many soft tissue as well as some orthopedic procedures.

Q: My horse is ill and I cannot manage his daily care. Can his care be handled at your clinic?

A: We can manage cases at the clinic, although our hospital stall facilities are limited. We do, in most cases, try to minimize the stay for inpatient cases. We also have arrangements with two different rehab facilities, one of which is less than 1/4 mile from our clinic, and we can coordinate aftercare and doctor's visits at the facilities. We are hoping to improve and expand the existing facilities in the future.

Q: Do you service your own emergencies or will I have look to another clinic or veterinarian for an after hours or weekend emergency situation?

A: There is always at least one doctor on call, and we provide emergency services 24 hours per day 365 days of the year.

Q: We live in the mountains and are a considerable distance from town. Do you service this area?

A: Yes, we do service this area. When servicing this area we apply our standard farm call charge, plus a mileage charge for the distance traveled outside of our normal area. For scheduled appointments this additional mileage charge can add from $20 -50 to the local call fee. If you have a neighbor that would like to also have us up for scheduled medical care we will divide that additional mileage charge among the number of nearby places we visit on that trip.
Emergencies in the mountains, both daytime and after hours, can sometimes become a major issue for people living in the more remote areas. In these cases there are two options available: either you can trailer your horse to our clinic, or we can come up to the mountains on an ambulatory basis. If you require emergency ambulatory service and we have serviced your account with regularly scheduled medicine or routine preventative medicine we will provide ambulatory service for these emergencies, subject to having a "back up" doctor available at the time.
When we do come up to the mountains on an emergency basis we are usually out of range of communication cell phone and pager, and therefore cannot service any other emergency that might arise with the rest of our clients. Thus, the doctor on call must rely upon having a "back up" emergency doctor in order to respond with ambulatory service to the mountains. The emergency service EMS provides for Client Advantage Members generally falls into two categories - In clinic priority emergency services and Ambulatory, or "farm call" priority emergency services. We provide Advantage Members with priority in clinic emergency services 7 days a week, 24 hours per day, 365 days each year. However, our priority emergency service for ambulatory or "farm call" emergencies is subject to the limitations practice coverage as stated above. We will still prioritize your call by being available on an in clinic basis.

Q: Can I request the doctor of my choice?

A: Obviously each of the doctor's schedule is different and thus their availability differs. Just as in a single- doctor practice during the busiest times of the year, (spring and summer), any particular doctors schedule may be full days or even a week in advance. However, unlike a single-doctor practice, even in the busiest of seasons one of our doctors should be able to schedule a visit within a few days. Ultimately, as a client you always have the right to select the doctor of your choice for scheduled appointments.