At this time Main Street Veterinary Services is not equipped to handle all emergencies. For emergencies during our hours of operation, please call us at 519-203-2000 to speak to one of our staff. After speaking with you, we will direct you to the most appropriate course of action. This may be an emergency appointment with us or we may recommend that you contact your nearest emergency animal hospital.

We strongly encourage all clients to familiarise themselves with the emergency options available in their vicinity. The Emergencies tab on our website will help you but may not contain all available options. Please be proactive to ensure that you have an emergency animal hospital in mind in the event of a crisis. In the London area, our local emergency clinics are London Regional Veterinary and Referral Hospital (519 432-3300) and Southwest Veterinary Hospital (519-672-1623). Please visit their website and/or Facebook page for details on their service hours.

The College of Veterinarians of Ontario requires an up to date Veterinary-Client-Patient-Relationship (VCPR) for our clinic to provide prescription medication, nail trims, anal gland expressions and any recommendations for your pet’s health. An annual health exam with one of our veterinarians helps maintain this relationship and ensures the best possible care for your furry family member.  Our technicians are happy to schedule an appointment for you, but they cannot give you medical advice beyond what the doctor has previously recommended for your concern. Please respect that we must adhere to this rule and therefore may suggest you schedule an appointment to discuss your questions with the doctor.

We believe in prevention through proactive healthcare- preventing future medical problems, rather than waiting for symptoms to occur. In order to facilitate this, we require access to your pet’s recent medical history and must be kept aware of any changes in your pet’s response to our protocols as well as changes in overall health. This means you, as your pet’s guardian, are in charge of coordinating communication among the doctors on your pet’s healthcare team. We recommend you have updated medical records emailed to us whenever you take your pet to another veterinarian for treatment. We will add any new medical records received to your pet’s file for review at your next appointment with us.

Initially, your pet may require more frequent evaluations until their condition is stabilised. Once a maintenance protocol is achieved, your pet may need to be seen for an appointment every 6 months to review medications and address your pet’s dynamic, ever changing and aging body.

The frequency of rechecks and the potential to handle updates via phone consultation is on a case by case basis and based on the severity and duration of your pet’s medical issues. In some cases the doctor may feel comfortable with a phone consultation after your first visit; however, in many cases your pet must be seen to determine if changes to their personal treatment protocol are warranted.

At Main Street Veterinary Services we are equipped to handle a wide variety of medical conditions and perform many diagnostic procedures in house. It is most common for our doctors to oversee blood work and tests for your pet here at the clinic. We are aware that some of our clients travel from outside of the London area to see our doctors and understand there are times when it is in the best interest of your pet to elect to have these tests completed at a local vet. If tests of any nature are completed by another clinic please ensure that the results are emailed to info@mainstreetvetservices.ca. Test results will be added to your file and results will be discussed accordingly.

When an established client calls in with questions about their pet, our technicians are trained to respond accordingly and relay messages to and from the doctors as needed. If you call with a question for the doctor, it will be communicated to them and a technician will return your call with a response as soon as the doctor has reviewed the file. This process may not take place the same day. Depending on the individual needs of the patient and the complexity of the case, a response may take up to a few days.

Generally speaking, our doctors are scheduled to see patients back-to-back all day and therefore are not available to personally answer your telephone questions. The doctor may ask you to call/email the office a few weeks after your appointment takes place to provide us with a progress report. If this is the case, a member of our team will record the information and forward it to the doctor for review. If you prefer to consult directly with the doctor, we recommend scheduling an appointment to go over your questions.

On occasion, once a protocol is established for a medical issue, clients may request to have blood work or test results from another hospital reviewed by our doctors and recommendations made without a follow up appointment. (An example of this could include a review of pre-operative blood tests from a visit to a local vet for dental surgery.) In these situations, there is a fee for the doctor to review the case and interpret the test results. Depending on the doctor’s schedule, this process can take time. These unique situations are usually reserved for clients who do not have extensive questions about test results, as recommendations will be communicated through our technicians. Telephone consultation time slots are available at different times throughout the week. The cost for these consultations can be billed directly to your credit card.

To review our clinic policies please visit the “About Us” tab and select “Clinic Policies”