Changes to how we interact with clients during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The team at Four Paws Veterinary Services remains committed to continuing to provide veterinary services as the COVID-19 pandemic affects our region. Keeping our clinic operational depends on preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting our team. We also want to prevent the spread of this virus to our clients. In an effort to accomplish these goals, we have had to make numerous changes to the way we conduct business. This notice is to inform you of the operational changes that have been made as of March 19, 2020.
We are no longer having clients enter the clinic. Patient history will be taken over the phone or curb-side and the patient brought into the clinic for examination. Physical exam findings, diagnostic procedures and treatment plans will be reviewed by phone or curb-side. At discharge, any medications or other therapeutics will be brought outside to the client along with their pet. Our preferred means of payment is by credit card with information taken over the phone.
These changes are being made to reduce the physical interaction between our team members and clients. We will be adhering to the CDC's recommended 6 foot "social distancing" and we ask you to practice the same physical separation when interacting with our team members or other clients that may be visiting the clinic. FPVS team members are also following the CDC's recommendation to wear a face mask to further reduce the likelihood of transmitting the novel coronavirus to each other or our clients and we encourage our clients to do the same. Leaving an empty parking space between cars, if available, is one additional step that creates space between people when visiting the clinic.
All FPVS members have been made aware of the symptoms of possible infection with novel coronavirus (fever, cough and shortness of breath) and have been instructed to stay at home if experiencing any of these or other symptoms of illness to reduce the chance of exposing other members of FPVS or clients to disease causing germs. If you are exhibiting any symptoms of possible infection with novel coronavirus or other symptoms of illness, please do not come to the clinic. If your pet needs urgent care, please arrange for a family member or friend that is not exhibiting symptoms of illness to transport your pet to the clinic. Similarly, if you have had contact with a person with symptoms of respiratory disease or have travel history to countries with outbreaks of COVID -19, please arrange for someone without such history to transport your pet to the clinic. If an alternate person is not available to transport your pet, please inform us of the increased risk of potential exposure to novel coronavirus so that we may take extra precautions when interacting with you and your pet.
We are trying to prevent any of our team members from becoming exposed to novel coronavirus so that we may continue to remain open and serve our patients and clients. If one of our team members is diagnosed with COVID-19, that person and all other team members working with that person will be in quarantine for 14 days, likely resulting in the closing of the clinic.
We are encouraging clients to call ahead for prescriptions and therapeutic diets so that the amount of time a client is waiting in the clinic parking lot is minimized. If you arrive at the clinic needing medication or food without having called ahead, you will need to call the front desk from your car to request whatever it is that you need. If your pet is on chronic medication, you may request a 60 day supply to reduce the number of times you need to come to the clinic for medication. Similarly, you may request larger quantities of therapeutic diets. Contacting the clinic before requesting a larger than normal amount of food is strongly recommended so that we can ensure that we actually have the larger quantity on hand.
We continue to schedule appointments for preventative care services in addition to surgical/dental procedures and sick patient care. As always, sick patient care will be given priority. Urgent sick patient care will be provided by admitting patients to the clinic often for several hours. Clients well be contacted to discuss diagnostic and treatment recommendations with the patient being discharged from the clinic the same day in the majority of cases. At this time, we are suspending housecall appointments both to reduce possible exposure to the novel coronavirus as well as due to the greater demand for in-clinic services.
Four Paws Veterinary Services continues to rely on Ocean State Veterinary Specialists to provide our patients with after hours emergency care. Like our clinic, OSVS is dealing with the challenges of operating their hospital in the face of the pandemic. If you believe your pet needs life saving emergency care, please be certain to contact OSVS by phone (401 886-6787) before arriving at the hospital so that they can prioritize your emergency. The increased emergency caseload they have been serving has required them, at times, to postpone serving less critically ill patients.
We hope that these changes will allow us to continue to provide veterinary services for the animals you have entrusted to us. Working together we will weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are no longer having clients enter the clinic. Patient history will be taken over the phone or curb-side and the patient brought into the clinic for examination. Physical exam findings, diagnostic procedures and treatment plans will be reviewed by phone or curb-side. At discharge, any medications or other therapeutics will be brought outside to the client along with their pet. Our preferred means of payment is by credit card with information taken over the phone.
