At Healthy Paws, we are committed to providing the best veterinary care we can. At times, that may include referral to a veterinary specialist for advanced diagnostics or treatment for a complicated problem that exceeds the capability of our hospital.

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What is a Veterinary Specialist?

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A veterinary specialist is a board-certified veterinarian who has received additional intensive training (usually an extra 4 years) in a specialty field beyond veterinary school. Specialists play an important role in providing more advanced diagnostics and treatments for complicated or advanced medical problems. Specialists usually work at large “referral” or “specialty” facilities that offer 24-hour care and have advanced diagnostic tools such as MRI or Cat scan machines or special surgical or medical equipment and therapeutics available that general care practices are unable to offer.

At Healthy Paws Veterinary Center, we will try our best to treat patients in house, but if there is a situation that is either very complicated, or is not responding to traditional therapy, we may recommend or offer a referral to a specialist. We will also encourage clients to seek a second opinion if there is any question about the proposed diagnosis or treatment options. We want all our clients to be 100% comfortable about our recommendations or case management. In most cases, clients call the referral hospital to set up the appointment, then they call Healthy Paws and we will fax or email the medical record. Please include the time, date, and Doctor you will be seeing for the referral, so we can ensure they have received all of the necessary information.