To provide the best care that we can for your animal, the Hospital is divided into various specialty areas. Each specialty area is staffed by licensed veterinarians, residents, interns, and veterinary technicians. The Veterinary Medical Center also is the teaching hospital for the College of Veterinary Medicine, so senior veterinary students and veterinary technician students may participate in your animal’s care.

Our main function is to provide a referral center for private veterinarians while also teaching veterinary students. To accomplish both of these functions simultaneously, we operate our Hospital differently from a private veterinary hospital. Frequently, our clients must wait longer to see our clinicians than they would to see their regular veterinarian. The following points will help to explain how our Hospital operates.

• A third- or -fourth-year veterinary student will initially see you and your animal. The student will ask you some questions about your animal’s health and perform an examination. The student will discuss his/her findings with the veterinarian. The veterinarian will then examine your animal and discuss the recommended tests and treatment options with you. In some cases, you may not work with a student at all.
• After you and the veterinarian have agreed upon a plan, you will be given an estimate (*please see below) of the costs involved for the diagnosis and treatment of your animal’s condition. You should be prepared to make a deposit equal to one half of the upper end of the estimated cost of services. We offer the Care Credit payment plan and accept checks, MasterCard, Visa, Discover Card, or American Express.

*Please understand that an estimate is not an exact charge for your animal’s medical expenses. An estimate is the best, well-educated guess that a clinician can make based on the experience he/she has of similar cases. Our clinicians will do their best to create an estimate as close to your final cost as possible. Because medicine is not a perfect science, sometimes the treatment plan will need to change. The doctor will communicate with you if the treatment plan and estimate are going to change.

• Because our Hospital is a referral center, we are frequently sent complex and difficult cases for diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, most of our patients require hospitalization in order to complete the necessary tests and/or treatment. You should be prepared to leave your animal if hospitalization is recommended.
• It is our policy that all personal belongings must remain with animal owners at all times. This ensures that personal belongings of clients and animals are not lost within the MSU Veterinary Medical Center during your animal’s stay in the Hospital. The VMC is not liable for personal belongings that are lost while an animal is in Hospital.