Surgery and anesthesia is a stressful time for both you and your pet but we do our best to make it as stress free and painless process as possible.  At drop off there will be a few documents to fill out including a consent for treatment and an estimate. Your estimate is of expected costs, this is an estimate and subject to change if services change. The treatment form allows for you to fill out best number for today, acknowledge we have your pet for the day, and a place to note anything you would like communicated or emphasized to the back staff.

Surgical Drop-off is between 7-8 depending on your scheduled time

• Remember no food after midnight the night before, water is ok
• Please bring your dog in on a leash and cats in their carrier
• We generally do not bring in their blankets in case they get soiled or lost
• If your pet is extremely anxious please let us know prior to this point so we can talk about accommodations

After drop off

• We take your pet to the back where our team gets initial vitals, blood work started, and a catheter placed
• Once your pet is prepped, they will be placed in a kennel or run with blankets while we take in others
• All pets receive “pre-medication” these are injectable medications that include pain control to help anesthesia run as smoothly as possible and minimize need for higher doses of anesthesia.

Anesthesia itself

• If bloodwork is normal we proceed without a call
• All pets are intubated that undergo general anesthesia so we have full airway control and ensure they are properly oxygenated
• All pets are fully monitored with CO2 capnography, respiratory rate, ECG lines, heart rate, SP02 readers, temperature, plane of anesthesia, blood pressure by a designated staff member.
• Pets are recovered and monitored closely by a designated staff member.
• Some pets also have post-operative pain medication that may cause drowsiness into the evening

Pick up

• Pickup times vary by order of who went first, and how long we would like them to recover. More intensive surgeries, older pets, or at risk pets generally stay the day longer with us while eager to go home high energy pets will sometimes go home quickly
• Our general guideline is to watch each pet in recovery for at least 3 hours after their procedure
• Expect afternoon pickup times
• If your pet has a pressure wrap on its leg please remove it in 30 minutes. If you do not feel able to do so, mention it to our staff prior to leaving

Postoperative care

• Your pet may be tired when they get home, this is normal but getting noticeably increasingly tired, listless or more severe issues should be taken to the emergency center.
• Keep the cone on anytime you are not in IMMEDIATE contact with your pet, it can take them seconds to rip out stitches even though many times they are in the skin.
• If your pet is untrustworthy, it happens to us all, keep the cone on at ALL times, they can learn to eat and drink with it on
• Keep the cone on for 10-14 days for the incision to fully heal, if any doubt leave on for the full 14 days.
• If there is any swelling, heat, oozing from the incision site please contact us

A “drop-off appointment” means our scheduled appointment times with a doctor are full but we understand you’re concerned about your pet, and we are too! We are trying our best to accommodate this. This appointment type is when your pet will be left with us for the day to allow for the most flexibility within the schedule. We will examine your pet between our scheduled rooms and surgeries as quickly as we are able. The estimated time it takes to get your pet back depends on how sick your pet is and how quickly treatments can be finished. We are working you into our already booked schedule because we don’t want your pets to wait either; please be patient with us as we work to see your pets.

Helpful information:

• What is going on?
• How long has it been going on? Has it happened before and if so what helped treat it?
• Any changes that may be related to is?
• It is helpful if you can pre-approve some tests or a monetary amount so we can get started as quickly as possible. A drop off form/estimate will be supplied to allow for better understanding of diagnostics. Consider being prepared to spend $100, $250, $500 or even $1000 depending on what is going on with your pet

*** please be near your phone for when we call for more information, to go over results, set up a pickup time, or approve further testing

Surgery and anesthesia is a stressful time for both you and your pet but we do our best to make it as stress free and painless process as possible.  At drop off there will be a few documents to fill out including a consent for treatment and an estimate. Your estimate is of expected costs, this is an estimate and subject to change if services change. The treatment form allows for you to fill out best number for today, acknowledge we have your pet for the day, and a place to note anything you would like communicated or stressed to the back staff. Though we do our best if it isn’t written down it may get lost in translation.

