Welcome to CHAI!
We’re excited you’ve chosen us for your pet’s care. Please review our policies below so we can provide the best experience for you and your pet. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
Policy Highlights:
- Payment Policy – Payment due at time of service. We accept cash, credit cards, and CareCredit.
- Cancellation Policy – Please notify us as soon as possible if you need to reschedule an appointment.
- Late Arrivals – Arriving late to appointments may result in fees. Repeated late arrivals could lead to dismissal.
- Code of Conduct – We aim to be respectful and professional with clients and expect the same in return.
- Aggressive Animals – Unfortunately we cannot accept patients who exhibit aggressive biting behavior that endangers our staff.
- Communication Policy – How and when to contact us for medical questions, prescription refills, and scheduling.
Policies for New Clients at CHAI:
Welcome: Thank you for choosing CHAI for your pet’s health care needs. We look forward to serving you and caring for your pet for many years to come. We plan to exceed your expectations and offer veterinary care at the highest level for your pet while also helping your pet feel safe and cared for while with us. To open an account with us, you must be at least 18 years of age. Please read all of the following information carefully as it is vital that you are aware of our policies.
Payment Policy: CHAI does not accept payment plans. Payment is due at the time of service with no exception. We gladly accept cash, major credit cards, and Care Credit as payment.
Cancellation Policy: If for any reason you cannot make it to any appointment that you schedule with us, please let us know so we can fill the appointment slot with another pet in need of our services. We are happy to reschedule for you as needed! If you do not call and fail to show up for your appointment on your initial visit to CHAI, you will not be allowed to book with us again in the future.
Late Arrivals: We work really hard to be respectful of your time. We will strive to start your appointment quickly and work efficiently but thoroughly for you and your pet. Please be on time for all appointments to keep our schedule moving as smoothly as possible. Late arrivals will incur a non-refundable fee of $15 at each occurrence. Repeated late arrivals will result in removal from our client list. These restrictions are in an effort to allow your pet the time they deserve while also ensuring every pet receives the same time and attention.
Code of Conduct: We appreciate and value our clients and understand that caring for a sick pet can be extremely stressful for a pet parent. We will strive to be respectful and professional with you and your pet at all times. We also ask that you are respectful and professional with our doctors and staff. We highly value our doctors and staff as well, and cannot allow them to be demeaned, embarrassed, belittled, or made to feel threatened by our clients. We are here to help you and employ people who want to care for you and your pet to the very best of their ability. Our valued staff includes our retail staff, reception staff, medical department staff, and doctors. Conduct that is rude or offensive will not be permitted at CHAI and we ask that you fully understand that while our clients are extremely important to us and we have every intention of exceeding all expectations in our quality of care and professionalism toward you and your pets, our staff is equally as important to us and it is our duty to ensure they feel cared for as well.
Aggressive Animals: Going to the vet is scary for some pets and we get that! A scared pet is very different from an aggressive pet. Most scared pets can be worked with using many of the Fear Free techniques that we provide and most of the time can learn to trust us over the course of a few visits as they learn that we will do everything we can to make them feel safe. We welcome scared pets who need a little extra time and effort to feel safe! When a pet is so afraid that they cannot learn to trust us and instead will bite as a first response to fear, the pet is unfortunately not a candidate for care at CHAI. We commonly offer training recommendations for those pet parents and have seen amazing outcomes as pets go through a training program to overcome some of those fears. We have seen many pets back at CHAI after training with incredible results. We want to be able to help every pet who comes to us but there are some who need to be worked with at a level that we simply cannot. If you would like recommendations for trainers in our area, please let us know. Aggressive pets who lunge at our doctors and staff, attempt to actively bite, and who create an unsafe working environment for our doctors and staff, are not accepted at CHAI. If our staff cannot safely work with a pet, or if the medical staff cannot safely place a muzzle onto the pet in order to protect themselves, that pet is not a candidate for our services. CHAI is an integrative medical facility that offers both traditional and alternative veterinary care for pets. These services require close contact for long periods of time. Pets who are aggressive cannot be worked with on the same level as non-aggressive pets and it is a disservice to both our client and the pet, as well as a danger to our staff and doctors, to allow them as patients.
Communication Policy: Due to the overwhelming number of daily emails that are received, we have implemented the following communications policy. CURRENT CLIENTS – If your pet is in distress or may be experiencing a medical emergency, please do not email us. Call 423-531-8899 option 1 for immediate assistance MONDAY-FRIDAY 8am-6pm. NOT A CURRENT CLIENT OR OUTSIDE BUSINESS HOURS – If your pet is in distress or may be experiencing a medical emergency, please call the nearest emergency clinic for immediate assistance. Emails sent to chaihealing@gmail.com are only for the purpose of conveying vital medical information to us regarding a currently hospitalized patient or for responding to an inquiry from our medical staff regarding a medical issue. Please refrain from sending casual inquiries regarding your pet’s general health, questions that could be answered via a phone call, or emails inquiring about appointment availability to this email address. Appointments cannot be made via email and questions regarding your pet’s general health or any concern about your pet should be addressed via a scheduled office visit so that a medical professional can speak with you directly and fully about your concerns. Appointments must be made via phone and technicians cannot respond to detailed medical questions via email. Please make an office visit to discuss any medical issue with a medical professional. Telephone consultations are available for a fee of $60 per 30 minutes. These can be scheduled via phone call and are available only for patients seen in the last 90 days. The consultation will be stopped at the scheduled time exactly, regardless of the topic of conversation. Refills for supplements, medications, and food can be requested via our website and through the online store. A member of our medical staff will review the request and approve it based on the current medical record. Requests made in this manner will be addressed more quickly than those made via email. For all emails sent to chaihealing@gmail.com, please expect a response within 1-5 business days. All emails are addressed in the order in which they are received. All emails are reviewed by our medical staff and prioritized by the urgency of the medical need. If you have not received a response within 5 business days, please call us for immediate assistance. We strive to answer every email we receive but, due to the overwhelming volume of emails, there are some that we are unable to respond to. If you have not received a response, it is not because we do not value your communication. It is simply a result of the high volume of emails and the need to prioritize our in-office patients. Our policy is in place to prioritize the needs of our in-office patients and to keep our communications as efficient as possible.
Thank you for taking the time to read through our policies and for understanding the importance of each of these items. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please let us know.
Thank you for taking the time to read through our policies and for understanding the importance of each of these items. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please let us know.
We look forward to caring for your pet! Please contact us with any other questions.
