Missed/Canceled Appointment Policy
Our goal at Just For Paws is to provide quality individualized medical care in a timely manner. No-Shows, Late Shows, and short time cancelations inconvenience those individuals who need access to veterinary care. We are an appointment only clinic and have been since our inception. We stay on time by having appointments scheduled. Walk-ins are not allowed without prior authorization. Due to the problems we have had with client arrivals or lack thereof, we will be putting the following policy into effect in 2023.
A Missed/Canceled Appointment is one where a client fails to show for an appointment, for whatever reason, or cancels without 24 hours of notice to allow us ample time to arrange for a patient on the wait list to come in. A veterinary/client relationship is built on mutual trust and respect. As such, we strive to be on time for a client’s scheduled appointment and ask that you give us the courtesy of a call when unable to keep your appointment. As a courtesy, we provide reminder calls, texts, and emails a day or two before your appointment. However, you are responsible to remember your appointment regardless! Almost all of us use phones on a regular basis equipped with features to help guide your day and remind you of appointments. Outlined below are our new policies:
Cancelation of an Appointment
In order to be respectful of the medical needs of other patients, please be courteous and call or email our office promptly if you are unable to show for an appointment. These phone calls/emails are required to be made at least 24 hours in advance. This allows ample time for that time slot to be allocated to patients on our wait list who need to be seen in a timely manner. If you cannot reach us by phone, please leave a voice mail as we have a system in place that notifies us when there is a message in our queue and the time/day that it was left. If a client cancels an appointment with less than 24 hours of notification, it will be considered a late cancelation. See consequences below.
Appointment No-Show Policy
A “no-show” is a client who misses an appointment without canceling it. It also includes clients who arrive greater than 10 minutes late to their scheduled appointment.
The first time there is a no-show or late cancelation or late arrival, there will be no charge to the client. A second occurrence will result in being charged the cost of a Doctor’s appointment, currently $75 (subject to change) or $30 for a nurse appointment. For future appointments to be scheduled, we will then require you to leave a $75/$30 deposit that will be applied to your invoice when the client does show for the appointment on time. Should there be a third occurrence, the client will forfeit the deposit and be charged an additional $75/$30 penalty fee and may be asked not to return to the clinic.
Surgery No-Show Policy
This is the most serious of no-shows and will not be tolerated. Should a client miss a surgery appointment without 24 hours of notice of a cancellation, a $250 cancellation fee will be charged to that client. A second infraction will be cause for a client to be asked not to return to the clinic.
We thank you in advance for abiding by these policies and hope you understand they have been created to help serve our clients and patients in the most effective manner possible.
Just remember that canceling your appointment in advance may save the life of another pet in need.