These changes are being made to reduce the physical interaction between our team members and clients. We will be adhering to the CDC's recommended 6 foot "social distancing" and we ask you to practice the same physical separation when interacting with our team members or other clients that may be visiting the clinic. FPVS team members are also following the CDC's recommendation to wear a face mask to further reduce the likelihood of transmitting the novel coronavirus to each other or our clients and we encourage our clients to do the same. Leaving an empty parking space between cars, if available, is one additional step that creates space between people when visiting the clinic.
All FPVS members have been made aware of the symptoms of possible infection with novel coronavirus (fever, cough and shortness of breath) and have been instructed to stay at home if experiencing any of these or other symptoms of illness to reduce the chance of exposing other members of FPVS or clients to disease causing germs. If you are exhibiting any symptoms of possible infection with novel coronavirus or other symptoms of illness, please do not come to the clinic. If your pet needs urgent care, please arrange for a family member or friend that is not exhibiting symptoms of illness to transport your pet to the clinic. Similarly, if you have had contact with a person with symptoms of respiratory disease or have travel history to countries with outbreaks of COVID -19, please arrange for someone without such history to transport your pet to the clinic. If an alternate person is not available to transport your pet, please inform us of the increased risk of potential exposure to novel coronavirus so that we may take extra precautions when interacting with you and your pet.
We are trying to prevent any of our team members from becoming exposed to novel coronavirus so that we may continue to remain open and serve our patients and clients. If one of our team members is diagnosed with COVID-19, that person and all other team members working with that person will be in quarantine for 14 days, likely resulting in the closing of the clinic.
We are encouraging clients to call ahead for prescriptions and therapeutic diets so that the amount of time a client is waiting in the clinic parking lot is minimized. If you arrive at the clinic needing medication or food without having called ahead, you will need to call the front desk from your car to request whatever it is that you need. If your pet is on chronic medication, you may request a 60 day supply to reduce the number of times you need to come to the clinic for medication. Similarly, you may request larger quantities of therapeutic diets. Contacting the clinic before requesting a larger than normal amount of food is strongly recommended so that we can ensure that we actually have the larger quantity on hand.
We continue to schedule appointments for preventative care services in addition to surgical/dental procedures and sick patient care. As always, sick patient care will be given priority. Urgent sick patient care will be provided by admitting patients to the clinic often for several hours. Clients well be contacted to discuss diagnostic and treatment recommendations with the patient being discharged from the clinic the same day in the majority of cases. At this time, we are suspending housecall appointments both to reduce possible exposure to the novel coronavirus as well as due to the greater demand for in-clinic services.
Four Paws Veterinary Services continues to rely on Ocean State Veterinary Specialists to provide our patients with after hours emergency care. Like our clinic, OSVS is dealing with the challenges of operating their hospital in the face of the pandemic. If you believe your pet needs life saving emergency care, please be certain to contact OSVS by phone (401 886-6787) before arriving at the hospital so that they can prioritize your emergency. The increased emergency caseload they have been serving has required them, at times, to postpone serving less critically ill patients.
We hope that these changes will allow us to continue to provide veterinary services for the animals you have entrusted to us. Working together we will weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wellness/preventative care
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Annual physical exams are utilized to asses each patient's health status and provide advice to clients so that they can keep their four-legged family member healthy. Biannual physical exams for older cats/dogs are recommended to detect onset of diseases that occur more frequently with advancing age. Internal and external parasite prevention and treatment as well as screening for common infectious disease such as feline leukemia, feline immunodeficiency virus, heartworm disease and Lyme disease are among the services commonly utilized. Immunization (vaccination) based on assessment of each individual animal's risk of exposure to disease-causing organisms and immunization intervals based on the profession's current understanding of how long immunization lasts, rather than simply on how the vaccine is labeled. Our clinic additionally provides nutrition counseling to help clients either prevent or manage existing disease conditions.
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Diagnostic services
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Our in-house laboratory testing including blood chemistry analysis, urinalysis, intestinal parasite testing and cytology. We utilize species-specific commercial reference laboratory testing with twice a day courier service which allows rapid receipt of laboratory results. Our clinic is equipped with digital radiology (x-ray), both whole body and dental. The advent of digital radiology allows rapid movement of images via email allowing us to utilize the services of board certified radiologists to aid in interpreting complicated images. Additionally, our partnership with Coastal Veterinary Imaging, a mobile ultrasound imaging service, allows us to provide our clients with on-site ultrasound examination services.