Dental Drop-offs are between 7-8 depending on your scheduled time

• Remember no food after midnight the night before, water is ok
• Please bring your dog in on a leash and cats in their carrier
• We generally do not bring in their blankets in case they get soiled or lost
• If your pet is extremely anxious please let us know prior to this point so we can talk about accommodations

After drop off

• We take your pet to the back where our team gets initial vitals, blood work started, and a catheter placed
• Once your pet is prepped, they will be placed in a kennel or run with blankets while we take in others
• All pets receive “pre-medication” this is injectable medications that include pain control to help anesthesia run as smoothly as possible and minimize need for higher doses.

The dental itself

• If bloodwork is normal we proceed without a call
• All pets are intubated that undergo general anesthesia so we have full airway control and ensure they are properly oxygenated
• All pets are fully monitored with CO2 capnography, respiratory rate, ECG lines, heart rate, SP02 readers, temperature, plane of anesthesia, blood pressure by a designated staff member.
• All teeth are cleaned with an ultrasonic scaler and polished same as when we get our teeth cleaned! This is important to do under anesthesia as it allows us to get under the gumline where most of the disease lives! Polishing is also important to smooth out microgrooves that allow for bacteria to get stuck and grow
• All pets get full mouth radiographs to look for disease under the gumline, if we see something suggestive of further dental disease we will give you a call.
• Pets are recovered and monitored closely by a designated staff member.
• Some pets also have post-operative pain medication that may cause drowsiness into the evening

Pick up

• Pickup times vary by order of who went first, and how long we would like them to recover. More intensive surgeries, older pets, or at risk pets generally stay the day longer with us while eager to go home high energy pets will sometimes go home quickly
• Our general guideline is to watch each pet in recovery for at least 3 hours after their procedure
• Expect afternoon pickup times
• If your pet has a pressure wrap on its leg please remove in 30 minutes. If you do not feel able to do so, mention it to our staff prior to leaving

Postoperative care

• Your pet may be tired when they get home, this is normal but getting noticeably increasingly tired, listless or more severe issues should be taken to the emergency center.
• Sometimes a slight cough for a day or two is noticeable, this is normal as long as it stays mild and goes away, likely tracheal irritation from being intubated
• If your pet had extractions small amount of bleeding is ok but we do not expect to see active bleeding. Sutures are dissolvable and will generally go away within a few weeks.
• Feed half their normal dinner when you get home, if you are concerned about pain you can wet down with water or give soft food.

Greetings Animal Care Center pet parents,

Over the few years ACC, as well as the entire veterinary profession, has experienced many unforeseen changes to which we have done our very best to adapt and still provide loving care to as many patients as possible. We have seen exponential growth in people seeking veterinary care for their pets. Veterinary clinics across the nation are finding their schedules booked out for weeks to months at a time. Emergency hospital visits have an average wait time of 4-8 hours, with some reaching maximum capacity to the point of turning away patients in need. Veterinary medicine, like many other fields, is also facing an extreme shortage of qualified staff, with many leaving the field entirely due to physical or emotional burnout. 

As much as we, at the Animal Care Center, want to help our patients, there is a limit to the amount of quality patient care we can provide in a day. We already take same day, drop off, and squeeze in appointments, but there is a limit and we have been frequently reaching it. This has caused extended wait and appointment times, long phone hold times, and miscommunications. The palpable effect of these issues has physically manifested in mounting frustrations from clients and potential clients. These frustrations have been directly expressed in unacceptable behaviors and actions towards our team members. Our team comes to work each day for a single reason, and that is they love animals and want to help them in any way they can. As you can imagine, giving all your compassion day in and day out only to see some cases not have a happy ending can be draining enough, but to then endure abuse, in addition, can be detrimental.

