What To Expect

Important Information for Current and Prospective Clients

Please read the following carefully before scheduling an appointment.

Main Street Veterinary Services is an integrative veterinary practice offering a mixed-modality approach to medical care for dogs and cats. It is our goal to provide you and your pet with exceptional client service and patient care. Due to our unique approach to veterinary care & the way our clinic operates, we ask that you familiarise yourself with the following guide so that we may serve you better.

Emergency Care

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 clinic is the London Regional Veterinary and Referral Hospital (519 432-3300). Please note that due to recent events, London Regional Veterinary and Referral Hospital has updated its hours of operation. Please visit their website to learn more.

Medical Advice

The College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO) dictates we cannot offer medical advice without an established doctor-patient relationship. This means that in order to offer advice or make recommendations it is essential that we have a current understanding of your pet’s health and a physical exam on file within the last calendar year, and that you’ve discussed your specific questions with one of our doctors. Our technicians are happy to schedule an appointment for you, but they cannot give you medical advice. Please respect that we must adhere to this rule and direct all your questions to the doctor during your scheduled appointment.

Communication and Coordination of Information

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.

Individualized Treatment and Care For Your Pet

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.

Diagnostic Procedures and Tests

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.

Calling in With Questions vs. Telephone Consultations

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. 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 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.

Prescription Refill Requests

We require advanced notice of 7 days when requesting a refill on medications. Please be aware that not all medications are carried in the hospital and may need to be ordered for you. Once you have purchased medication for your pet, we are unable to provide refunds or exchanges.

Cancellations

In order to provide the best care for all of our patients, we ask that you please notify us of a cancellation at least 2 business days before your appointment time. An empty time slot due to a late cancellation might mean delaying care for another patient that may otherwise have been able to be seen.

However, we understand that missing an appointment may sometimes be unavoidable. In the event of an emergency that results in an appointment cancellation, please notify us as soon as possible. Outside of business hours, you may leave us a message or send an email and we will contact you to confirm the cancellation during our next business day. Cancellations made within 2 business days of your appointment time may be subject to a $75 fee. 

Late Arrivals

We strive to be on time for all of our appointments. We are often fully booked throughout the day and a late arrival may delay all appointments scheduled after it. For this reason, clients who arrive late may be asked to reschedule their pet’s appointment. 

Terms

Main Street Veterinary Services cannot extend credit to clients. We require immediate payment for services rendered. If you have an estimate for services, a deposit for the estimated cost is required.

Although it happens very rarely, Main Street Vet Services can refuse to accept clients or patients and as applicable reserves the right to refer these clients elsewhere. We also reserve the right to terminate the veterinarian-client relationship at any time and make a referral elsewhere. You may, of course, seek veterinary care elsewhere as well. We can email your medical records (24 hour notice is required) free of charge or print and mail your records for a fee.

Thank you for choosing Main Street Veterinary Services for your pet’s proactive healthcare. We hope this is the beginning of a long friendship!