Sound and the Furry

With renovations underway, it certainly makes us appreciate how the design of a building directly impacts the flow of a practice!

An interesting factor of converting a human hospital to a veterinary clinic is the management of sound.  In a human office, exam rooms flank the building, creating a central treatment location for doctors and nurses. In a veterinary hospital, the format is linear.  Exam rooms close to the front, hospitalization and procedure rooms in the rear (explaining why 'the back' is a widely used euphamism for walking a patient to a treatment area.) This, along with sound-proofed walls and doors, keep the squeals that often accompany a piglet's first vaccines from startling the elderly cat in Exam Room 1.

Veterinary clinics that treat exotic patients in addition to dogs and cats face unique renovation challenges.  A soundproof room for the hospitalization of rabbits, who can easily injure themselves when frightened, is mandatory.  Species of birds from different continents may require rooms with different air exchanges due to allergies or communicable disease.  The hospitalization of reptiles requires the ability to modify temperature and humidity, and provide full-spectrum lighting.  Mammals are no exception - herbivores should not be hospitalized in treatment cages previously occupied by carnivores, as the scent may heighten their stress level.  Even the ceiling is a factor - tiles must be adequately secured to prevent an agile primate or flighted bird from finding their way into the rafters!

In our new facility, we hope to be able to meet the needs of every species we treat.  As an owner, are there features at a vet clinic that are important to you?  What does your pet seem to like or least like about their vet visit?