Terms & Conditions

Our Terms and Conditions of Business

Fees All our Fees, food, consumables and medication are subject to VAT at the current rate. Our fee levels for all procedures are determined by the time spent on a case. Fees for drugs, materials and diets are based on our expenditure. You can request a detailed breakdown of our fees for every consultation, surgical procedure or transaction with us. Accounts are due for settlement at the end of the consultation, the discharge of your pet or upon collection of food and medication. Payment for external laboratory fees and private cremation fees must be paid before arrangements are made with the laboratory or crematorium.

Estimates of Treatment Costs We will happily provide an estimate as to the costs of a course of treatment or surgery which will be recorded on your pet’s file and will be emailed to you. We aim to be as accurate as possible so you can budget for treatment.

Settlement terms We expect invoices to be paid at the time of service. Our margins are low to keep prices down and so we cannot sustain outstanding debts for services. After due notice to you, the client, overdue accounts will be sent to our debt collectors and further charges will be levied in respect of costs incurred in collecting the debt. These costs include the production of reports, correspondence, court fees, attendance at court, phone calls, home visits and so forth. Any credit card payment not honoured will result in the account being restored to the original sum. Please discuss any difficulties you may have with payment for services before giving consent for procedures to be undertaken. Part payments can only be authorised by a director of the company based on your history with our clinic and agreed schedules must be adhered to.

Pet Health Insurance We strongly support the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents, but we are unable to give specific advice about the choices that are available. Please be aware it is your responsibility to settle your account with us directly and then reclaim the fees from your insurers. We do not charge for processing insurance claims, although we may do so if additional letters are required. If the insurers do not settle the claim that is a matter between you and the insurer, and the debt remains your responsibility.

Concerns and standards We hope that you will be happy with all aspects of our service. However, if you have concerns or feel we have not been clear about treatment, please discuss them at the time with our clinical team. If you require further explanation, then please submit your concerns via email to the directors.

Ownership of records, radiographs, images and other records We may take photos and videos of patients in our care to be used for educational purposes or on our business social media accounts (The Exotic Animal Vets). Patent data is anonymised, unless you are specifically asked if we can use your pet’s name or we utilise client photos. All records, images and other documents remain the property of TEAV Ltd. These records by law are owned by the clinic. Copies will be forwarded directly to another veterinary surgeon at your request. Should you wish for images from x rays or scans please ask. We are happy for these to be provided to you as long as you undertake not to share these on social media without express permission.

Hospitalisation We use a local 24/7 facility for our out of hours. PetMedics in Worsley is an RWAF Silver Standard Rabbit friendly practice who specialise in care of critically unwell patients, including exotics. If for any reason your pet remains with us overnight they will be checked by the on-call vet team at appropriate intervals, but will not necessarily be continuously monitored overnight. Owners of inpatients will receive a routine update after rounds the following morning.

Medication Written prescriptions are available from our clinic for a fee. You can obtain medications from the clinic, or from another veterinary surgeon or pharmacy (including online). We can only provide POM-V medication for patients under our care. We are required to assess your pet every six months for long term prescriptions or medications to be dispensed. Once medications have left our building we cannot refund the cost. If we order in medication specifically for your pet, payment will be required even if it is not collected. A prescription for medication may not be appropriate if your pet is an inpatient or in need of urgent care. If you have medication at home we advise you to bring this in with you as it can avoid the need for extra medication to be dispensed.

Off-License Use of Medications We aim to provide a comprehensive medical and surgical service for all species. In most cases many of the drugs we need to use in order to treat your pets appropriately are not licensed either for the specific species and may not be licensed for the specific medical problem because of the difference in physiology of these animals. We use an evidence-based approach to choose each medication and will endeavour to discuss and risks and benefits with you each time. By registering with TEAV Ltd The Exotic Animal Vets you agree to the use of off-license medications.

Out of Hours We provide an out of hours service via PetMedics in Worsley for registered patients only. For non-urgent queries we also facilitate access to VidiVet an online telemedicine facility. This requires us to have clinically assessed your pet during working hours to be registered on our system. Simply registering your pet is not enough to gain access to VidiVet. Referring veterinary surgeons are also required to be approved and registered on our system prior to us accepting referrals out of hours. These measures are in place to ensure that we are able to provide the best care we can for our clients. Staff on call will have worked the day before and they will work the day after so please ensure disturbances to them are absolutely necessary. We use telemedicine to triage cases and any fees for emergency call outs are due in advance when they are booked on our system. It can take up to 90 minutes for our team to attend calls.

Second opinions and Referrals we are happy to facilitate secondary referral or second opinion consultations with external facilities where we would value additional expertise or specific equipment- for example orthopedic or imaging referrals. However, specialists in other disciplines are often unfamiliar with exotic animals and may not take them on as cases. We aim to collaborate with other specialists where possible to ensure the best outcome for your pet.

Data Protection – GDPR We only use your personal information that you provide to us in accordance with our privacy policy.