Appointment Policy:

First time Appointments-​

• If able, please fill out the New Patient Registration Form linked here prior to the visit, otherwise anticipate that you will be filling it out in office (you can either fill it out, print it, and bring it with you for your appointment or you can fill it out and email it over to us at smallfriendsclinic@yahoo.com along with the name of your pet and the date and time of your visit). 

• If you expect to fill the New Patient Registration Form out in office, please arrive at least ten (10) minutes prior to your scheduled appointment.

• All new patients are required to obtain any and all prior records for the patient including vaccination history, surgical history, and office visit history from the previous office(s) the animal has been seen at. Our office does not call to request records from other offices unless under particular circumstances that will be arranged under the discretion of the receptionist(s).

 

All Appointments-

• Our clinic is a by-appointment only clinic. We do not take walk-in appointments. When deciding to schedule appointments for your animal please be aware that appointments should generally be scheduled at least a week in advance if possible because we cannot guarantee same-week or same-day appointments. 

• At this time we have a tentative "if there's a cancellation please call" list, that you can join via the attached form. In order to join the list, you will be asked to explain the reason for the visit, what day(s) you would be available to come in asap for a cancelled appointment slot that opens up, and after what point you'd no longer need the appointment. You can, and should still call the office or schedule an appointment online, since these last-minute appointments happen very rarely. 

  • To join this list press here.​

• Scheduling appointments can be done either online or by calling our office (718-737-7573).

  • When scheduling appointments online, please be aware that each appointment slot, is for one pet only.

  • If you bring in additional pets that do not have existing appointments they will not be seen.

  • Additionally, when scheduling appointments online, you are required to leave a ($15) payment which acts as a deposit towards the total cost of the ($75) exam. More on our payment policies can be read below.

• Emergencies will be seen only if approved by the doctor, otherwise any appointments that have life threatening situations happening or require very time sensitive doctor's visits should refer to an emergency clinic which takes on such cases.​

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Lateness:​

• If you anticipate you will be late to your appointment, regardless of the reason, please call to let us know.

  • If you will arrive more than 20 minutes late for your appointment (without calling prior to let the receptionists know), it is up to the discretion of the staff whether your appointment will still be honored or rescheduled.

  • Please also refer to our missed appointment policies to see fees regarding missed appointments.

 

We try our best to see all clients in a timely manner but we cannot control all circumstances, so if there happens to be a bit of a wait before your pet is seen, we are very sorry and we promise we are working as hard as possible to get you seen asap.
 

Patient Arrival  & Office Policies:

• For your protection, and that of others, all dogs must be held on a leash and properly controlled.

• All cats must be presented in an appropriate cat carrier (or in select cases on a leash fit for a cat).

• If your animal has a history of people and/or animal aggression, please advise the front desk staff of this prior to your appointment or when you're being checked in. Knowing this early on helps maintain a safe environment for your pet and everyone else in the office.

• At this time we are allowing between one-three (1-3) people in the office and the exam room per appointment.

• Face masks are currently optional for in office appointments. This is subject to change depending on spikes in local Covid-19 cases.

• Only patients for which appointments were scheduled will be seen at the designated appointment time. No new animals will be seen without an appointment. 

• Clinic staff reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any or no reason.
   

Cancellation of an Appointment:

In order to be respectful of others, please call our office as soon as you know you are unable to make your appointment.  This time will be reallocated to a pet who is in need of treatment. If it is necessary to cancel your scheduled appointment, we request that you call at least 24 hours in advance. Appointments are in high demand and your early cancellation will allow another patient access to timely veterinary care.

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Cancellations for appointments follow a similar office policy to that of no-call/no-shows: Appointments must be canceled with 24 hour notice to avoid any penalties on the account. A one time cancellation of an appointment without 24 hour notice, will be marked as a 1st strike, a second cancellation without 24 hour notice, will be marked as a 2nd strike, any appointment made after that point will have to be made online in order to leave a $15 deposit for the appointment (this $15 deposit is non-refundable) or the appointment can be scheduled on the phone with the understanding that you will be required to leave a $15 deposit as well. [This policy can be adjusted and is up to the discretion of the front desk staff in most situations].

 

How to Cancel Your Appointment: To cancel your appointment please call our office (718-737-7573) or send us an email to smallfriendsclinic@yahoo.com. If you would like to reschedule your appointment please adhere to the above outlined cancellation policy to do so.
 

Missed Appointment Policy:

Our goal is to provide quality care to all our patients in a timely manner. No-shows, late arrivals and last-minute cancellations inconvenience not only our Veterinarian but other clients as well. When you book an appointment, you are holding a space on our calendar that is no longer available to other clients.

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A missed appointment, or a “no-call, no-show,” is when you fail to show up for an appointment without a phone call. A veterinary/client relationship is built on mutual trust and respect. We strive to be on time for your scheduled appointments and ask that you give us the courtesy of a call when you are unable to keep yours. As a courtesy, we provide calls or occasionally email remainders the day before your appointment; however, you are responsible for remembering your appointment regardless.

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A failure to be present at the time of a scheduled appointment will be recorded in the patient’s chart as a “no-call, no-show”. Any Appointments that arrive more than 10 minutes late for their designated appointment time will be required to refer to outlined penalty system in the following appointment. 

 

The first time there is a “no-call, no-show” or lateness by more than 15 minutes there will be no charge to the client. A second occurrence will result in you being charged a $15 fee, upon your next visit and no services will be rendered before that balance is settled. The 3rd occurrence will result in any future visit requiring a deposit of $25 dollars to secure your appointment, and in certain cases the suspension of your account at our clinic.
 

