Appt Information & Policies
You do not need a referral to schedule an appointment
Although referral by your veterinarian is not mandatory, we do prefer to have your pet’s history available to us before the appointment date whenever possible. We will reach out to your veterinarian for history when an appointment is scheduled.
Appointment Schedule
NEW patients (And patients we have not examined in the past 2 years): We are at our maximum daily capacity for one doctor. To maintain a safe level of patient care, we have to set a daily limit on how many patients can be scheduled or worked in. Our schedule is currently booked 3-4 months out for NEW patients. If your pet cannot wait, please call your referring veterinarian for a referral to another ophthalmologist or click here for a list of ophthalmologists in our region.
CURRENT Patients: Patients that have been examined within the last year, will receive priority for appointments. We will determine appointment “work-in” eligibility on a case-by-case basis.
We make a sincere attempt to see you on time for your pet’s appointment. However, because of the limited options for animal ophthalmologists in the state of Michigan, we sometimes have to accommodate emergency appointments o. These emergencies may cause unavoidable delays in our schedule. We will provide you and your pet with the same careful attention devoted to others. Most new appointments can last 20-40 minutes. Medical and surgical re-evaluation appointments vary between 5 and 20 minutes. Early morning appointments and appointments immediately after lunch are most likely to be on-time.
No Show & Cancellation Policies
We will send an appointment reminder via your preference (email, call or text) to confirm your pet’s appointment. You must reply to the confirmation attempt to keep your pet’s appointment with at least 24 hours notice. It is your responsibility to confirm the appointment. If you do not confirm at least 24 hours before the start of your appointment, we may assume you are not keeping your appointment and offer it to another patient.
No Show/No Call Policy: We understand that there are times when you must miss an appointment due to emergencies or obligations for work or family. However, when you do not call to cancel an appointment, you may be preventing another patient from getting much needed treatment. Conversely, the situation may arise where another patient fails to cancel and we are unable to schedule you for a visit, due to a seemingly full appointment book. If an appointment is not cancelled at least 24 hours in advance you will be charged an $85 missed appointment fee. We will forgive any weather related last minute cancellations at any time, as most of our clients must travel a distance. If you no show for your appointment, it will NOT be rescheduled. If you disagree with this policy, please do not schedule an examination appointment at The Animal Ophthalmology Center.
Late Appointments
We understand that most of our clients must travel a great distance to our clinic and unforeseen traffic and weather related issues may occur during your travels. If you think you may be running late, please call our office so that we may advise you if your late arrival can be accommodated, or if we will need to reschedule your appointment. In most cases, we can accommodate you, (unless you will arrive after we close) but please understand if you arrive late, we may delay your appointment to keep on schedule and you will be worked in as soon as possible.
Patient and Staff Safety
PLEASE inform us PRIOR to exam if your pet may become nervous with restraint or close contact so that we may have you place a muzzle. Even if your pet has never snapped at, or bitten anyone before, our exam requires us to be eye-to-eye with your pet, and can cause some pets to become nervous and/or anxious. Please understand that this is for our protection and will not harm or traumatize your pet in any way. If your pet shows ANY sign of fear or aggression (growling, showing teeth, etc) we will require a muzzle be placed by you to complete our exam. If you are unable (or unwilling) to muzzle your pet when necessary, please understand that we may be unable to attempt or complete an exam. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding!!
Treatment Outcomes
Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in human or veterinary medicine with any medical or surgical treatment because the ultimate outcome of any medical or surgical therapy depends on the response of the patient receiving treatment. Although the same exact treatment can be done for many different patients, each patient may respond differently, and unpredictably.
