Q: What are your office hours?
A: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9am-7:30pm. Wednesday and Friday 9am-5:30pm. Saturdays 8am-12pm. Hours are subject to change without notice.
Q: Do I have to have an appointment?
A: Our practice operates by appointment. If no appointment is made a walk-in fee of $70.00 will be charged at the time of service.
Q: Do you have emergency care appointments?
A: We do have appointments each day set aside specifically for sick patients. Owners must call that day to have their pet seen.
Q: What do I do if I need you after hours or on a holiday?
A: We recommend that you call a 24 hour emergency care facility. We recommend VCA in Weymouth (781) 337-6622.
Q: Do you take credit cards?
A: We do accept major credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard. We do NOT accept Discover and American Express.
Q: Can I make payments?
A: We do not offer any type of payment plan. Services provided and supplied must be paid in full at time of visit.
Q: Is there health Insurance for my pet?
A: There are specific health insurance plans for pets. Some plans cover diagnostic testing, treatments, office visits, laboratory services, prescriptions, hospitalization costs, radiographs and surgical procedures. There are also optional vaccination and routine care coverage plans available. Please contact us for more specific information.
Q: How old must my pet be in order to be spayed or neutered?
A: We recommend that your pet get spayed or neutered as close to six months as possible.
Q: Why Should my pet be spayed or neutered at six months?
A: An animal that is spayed/neutered at an early age decreases the risk of certain types of cancers such as testicular cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate problems. It also decreases certain behavioral problems that are hormonally influenced. One more thing is that it helps control that problem of overpopulation.
Q: How long are dogs and cats pregnant for?
A: On average dogs and cats have a gestation period of 62-65 days.
Q: What do I feed my puppy and/or kitten?
A: There are special puppy and kitten formulated foods that meet the higher nutritional requirement needed for growing animals.
Q: Why does my pet need vaccinations?
A: There are many infectious and even deadly diseases in the environment that your pet can pick up just by being outside. In rare instances some of these diseases can be transmitted to humans. We recommend that you keep your pet updated annually with his/her vaccinations.
Q: Do I have to give heartworm prevention year round?
A: We highly recommend giving your dog heartworm prevention year round. Even though heartworm disease is transmitted by mosquito and mosquitos die in the winter internal parasites do not. The two heartworm preventative products we carry at our practice, Interceptor and Sentinel also control adult hookworm infection, and remove and control adult roundworms and whipworms in dogs and puppies. Parasitic eggs can survive some of the most extreme weather conditions. Your pet can pick up these eggs in the environment.
Q: How do you collect a urine sample?
A: If you have a dog then when you take him/her outside also take an unwanted container with you. We recommend one of those long disposable foil baking pans. When the dog urinates quickly put the container under him/her to collect the urine. Once collected you can transfer the urine sample into a smaller unwanted container. If you have a cat we have a litter kit here at the clinic that you can pick up or you can use unpopped popcorn kernals in place of the cat's normal litter. Using unpopped popcorn kernals will prevent the urine from being absorbed. Once there is urine in the cat box, then you can strain it into a small unwanted container.