Surgery No-Call, No-Show Policy:

A surgery “no-call, no-show” is a missed surgery appointment without 24 hours notice of cancellation. The first time this occurs we will call and offer to reschedule the appointment with a $100 surgery deposit that needs to be paid at the time of scheduling. At the second missed surgical appointment we will offer to reschedule but you will be required to leave a 50% deposit of the total procedure cost. If a third incident of a missed surgical appointment occurs you will be required to leave a 100% deposit for the full cost of the procedure in order to set the appointment. Any missed appointments after this time will results in the suspension of this patient and client from our practice. 
 

Callback Policy:

Our patients are of utmost importance to us and as such any communications regarding pets will be treated as equally important.

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• The veterinarian, veterinarian technician, and front desk staff will get back to you as soon as possible but on a day-to-day basis, scheduled appointments and surgeries take priority in attention. Please allow for at least 24 hours to get a callback. If there are emergency situations that require urgent attention, we will of course try to expedite that process.

• Calls regarding bloodwork, urinary/fecal/biopsy diagnostics do not require reminders. Once results are in, the doctor is alerted by the laboratory, and calls to clients are made shortly.

• Individuals with patients that have never been seen at our clinic, will under no circumstances be able to communicate with the veterinarian to discuss medical opinions, recommendations, or consults. In order to discuss a pet's condition, the doctor needed to have seen the animal at least once in our clinic.

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Medication Refill  & Requests Policy:

• Our office is first and foremost a veterinarian clinic, so our appointments are given priority over other matters. As such, we try to fulfill requests for refills and medications as soon as possible but there is a minimum 24 hour wait for such requests.

  • Certain medications we do not carry in bulk in the office, so if you are looking to request more than 2 weeks worth of medication please call at least a week in advance to request it.

  • There are cases where filling medication requests will take longer (including but not limited to delays in shipments and other issues).

• We do not fulfill medication requests/refills for animals that have not been seen in our clinic before, those that haven't been seen in over a year, and/or those that have conditions that require rechecking vitals prior to refilling meds if that hasn't been done recently.

• Orders for medications placed on Chewy, Petco, Amazon, or any other online pet pharmacy fall under the same wait time as in clinic requests. Please allow at least 24 hours to process approvals, and as such, please request medication, refills, or prescription foods at least a week in advance when ordering online to make sure you have time to receive your order because the office is not responsible for individuals not planning appropriately ahead.

• Medication refills have an allotted 2 week pick-up period during which individuals can pick-up the requested meds at any point during our business hours.

  • After 2 weeks have passed since the medication request was filled and the owner was contacted initially we will discard of the medication, resulting in a restock fee of $10 to the account of the requesting party.

  • More than 3 refills that result in medications being restocked will result in the owner being required to order the medications online or prepay for them.

• Please be aware that all medication incurs a risk that the owner takes liability for when beginning to treat their pet. The veterinarian will never recommend medications that they would believe could in any way harm your animal but all medication has side effects. As such, please monitor your pet for 15-45 minutes after the first administration of any medication for reactions.

Insurance Policy and Information:​

• Our office works with every pet insurance provider, but every insurance is different and may require different documents.

• If you have not worked with pet insurance before, the general idea behind it, is that you create a policy for your animal, you come to the office for appointments, and at the end of those appointments you pay out of pocket for the cost of the procedures, and your insurance company reimburses you after. 

  • Reimbursements may require things like claim forms that need to be filled out (by the policy holder) and submitted alongside office notes (written by the veterinarian) and itemized invoices. ​

• Sometimes, insurance companies will reach out directly to our office to retrieve notes and invoices. Our general office policy is that we provide those records to the insurance unless told otherwise by the client. Most of the time the reception staff will give individuals the courtesy of calling to inform of such requests the first time around.
   

Payment Policy:

• In the case of an emergency, your pet will be stabilized before your medical options are presented, and any treatment charges will be discussed thereafter. Coming in as an emergency and requesting life saving veterinarian care, brings with it the agreement that the owner or representative for the owner agree to pay all associated charges for procedures. 

• Payment, in full is required at the time services are rendered. Feel free to ask for an estimate of charges at the start of your appointment.

• At the time we do not offer payment plans but we do work with CareCredit a card that works like most other credit cards that is specifically for medical needs for people and pets! (they have no interest payments that can be set up for most accounts). For more information click here.

• If your pet is scheduled for a surgery or any procedure that requires the administration of sedation/anesthesia, and/or ultrasounds, hospitalizations, or in office monitoring, deposits are required at the time of drop-off. 

• We do not accept check, money order, or any electronic money transfer service like Paypal, Venmo, Zelle, and others.

• We accept CareCredit, Credit/Debit Cards including Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, and we take Apple Pay as well. 

• Any payments made by card will automatically forfeit the $5 cash discount applied to all invoices. (Please be advised that ID may be required to use a debit or credit card at any time when settling a bill)

• At this time we do not keep card numbers on file, as such, you are required to bring your payment method with you for your appointment.

• Any and all deposits are non-refundable, this includes deposits left for appointments scheduled online, surgeries, ultrasounds, in-office procedures, and hospitalizations.

• Our registers may not always have the means to give you exact change in which case clients will always have the option of using card to pay or to leave a credit on the account in the amount of change that needed to be given.