Privacy Policy

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Privacy Policy for pets in Minnesota is as follows:

“Veterinary records are generally not subject to public inspection if maintained by a state agency, statewide system, or political subdivision.  Medical records, or an accurate summary, must be released to the animal owner or the owner’s authorized agent, within two weeks of a written request.  A reasonable charge for copying or preparation of a summary is allowed.”

In order to address some of the vagueness of this policy, our privacy policy includes the following addendum:

Veterinary medical records are not to be released to other veterinary clinics, family members, groomers, animal facilities, animal rescues or any unauthorized parties with the sole exception of law enforcement, without permission from the owner.

Cancellation Policy

Unexpected events happen and there may be times when you need to cancel or reschedule your pet’s appointment.  We respectfully ask that you call with at least 24 hours notice to reschedule; providing less than 24 hours notice or no notice at all, may prevent another pet from receiving access to care.  Our policies are as follows:

Late Arrival

Time is a valuable commodity and we make every effort to be on time for your appointments. When even one patient arrives late, it can disrupt the entire day’s schedule.  Squeezing in an appointment can result in decreased quality of care; therefore, we may request that any client who arrives more than 10 minutes late to their scheduled appointment, be rescheduled.

Cancellation of an Appointment

To respect the needs of all our patients, please be courteous and call at least 24 hours in advance if you are unable to make an appointment.  Appointments are in high demand and canceling early will allow another patient access to timely care.  If you need to cancel an appointment after hours, please call (909) 743-8939 and leave us a voicemail or email us at [email protected].

Appointment No-Show

Failure to be present at the time of a scheduled appointment will be recorded in the patient’s chart as a no-show.  In order to reschedule the appointment (or future appointments), you will be required to prepay the non-refundable office visit fee; the fee will be put towards your visit.  Recurring no-shows will result in a $49 no-show fee (not applicable to the cost of a visit); payment of this fee will be required to schedule future appointments.

Surgery No-Show

A missed surgical appointment without 24 hours notice of cancellation is considered a surgical no-show.  Surgical appointments require a nonrefundable $150 deposit, which is applied to the surgical visit.

• 1st occurrence: We will call to offer to reschedule the surgical appointment. You will be required to pay the surgical procedure fee as a nonrefundable deposit; the fee will go towards your surgical visit.
• 2nd occurrence: Will result in termination of our professional relationship with you.

Rabies Vaccinations Policy

The City of Otsego ordinances require dogs and cats to be currently vaccinated against rabies.  If a dog or cat is picked up by Animal Control, proof of current rabies vaccination will be required in order to have your pet released from impound.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) Rabies guidelines are as follows:

• An animal can be considered immunized within 28 days after initial vaccination, when a peak rabies virus antibody titer is reached. Because a rapid anamnestic response is expected, an animal is considered currently vaccinated immediately after a booster vaccination.
• Vaccination of dogs, ferrets, and livestock can be started at no sooner than three months of age. Regardless of the age of the animal at initial vaccination, a booster vaccination should be administered one year later.
• All dogs, cats, and ferrets should be vaccinated and revaccinated against rabies according to product label directions. If a previously vaccinated animal is overdue for a booster, it should be revaccinated. Immediately following the booster, the animal is considered currently vaccinated and should be placed on a vaccination schedule according to the labeled duration of the vaccine used.
• Titers do not directly correlate with protection because other immunologic factors also play a role in preventing rabies, and the ability to measure and interpret those other factors are not well developed. Therefore, evidence of circulating rabies virus antibodies should not be used as a substitute for current vaccination in managing rabies exposures or determining the need for booster vaccinations in animals.

We, at Walnut Village Pet Hospital, believe that our job is to provide education and options and assist you (the pet owner) in making the decision that best suits your lifestyle and beliefs as well as your pet’s health and wellbeing.  Therefore, if you prefer not to vaccinate against rabies, despite the city legal requirements and recommendations of the CDC, we offer the following alternative: annual serological rabies titer testing.  The stipulations to this alternative health decision are as follows:

• If your pet’s titers are insufficient, we will advise (and document in your pet’s medical records) a booster rabies vaccination.
• Rabies is a potentially fatal viral disease spread through saliva and bite wounds. Therefore, if your pet is aggressive in the clinic setting in any way (i.e. fear aggression, territorial aggression, idiopathic aggression, predatory aggression, control aggression, or possession aggression), due to the potential health threat to our staff, we will require your pet to be vaccinated against rabies.