What to Expect - Our Policies:
At Best Friends Animal Hospital & Pet Resort, we are excited to serve you and your pet. Our biggest priorities are to provide excellent customer service to you and to provide quality medical care and resort services to your pet.
Appointments:
Patients are seen by appointment. Emergencies will be seen immediately, regardless of the schedule. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding regarding this, and apologize for any inconvenience. Walk-ins that are not an emergency will be seen if our schedule allows, in consideration of our scheduled appointments. To make an appointment please request one online (please remember this is only a request & that we will need to contact you to confirm availability) or call us directly at 618-222-9860. We will then call you the day before to remind you of the appointment.
Cancellations & Missed Appointments:
If you need to cancel a veterinary appointment, please call 24 hours in advance. If an unforeseen circumstance arises, please call as soon as you know that you need to cancel. If you arrive more than 10 minutes past your scheduled appointment time, we may be forced to continue with our other appointments and work you in as soon as we can. If you need to cancel a resort reservation, please allow a 72 hour notice to prevent a cancellation fee equal to one night’s stay. If you miss 3 or more appointments (surgery or medical visits) within a 6 month period, we reserve the right to charge a missed appointment fee.
Payment:
Full payment is due at the time services are performed or when your pet is released. We do require a 50% deposit on major surgeries and medical stays. We accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express, and cash. We DO NOT accept personal checks. Financing may be obtained thru Care Credit for pre-qualified individuals. Please speak to one of our customer service representatives for more information about the financing options we offer or visit Care Credit. Please note that if you do pay by Care Credit, your name must be on the Care Credit account! We also need a driver's license for identity verification. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we have had clients deny charges because a spouse payed with their card and Care Credit requires the person using the card be the person actually listed on the account.
Insurance:
If you are interested in obtaining health insurance for your pet, which is a great idea, especially for young pets, we recommend that you consider several providers to determine which policy best suits your pet’s individual needs. Several that you may want to consider include:
Embrace Pet Insurance
Healthy Paws Pet Insurance
Pet Plan USA
Pet’s Best
Trupanion
Referrals:
We greatly appreciate your referrals! In an effort to thank you, we have a referral rewards program such that with every referral you make, you earn a $20 credit that can be used for services or merchandise. Please make sure that whomever you refer mentions your name when they come in.
Cell Phone Usage:
We ask that once you are in the exam room you refrain from using your cell phone. Thank you.
Feedback:
We appreciate your feedback, whether it is positive or negative, and we welcome any comments or suggestions you may have. We encourage you to fill out a feedback form after your visit as we will strive to address any issues that are raised. Alternatively, if you have a concern, you may contact us directly. If you were satisfied with your visit, please review us on Facebook, Google or Yelp.
Resort Reservations:
Please call to make your pet’s resort reservation as soon as possible as we have limited space and can fill up quickly especially during holidays and on weekends. Please note that we do require your pet be current on immunizations in order to make your reservation. If your pet is not a patient, please fax proof of vaccination to: 618-222-9861. Pets can be checked in after 2pm and checkout is prior to noon. Early arrival or late discharge will incur a 1/2 day charge. (As we have gotten busier we’ve been forced to abide by this policy as we require enough time to prepare rooms for the next guests.)
Prescription Refills:
Please note that in order to authorize ANY refills for your pet, the pet needs to be a current patient, meaning that we have physically examined that pet within the past year. Refills on some medications may also require regular testing to ensure that the medication is being dosed appropriately and/or that the medication is not having unwanted side effects on the pet (kidney and liver issues for instance). Heartworm medication does require a valid prescription. We try to keep our pricing on such products as competitive as possible. If we do not carry the product you want/need in-house, or you simply prefer home delivery, we now have an online store thru which you can obtain most any product. To request a refill, either call or login to your pet portal. Please allow 2 days for products we carry in-house, and 1 week for special orders.
Online Pharmacies:
Aside from our own online pharmacy, we discourage the use of most online vendors. With the ever increasing number of online “pharmacies” it is impossible for us to determine which are legitimate and selling FDA approved products. (It is illegal for us to knowingly approve a non-FDA product.) Products sold thru online vendors are obtained via black market & may have problems with packaging, labeling, etc. We have also seen some vendors try to sell expired or soon-to-expire product. Please know that according to manufacturers of heartworm preventatives, they WILL NOT guarantee their product UNLESS it is purchased directly from the pet’s veterinarian or that veterinarian’s own online store. We understand the need/desire to save money in this competitive, digital age. But should you choose to order online, please consider using our store as these products ship directly from our vendors. This ensures that not only will manufacturers guarantee their product's effectiveness, but that the product is safe, handled and stored appropriately, packaged in the United States and will not expire within an acceptable period of time. Please shop safely for your pet's own safety!
Email & Contact Information:
Please share your email address with us so that we can not only send you reminders (we will also send one via postal mail if we do not have an email on file), but also provide you with a monthly newsletter and occasional offers. We will not sell your email address or other contact information, nor will we bombard you with frequent correspondence.
Pet Portal & Social Media:
In order to communicate timely petcare information (and perhaps some super cute patient photos), we maintain a blog and Facebook page, and also offer a monthly newsletter. You may also access some of your own pet’s healthcare information by signing up for pet portal access - here you can see reminders, print vaccine certificates, contact us directly (especially helpful for prescription refills) and more!