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We provide medical and surgical care for small animals
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Cats, dogs and small mammals (ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats) are all species examined and treated at Four Paws Veterinary Services, PC. Medical care includes examination and testing to diagnose disease, establishing a prognosis and providing a treatment plan that will provide a means of curing or managing a disease. Our clinic is designed and equipped to care for critically ill patients needing aggressive care to combat their illness. As a five veterinarian practice we benefit from the ability to share our combined knowledge and experiences in managing complicated disease conditions. We additionally utilize access to an online network of board certified specialists and community of general practitioners (like ourselves) in dealing with difficult medical and surgical cases. We are also fortunate to be located between two specialty practices (Pieper Memorial Veterinary Center in Middletown, Conneticut and Ocean State Veterinary Specialists in East Greenwich, Rhode Island) which allows us the ability to refer cases needing specialty services such as neurology, ophthalmology, oncology, critical care and specialty medicine and surgery services.
Surgical services available at Four Paws Veterinary Services, PC include surgical sterilization ("spay"/"neuter"), Caesarean section, soft tissue surgery such as mass/tumor removal, abdominal surgery (urinary bladder, spleen, intestines) and orthopedic surgery. We utilize time tested anesthetic protocols which allow us to safely anesthetize patients needing surgical treatment. The use of gas anesthetic agents combined with aggressive pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative pain control helps us to achieve a high level of safety and comfort for our surgical patients. Our clinic is also well equipped with monitoring devices, intravenous fluid delivery devices, as well as patient comfort/support equipment such as heating devices to increase the safety of patients undergoing general anesthesia. Our veterinarians have all proven themselves to be life-long learners attending continuing education seminars, reviewing the veterinary literature and staying current on new and safer anesthetic practices to continually improve the safety of our anesthetized patients. |
Dental services
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Our commitment to providing dental care to our patients is exemplified by our dental suite which was designed specifically for the delivery of dental services. Dental-specific equipment includes a surgical table designed to keep our patients clean and dry, supplemental heat delivery equipment to prevent our patients from losing excessive heat during dental surgery and a dental x-ray machine and phosphor plate digital dental imaging system which allows complete assessment of each individual tooth (both above and below the gum line). Monitoring equipment and fluid delivery pumps are also utilized in addition to our gas anesthesia equipment to provide a safe anesthetic episode, which is needed to allow us to properly assess and treat dental disease in our cat and dog patients.
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Outpatient care
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For those patients with known disease conditions needing supportive care treatment services such as fluid therapy or ongoing treatment for conditions such as cancer, our out-patient care services allow our clients to have their cat or dog treated without the need for overnight hospitalization. Many of our clients are able to schedule such treatment services in a way that best fits their schedule, either remaining in the clinic until the treatment is completed or leaving their cat or dog for a part of the day if the treatment requires more time to complete.
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Hospitalized patient care
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Hospitalized patient care is provided by the combined efforts of our veterinarians, technicians (nurses) and reception staff. Patients requiring hospitalization will be examined on an ongoing basis as their condition dictates with our technicians assisting our veterinarians in carrying out treatments and ensuring patient comfort. Our reception staff is there to support our clients' need for patient updates as well as communication with the veterinarian. Having cared for our own ill cats and dogs, we understand how stressful it can be to both patient and client when a beloved family member requires hospitalization. Our focus is on patient support and comfort during their time hospitalized as well as keeping our clients informed about their cat's or dog's condition.
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House call Service
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Four Paws Veterinary Services, PC provides house call service to Stonington and Groton, Connecticut. House call services include physical examination, sample collection for laboratory analysis and basic treatment procedures such as simple wound management. Our clients also utilize our house call service for end of life services. House call service is very limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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BOARDING FOR CATS
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Four Paws Veterinary Services, PC has a separate area specifically designed for boarding cats. Cats boarded at our clinic are housed in cat condominiums which allow for cats from the same household to share their individual enclosures. Each condominium has its own litter box area, which is separate from the main living area. Additionally, the condominiums have clear plastic doors as well as clear back panels which look outside through a picture window. Many clients with cats needing administration of medication during their stay away from home choose to board their cats at our clinic.
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