Now that you have made an appointment, what’s next?

• We will contact your referring/regular vet clinic to get a full history for your pet, including x-rays, blood results and a referral letter.
• We will send you an SMS the day before your appointment to confirm the time. Consultations are by appointment only. If you need to change your appointment please contact our friendly reception team as soon as possible.
  

What to expect on the day?

• Our consultations run for about 1-1.5 hours. At this time, we will discuss your pets’ condition and develop a plan for your pet.
• This plan may involve admitting your pet for a procedure to be performed on the same day or booking your pet in for a future procedure spot. This depends on availability on the day, the procedure being performed and also how you would like to proceed.

Fasting & Medication

• Reminder: Please bring all medications that your pet is receiving to your appointment.
• Please do not feed your pet on the morning of this appointment, but DO NOT WITHHOLD WATER. However, if your pet is diabetic, give a normal meal and a normal dose of insulin before the appointment, unless otherwise advised.
• If your pet is on any medication give these medications as normal (can be with a minimal amount of food if needed).
• If you have any questions surrounding fasting, please contact the clinic prior to your appointment on 03 9379 0700.

After your initial appointment:

• After your initial appointment, we may need to see your pet again for follow up rechecks.
• Your initial consultation may also require the veterinarian to get in touch with you via phone to relay results.
• To book any future rechecks, or to talk to the Internal Medicine Specialist team about your pet please call the clinic on 03 9379 0700 to relay your request.

Our consultations run for about 1-1.5 hours. This gives the Internal Medicine Specialist the opportunity to go through the patient's full medical record, including pathology and imaging from their referring vet.

A lengthy discussion will be had with the client to outline the concerns of their pet, and to make a plan, whether that be in the form of a procedure, treatment or ongoing care including medical treatment, dietary plan etc.

The consultation time also gives the owner the opportunity to discuss their concerns and any other issues that may be going on with their pet and provides them with adequate time for many questions to be asked and answered.  

We are able to offer a multitude of services within the internal medicine department at ARH: 

• MRI
• CT
• Radiographs
• Endoscopic procedures (rhinoscopy, colonoscopy, cystoscopy, bronchoscopy etc.)
• Ultrasound guided FNAs and coaxial biopsy
• Chemotherapy
• Bone marrow biopsy & joint taps
• CSF tap
• Ultrasound
• Echocardiogram
• ECG
• EMG
• Fluoroscopy (swallow/cough studied)
• Faecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT)
• Oesophageal dilation
• Feeding tube placement
  

Referral letters and reports will be provided to the referring vet after each consult to ensure that there is ongoing updates and communication.