Appointment Policies

If you are a new client with and would like to Make An Appointment, please complete our online booking form or contact us at 609-587-0222.

To allow ample time for all patients and scheduled surgical procedures, we operate primarily by appointment. Emergency cases shall always receive top priority, which is why occasional appointment delay is inevitable. Please realize that we make a sincere attempt to see each client on time.

For your convenience, drop-off appointments are available. A ‘drop off’ means you could bring your pet at the time that works best for you and leave him/her with us for a couple of hours. Usually we will ask you to drop off’ sometime in the morning so our doctors can examine the patient in between appointments or at the time purposely reserved for admitted patients. Once the doctor is done, she will give you a call to go over the diagnosis and to give you discharge instructions.

Our doctor time is scheduled for your convenience, so we require the courtesy of 24 hour notice if you need to cancel or change your appointment. Failure   to cancel your appointment within 24 hours may result in a missed appointment fee.   Please show us the courtesy of not talking into or texting on your cell   phone while in our office.  

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Appointment Types

There are four basic types of visits you may schedule:  sick visits, medical progress exam visits (“rechecks”), well-patient visits (“physicals”), and technician appointments.  It is helpful to understand the difference between these types of visits so that you can get the most out of the appointment.

“Sick visits” may be scheduled on short-notice and allow us to address an acute problem for your pet  quickly.  Typically our established patients can be seen for a same-day appointment.  

“Medical progress exams” are frequently scheduled as you leave our office.  They allow us to closely monitor your pets’ chronic conditions, such as skin and ear infections.  You may also need to follow-up for a particularly severe acute illness. 

Well-patient visits, or “physicals,” are immensely important in your continued health.  This visit includes updating all of your pets’ immunizations, performing   screening tests in accordance with the latest recommendations, disease prevention, and a complete physical exam and intestinal parasite exam.  All patients should schedule a physical once a year to ensure your continued health and well-being, and we recommend patients over 8 years of age or that have chronic conditions to schedule semi-annual (every 6 months) physical exams.  Please schedule these visits separately from “sick” or “follow-up” visits to ensure the entire appointment may be dedicated to this purpose.

“Technician appointments” are scheduled for routine services such as toe nail trims, anal sac expressions, and the second of a series of some vaccines (lyme, influenza, bordetella).  Toe nail trims, heartworm and tick serology testing, and anal sac expressions can be scheduled as technician appointments for pets who have had a wellness physical exam within the previous 12 months at Nottingham Animal Hospital.  

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Payment Policy

We require full payment at the time that services are rendered. For your convenience, we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, cash, personal checks.

We also accept Care Credit, which is a third party billing service which will pay your pet’s bill and then allow you to pay off the balance over time.  This service allows no interest payment if the balance is paid within 6 months.  Click on the below link to get more information or to apply for a card.

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Arrival Procedures

For your protection, and that of others, all dogs must be on a leash and properly controlled while in the waiting area or exam rooms.

All cats must be presented in an appropriate cat carrier.

Once in the examination room,  we require that you allow our trained technicians and assistants to restrain your animals, for the safety of your pet, yourself, and our staff. 

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On-Line Pharmacy

Nottingham Animal Hospital makes every possible effort to ensure that our patients receive the very best pharmaceutical products available. New Jersey law requires that your pet must receive a wellness exam every 12 months from one of our veterinarians in order for us to prescribe medications for your pet. Nottingham Animal Hospital maintains an on-site pharmacy to meet all of your pet’s health care needs. During your appointment, your pet’s prescriptions will be prepared, instructions and demonstrations for administering medications will be given, and you will receive information about possible side effects of all medications. Occasionally your pet may need a product that we do not keep in our pharmacy, or that needs to be specially prepared by pharmacist. In these cases the product will be ordered for you by our staff.

Your pet may be prescribed medications that need to be refilled.  In these cases, Nottingham Animal Hospital is able to provide refills of prescribed medications, either from our on-site pharmacy or from our on-line pharmacy.  For prescription refills at Nottingham Animal Hospital, please call the office.

Nottingham Animal Hospital is able to provide on-line prescriptions directly to you through our  pharmacy whose products come directly from the manufacturer.  Simply   click on the Vet’s First Choice button to explore our services.  There is no need to obtain a written prescription from us to take advantage of the convenience of our on-line pharmacy, since prescription information is entered directly by our staff.  Products are shipped directly to you, and many prices match those of other large discount on-line providers.  If you are interested in obtaining prescriptions through this service, let your veterinary technician know during your appointment and our staff will arrange services for you.  You may also call VetCentric directly at 1-866-838-2368 to obtain more information. 

If you wish to obtain refills at another pharmacy, we are happy to provide a written prescription to you.  In this event, the following policies will be adhered to: 

1) All state and federal regulations governing prescribing laws apply to written prescriptions. 

2) One written prescription per medication per pet will be provided.  You are  responsible for sending the prescription in to your choice of pharmacies.  If this prescription is lost or filled improperly by the catalog house, we may not be able write another one. 

3)  It is your responsibility to ensure that prescriptions obtained by pharmacies other than at Nottingham Animal Hospital are filled, labeled, shipped, and used correctly.  We are not responsible if external pharmacies send counterfeit or unauthorized products to you. 

4) Nottingham Animal Hospital will not become involved in any product failure issues for products purchased through external pharmacies.  This includes prescription and nonprescription products.

5) If you change your mind after we have written a prescription for you, and would like to have your prescription filled at Nottingham Animal Hospital, we may be unable to fill the prescription for you here until the actual written prescription form is returned to us.

Sometimes clients may choose to have their pets’ prescriptions filled through on-line discount providers in order to save a little money.  Here is some important information to consider before you make this decision.

Many times, Nottingham Animal Hospital can provide products at costs that match or are competitive with on-line discount providers.

 · All major pharmaceutical manufacturers (Novartis, Pfizer, Bayer, Merial, etc) of veterinary specific products (Interceptor®, Sentinel®, Frontline®, Rimadyl®,

Anipryl®, and Metacam® to name a few) require their products to be sold only through licensed veterinarians.  Manufacturers consider VetStore® as such.

· Some on-line discount providers have been cited by the FDA and State Boards of Pharmacy for violating prescribing procedures.