rDVM Resources

Before making an appointment, many family veterinarians will contact us to discuss the reason for referral and the results of any completed diagnostic procedures or tests. You may make an appointment for your client at that time or the owner can call us to make an appointment.  You may also submit a Patient Referral Form or some veterinarians also download and complete a Veterinary Referral Form.

Fax completed forms to 610-666-1199 or e-mail sconnell@metro-vet.com.

Please remember to make medical records, laboratory results, and/or radiographs available to your client for their initial consultation.

Our hospitals work as one team to make sure your pet gets the fastest access to the care they need, when and where they need it. If a location is at capacity or a patient needs specialized equipment like a CT or MRI, we coordinate between hospitals to keep care moving quickly and smoothly. When tests or treatments happen at another location, your pet’s veterinarian stays connected and involved every step of the way.

When transferring a case to our emergency team please call 610-666-1050 to advise us of the impending arrival. The emergency team will be able to prepare for your patient’s arrival and care based on the information you provide.

With the owners permission, you will receive an update by telephone once daily while your patient is hospitalized at MVA. You can expect these updates to occur Monday through Friday. Every patient that receives treatment at MVA has discharge instructions which are reviewed with the owner. These discharge instructions are faxed to your office at the time of discharge. The discharge instructions may also include a summary of the case or of the disease process present in the patient. A fax will be sent to you and/or a phone call will be placed to your office when any animal dies or is euthanized at MVA to let you know of this fact and if any further information should be forthcoming.

Owners will often call to ask your opinion of our care because of the existing relationship they have with you and the trust they place in your opinion. We’ve discovered that in many cases owners may not communicate fully what we have explained to them. This is understandable considering the amount and complexity of information that we try to pass along. Owners may also feel more comfortable disclosing their true feelings to you as opposed to a MVA doctor whom they just met. Feel free to call our doctors to get detailed information and to provide your insight on the owner’s needs. For complex questions it is best to encourage owners to direct these to the MVA doctors in charge of the patient.

Many veterinarians have their transfer preferences on file with our facility in order to provide the best service to our clients. If it is your preference, the emergency doctor will give pet owners the options to return the pet to your hospital for continued care or to continue care at MVA. We stress to the pet owner that they need to contact you before the transfer so you are aware of their wishes and expectations.

The best thing you can do is have the client make an appointment so that one of our doctors can do a complete review of the case. Different options can be given to the owner based on their wishes and the amount of money that they want to spend. In some cases diagnostics or treatment can be staged rather than happening all at one time. This back and forth conversation is difficult without our doctors dealing directly with the pet owner. For owners who need some time to repay a bill, we offer interest-free and low-interest financing through a third party agency called Care Credit. Owners can visit our “Before Your Appointment” section of this website to learn more about fees and payment policies. They can also apply for Care Credit prior to arrival online.

We try to use all of the information you send with the owner. Some tests will be repeated due to changing conditions in the patient or because of the time elapsed since the tests were originally performed. Radiographs may be repeated to obtain more detail within a particular region of the previous films. Preparing the owner for the possibility of repeated tests will make it easier for them to understand when they reach our hospital.

Our emergency doctors will handle most surgeries such as repair of minor traumatic injuries, GDVs, and splenectomies. MVA surgeons may be called in to do surgery on the more complicated cases.

No, we do not.  We concentrate on specialty and emergency cases. Our daytime referral facility has a veterinary staff that specializes in cardiology, dermatology, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, radiology, and surgery. Emergency and critical care services are always available. Read more about all of our specialty services on our “Specialties” page.

Download our specialist schedule.