in Pooler, GA

Dear Pooler Veterinary Hospital Family, Whether you've trusted us with your pets for years, recently joined our family, or are one of the incredible people who makes this hospital what it is every day, I want to take a few moments to share some important changes coming to Pooler Veterinary Hospital beginning August 3rd.

At Pooler Veterinary Hospital, we've always believed our responsibility extends beyond providing excellent medicine. We also have a responsibility to make that care as accessible and affordable as we possibly can. We recognize that the cost of veterinary care has continued to rise substantially over time, just as the cost of nearly everything else has. While many of those increases are outside of our control, we're constantly looking for thoughtful ways to preserve the high standard of care we believe every pet deserves while helping families better manage the financial side of that care.

After a great deal of planning, we're introducing two important changes that we believe accomplish both of those goals.

1. Introducing Snout Wellness Plans

Snout is an optional wellness membership that allows our families to spread the cost of their pet's preventative healthcare into 12 monthly payments. Rather than paying for recommended wellness services all at once, the cost is divided into manageable monthly installments. There are also options to include services such as spays and neuters, dental cleanings, flea, tick, and heartworm prevention, and even ultrasounds, allowing many larger expenses to be budgeted throughout the year.

One of the most valuable features of these plans is that enrolled pets receive unlimited examinations at Pooler Veterinary Hospital throughout the year at no additional charge. This includes annual wellness visits, appointments for sick pets, consultations, and technician visits. Emergency visits are not included. These benefits apply exclusively to services provided by Pooler Veterinary Hospital.

Enrollment is completely optional. Snout is an independent third-party provider that manages the wellness plans and processes the monthly payments. Plans are tailored to each pet's age and healthcare needs, ensuring pets receive the preventative care recommendations that are most appropriate for them.

Beginning August 3rd, you'll have access to enroll through a link on our website (poolervet.com) and will receive email links to enroll prior to upcoming visits.

The preventative services included in each plan reflect what both our doctors and the American Animal Hospital Association consider the gold standard of preventative medicine. Depending on your pet's age, this includes comprehensive physical examinations, intestinal parasite screening, heartworm testing, core vaccinations, and age-appropriate preventative screening lab work.

While the plans include unlimited examinations for pets that become ill, diagnostics and treatment associated with illness or injury are not included. Preventative healthcare follows fairly predictable guidelines, allowing us to budget those services over the course of a year. Illness and injury, however, are unpredictable and unique to every patient. We believe your financial resources should be dedicated only to the care your pet actually needs—no more.

Our hope is that these plans will make gold-standard preventative care attainable for more families while making it easier for those already following these recommendations to budget for their pet's healthcare.

2. A New Approach to Preventative Screening Lab Work

Beginning August 3rd, routine preventative screening tests—including complete blood counts (CBCs), chemistry panels, heartworm tests, intestinal parasite screening, and urinalysis—will be submitted to our trusted diagnostic partner, IDEXX, rather than being processed in our hospital laboratory.

We've been partnered with IDEXX from the very start of Pooler Veterinary Hospital. While we've long relied on their in-hospital diagnostic equipment and used their reference laboratory for specialized testing, advances in diagnostic medicine have changed what we believe represents the very best care for our patients. Today, sending preventative screening tests to our outside diagnostic lab provides several important advantages.

First, it helps us better manage costs. Because IDEXX processes an enormous volume of samples every day, they can provide comprehensive diagnostic testing more efficiently than any individual hospital can. That helps us keep the cost of preventative labs more stable over time.

Second, it gives us access to broader, more comprehensive preventative screening panels—particularly for our senior pets—without increasing the cost of those services. More information allows us to identify subtle changes earlier, often before pets begin showing signs of disease, giving us the opportunity to intervene sooner and improve long-term outcomes.

Finally, it provides access to additional testing using samples we've already collected. Preventative screening lab work is intended to identify early changes that may require further investigation. In the past, that often meant asking pets to return for additional blood or urine samples. Now, many additional diagnostic tests can be performed on samples already at the laboratory, frequently at a lower cost than submitting them separately, saving both time and money while reducing stress for our patients whenever possible.

Because these samples will now be processed by our outside diagnostic laboratory, we expect to communicate your pet's preventative screening lab results within 2–3 business days of your visit. In addition to discussing results by phone when appropriate, we'll also have the ability to communicate many lab results securely by email, making it easier and more convenient to share your pet's information with you. To help us provide timely communication, please make sure we have your most current email address on file at your next visit.

It's important to emphasize that this change applies only to preventative screening laboratory work. Laboratory testing for pets that are sick or injured will continue to be performed in-house whenever appropriate so that we can obtain results quickly and begin treatment without delay. This change also applies to all preventative screening lab work, regardless of whether you've elected to enroll in a Snout Wellness Plan.

At the heart of both of these changes is a simple goal: to continue providing the highest standard of veterinary medicine while making that care as affordable, accessible, and valuable as possible.

We understand that change often brings questions, and we're committed to making this transition as smooth as possible. Our team is happy to answer any questions you may have about either of these changes.

Thank you for trusting us to care for the pets you love. It is a privilege we never take for granted, and we remain committed to providing compassionate, exceptional care for many years to come.

With gratitude,
Michael Brown, DVM
Medical Director
Pooler Veterinary Hospital