Beyond providing the highest quality of care for all patients, our mission is to create a safe and engaging environment to develop and retain a skilled team, which only serves to reinforce patient care. Considering the recent behavior of some and the need to care for the team, we will no longer allow these behaviors to continue. Effective immediately, a No Tolerance Policy regarding abusive behavior towards our team members will be enforced. Clients or potential clients who participate in any of the following actions/behaviors will no longer be provided services at our facility. We understand emotions often run high but being respectful to someone who just wants to help your pet is not a big ask.

Prohibited behaviors include, but are not limited to:

• Angry outbursts or yelling at any member of our team.
• Speaking in a demeaning or rude manner to any member of our team. 
• Vulgar language in general, but specifically calling any member of our team vulgar names or telling vulgar stories or jokes.
• Disrespect towards any team member based on physical appearance, race, or gender.
• Insinuating that any member of our team doesn’t care about your pet or values financial gain over your pet’s health/safety. We will always offer the gold standard based on AAHA guidelines and standards. We understand that cost and other considerations come into pet care decisions and we always try to provide alternative solutions when requested.
• Unrealistic expectations of care despite being informed of our availability and expected costs
• Threatening to harm anyone, destroy property, or to smear ACC’s reputation to get your way through intimidation.

We greatly value our relationship with all our clients and appreciate your continued support. The basic foundations of any relationship include mutual respect and trust. Our mission is to provide the best possible care we can for every pet we encounter and to support and develop our team in a safe and engaging environment. We appreciate your understanding and support of our mission.

Very respectfully,

Animal Care Center with special thanks to Brookside Veterinary Hospital for allowing us to adapt their above statement

COVID-19 infection control procedures and the dramatic increase in pet adoptions have slowed our ability to handle the higher than usual caseloads in our clinic. We are routinely asked to “squeeze in” or “add on” extra patients to our doctors already full caseload for the day. Additionally, we have had an increasing number of last-minute cancellations and no-shows. In order to continue to provide exceptional service to our clients and patients, we are implementing a fee structure for cancellations and no-show appointments.

Late cancellations and no-show fee for examinations: 75.00 dollars

If a patient cancels or does not show up for a scheduled appointment on the day of the appointment, a $75.00 no-show fee will be charged to the card we put on file when the appointment is booked.

• Appointments are confirmed 1 day prior to the scheduled time. If rescheduling or canceling is required at this time, no charge will be made

How to avoid this fee:

• If you need to cancel or reschedule your pet’s appointment, please contact our office at 360-848-0180 and inform us at least 24 hours prior to the appointment being canceled
• Extenuating circumstances will be considered but are not guaranteed as the appointment would have been confirmed the previous day.

Procedure/surgery no show and late cancellation: 250.00 dollars

All surgical procedures will have a $250.00 no-show or late cancellation fee only taken if a patient cancels last minute or does not show up for the scheduled procedure on the day of the appointment. A card we put on file when the appointment is booked.

• Appointments are reminded 3 days prior to the scheduled time, giving you the day to call and reschedule. If rescheduling or canceling is required at this time, no penalties will be assessed.

How to avoid this fee:

• If you need to cancel or reschedule your pet’s appointment, please contact our office at 360-848-0180 and inform us at least 48 hours prior to the appointment being canceled
• Extenuating circumstances will be considered but are not guaranteed as the appointment would have been confirmed the previous day.

The Animal Care Center would like to thank all of our clients for continuing to understand the ever-changing culture of COVID-19 and the changes that are instilled in veterinary clinics every day around the country.

Refilling a prescription

Please allow for 1-2 business days when requesting a medication refill. If we have it on our shelves, and there are pre-approved refills available this can sometimes be quicker but may take up to the full 2 days depending on our caseload each day. Please plan accordingly with holidays and weekends and request early so we can best accommodate you and the supply doesn’t run out.  We have been experiencing a high amount of medications going on backorder recently due to many extenuating circumstances so many things are not consistently available.