FAQ - Mount Laurel Animal Hospital

Emergency Visits

Thank you for entrusting us with your pet's care. If your pet is experiencing a life-threatening emergency or is in distress, proceed directly to the front desk for immediate assistance. At times, we experience higher than normal case volume. Our doctors and staff are working tirelessly to care for every case to the best of their abilities. This means many of our staff are working in excess of their regular schedules, and this is something they are doing because of their passion to help you and your pet.

We ask that you treat our doctors and staff with respect and understanding and remember that they are doing their best. If you have waited multiple hours, they know this and are doing their absolute best to see you as soon as possible. There are situations where the doctors are monitoring multiple critical patients in the treatment area and will need to evaluate your pet there and then call you with their recommendations.

We also understand that there can be a large cost associated with your pet’s care. You can view payment options by clicking here: https://mlahvet.com/payment-options/. Please note - all costs for services are collected upon completion, and deposits may be needed depending on your pet’s stability and care needs. Our hospital does not provide payment plans.

Should you have any questions or concerns during your time in our emergency department, please do not hesitate to ask one of our team members. We understand that a trip to the emergency room is stressful, and we are here to assist you and your family. At Mount Laurel Animal Hospital, we treat every client as family, and every pet as our own.

Thank you for choosing our hospital and our team of incredible veterinary professionals.

Triage

Our Emergency Room operates much like a human Emergency Room. Patients are seen based on the severity of their illness or injury, rather than the order of arrival. If your pet is in critical condition, our nurses may obtain verbal permission to start treatments recommended by the attending clinician.

Please know that our team is working diligently behind the scenes to provide all of our patients with prompt care; however, wait times may increase for patients who are stable when we are treating patients who are in life-threatening situations.

Discharge

When your pet is ready to be discharged, our client service representatives will help guide the check-out process, and our emergency room nurses will go over your pet’s discharge instructions with you and answer any questions you may have regarding your pet's treatments and at-home care and monitoring.

We appreciate your patience and understanding during your pet's Emergency visit. We are here to support you and the pets you love, as we always strive to act in the best interests of both our valued clients and the Mount Laurel Animal Hospital team.

Follow Up Care

Similarly to a human emergency room, our Emergency Services does not provide scheduled appointments for rechecks or follow-up appointments. Mount Laurel Animal Hospital’s Emergency & Specialty Care services are designed to function as an extension of your primary veterinarian's facility. We provide local and referring veterinarians with after-hours emergency services, specialized medical procedures and critical care hospitalization for their clients’ pets. We value the partnership we have with your veterinarian, and for that reason, we will always refer your pet back to your primary vet for follow-up services and continued care once our emergency or specialized services are no longer necessary. We will immediately notify your veterinarian that your pet visited our hospital, and provide them with treatment and follow-up information so they can continue your pet’s care once you leave our hospital.

Scheduling an Appointment

Requesting an appointment at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital is easy! We have multiple options to accommodate our clients’ preferences and busy lifestyles!

Request an appointment online HERE! Requests submitted online will be sent automatically to our Appointment Desk Team! The Appointment Desk is our internal scheduling team that is trained in assisting with appointment requests for all of our specialty departments. Our Appointment Desk is currently staffed 7 days per week from 10A-5P and will respond to your request as soon as possible (please allow up to 24 hours). They can also be reached via email at [email protected] if you have scheduling-related questions or inquiries.
OR call the hospital at (856) 234-7626! Our hospital is staffed 24/7 and is available to schedule most appointment requests. Your patience is appreciated!

Referral Policy

Mount Laurel Animal Hospital’s Emergency & Specialty Care services are designed to function as an extension of your primary veterinarian's facility. We provide local and referring veterinarians with after-hours emergency services, specialized medical procedures and critical care hospitalization for their clients’ pets. We value the partnership we have with your veterinarian, and for that reason, they will provide follow-up services and continued care once our emergency or specialized services are no longer necessary. We will immediately notify your veterinarian that your pet visited our hospital, and provide them with treatment and follow-up information so they can continue your pet’s care once you leave our hospital.

Referring a Patient

To refer a patient to one of our specialty medicine services, please visit https://mlahvet.com/referrals/ and complete the referral request form. You can also submit cases through your online referral portal, rVetLink, and use the convenient auto-fill feature!

What is auto-fill?

Auto-Fill pulls patient and client data directly from your practice management software and auto-fills up to 80% of the eReferral submission.
Auto-Fill is free of charge and is compatible with Cornerstone Software, ImproMed, and AVImark.

Setting up Auto-Fill is fast and easy. Visit https://mlahvet.com/referrals/ and click the hyperlink for instructions that explain the set-up process step by step, as well as how to use Auto-Fill.

For troubleshooting and additional details, click the FAQ hyperlink.

We respectfully request that referral requests are made only for clients who have expressed serious interest in following up with a specialist. Please note that the following services are booked up to 2-3 months out: Behavior, Cardiology, Internal Medicine. All emergent cases should be referred to our 24/7 Emergency Room.

Referring for Advanced Imaging

If your patient requires advanced imaging such as a CT, MRI or endoscopy, chances are they will need to consult with one of our specialty clinicians. Sometimes, it can be a bit tricky to determine which specialist to schedule your pet’s first appointment with, so we strongly recommend contacting our Appointment Desk Team to help answer any of your questions! Our Appointment Desk team is highly trained in scheduling for all our specialists and can help guide you when determining the next step for your patients' care.

To contact our Appointment Desk, please fill out an appointment request form or email them at [email protected].

Referring to Internal Medicine

In an effort to be most efficient, we kindly ask that you call in advance when transferring a patient for same-day ultrasound and scope services. This is to ensure our Internists will have availability on an emergency basis, or so that we can properly inform your clients of the next time the service will be available.

For stable patients, we request that either one of your team members or your client contact us to schedule an appointment with our Internal Medicine department.

Requesting a Medication Refill

You can easily request a refill of your pet’s prescriptions HERE! You can select if you would prefer to have your pet’s medication shipped to your home or called into a human pharmacy near you (not applicable for veterinary-only medications such as Apoquel, Atopica, Baytril, Carprofen, Vetmedin, etc.). For requests via online pet discount pharmacies, please read our policy below.

Medication refills can only be legally provided for pets who have been examined by one of our doctors within 1 year. If your pet is overdue for a yearly examination, please schedule a wellness exam so that we can legally provide your pet with prescription medications and/or preventatives (ie. Bravecto, Heartworm prevention, etc).

Online Pet Discount Pharmacies Policy
(ie Chewy, 1-800-Pet-Meds, PetCareRX, etc.)

We have increasing concerns about the ethical behavior and authenticity of products supplied by some online pharmacies. Vetsource is the ONLY trusted online pharmacy recommended by our veterinarians, and we consider it an extension of our hospital. We are committed to providing the best and safest medications for your pet, and for this reason, we do not recommend purchasing medications from any online pharmacy except Vetsource.

For clients who choose to obtain their prescriptions through these companies, we will provide you with a written script. This script can be either picked up at the hospital OR mailed to your address and then mailed to the company. Unfortunately, we cannot email written scripts to clients.

Because we want your decisions to be well informed, we have summarized the major concerns below:

After discussions with multiple veterinary pharmaceutical companies that manufacture several of these products, we have discovered that many of these companies limit the distribution of their products through licensed veterinarians, and so products obtained from many internet retailers are likely acquired illegally through non-approved channels.
The manufacturer cannot guarantee safe handling, appropriate storage, and that the product has not been tampered with when they are not obtained through a licensed veterinarian. For this reason, the companies will not honor their warranties/guarantees if the products are not obtained through a licensed veterinarian. This means that reactions to the medications or failure of the medications (ie: preventatives) are not covered by the manufacturer’s warranty.
Several clients have reported that they have received medications outside of their original packaging which leads us to question the authenticity of these medications.
Pharmaceuticals manufactured for and labeled for use in other countries (namely Australia and Mexico) have been illegally diverted and sold through these discount houses in the United States.
We have also noticed several mistakes made on the part of multiple online pharmacies.

We understand that some of our clients have relationships with other online pharmacies and that altering these relationships may present an inconvenience. Because of our commitment to preserving the integrity of these products and the important warranties available through the manufacturers, we have taken steps to make this adjustment easier. To help offset the financial implications, we have also adjusted our prices on many of these preventative products to match those of some online pharmacies. We hope that this will help alleviate any concerns regarding cost.

If you would still like to obtain your refill through one of these online pharmacies, please let one of our pharmacy techs know and we can provide you with a written script that you can then send into the online pharmacy. The script will be available at the hospital to pick up, or we can mail it to you at the mailing address you provide to us. Please allow up to 72 hours for us to process your request.

Pet Insurance

We strongly recommend pet insurance for all pets! We encourage all of our clients to research and sign up for the company and plan that best suits their pet. Factors to consider when choosing a plan include: lifestyle, pre-existing conditions, risk factors, monthly cost for plan, what the plan covers, etc.

If you need any paperwork filled out for your pet’s insurance company, please email the form(s) to our front desk at [email protected].

CLICK HERE for recommended insurance

Share Medical Records With Us!

We encourage you to share your pet’s previous medical records in preparation for their upcoming appointment with us! Access to your pet’s records prior to their initial appointment with us allows our technicians and doctors gain important insights into your pet’s health and collaborate with your pet’s referring veterinarian even before stepping into the hospital! When it comes to how much info to share with us? The more the merrier!

The more we know about past diagnostic results, previous treatments recommended, your pet’s response to treatment or any adverse effects, the better we can prepare and come up with the best treatment plan with you for your pet to get them feeling better sooner!

Why Partner with MLAH?

We strongly believe in giving back to the community and supporting the efforts of local animal rescues and shelters! We are open to any and all ideas to find these wonderful pets their forever home as well as keeping them safe and healthy. We are honored to contribute to your purpose in any way that we can. To partner with MLAH, simply click this link, https://mlahvet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MLAH_Partner_Packet_2023.pdf , to access our partnership packet. There you find all the wonderful benefits MLAH Rescues have access to.

Late / Cancellation Policy

The demand for veterinary care is significantly higher than the availability of veterinary staff. This is a nationwide concern, and our hospital is also feeling the effects of this demand. All of our departments have waitlists that are very long with clients who are willing to be seen at a moment's notice, so it's important that we have enough time to fill these spots and ensure that we can help as many pets as possible receive the care they need.

In addition, our teams' schedules are typically booked solid. To ensure the day runs smoothly, and we are able to provide exceptional care and service to our patients and clients, it's important that we run as close to schedule as possible.

A client that arrives late to their appointment typically means that every appointment after that will run behind schedule; it's a domino effect. This leads to anxious pets, frustrated/angry clients, and a stressed team who cannot fulfill our promise to provide excellent client service and patient care.

In order to ensure that our teams are able to provide exceptional care and service to our patients and clients, we have implemented guidelines for last-minute cancellations and late arrivals as well as clients that fail to show up for their scheduled appointment.

What is considered a late cancellation?
A cancellation with less than 48 hours' notice.

What is considered a "No Show"?
Client does not cancel or reschedule, and does not show up for their scheduled appointment (or arrives 15+ minutes late and we are unable to accommodate them)

Please know that clients who have a combination of 2 consecutive late cancellations AND/OR no shows on file, will be required to leave a $50 deposit in order to schedule all future appointments.

We understand that there will be circumstances that may require you to cancel or reschedule your appointment. It’s important to provide us with at least 48 hours' notice. This will ensure that our scheduling team has enough time to offer the open appointment to another patient that is in need of veterinary care.

Frequently Asked Questions