Contact
New Bolton Center Kennett Square, PA
Emergencies & Appointments:
610-444-5800
Directions
Ryan Hospital Philadelphia, PA
Emergencies:
215-746-8911
Appointments:
215-746-8387
Directions
Ryan Veterinary Hospital, Penn Vet

What to Expect When You Come Here


It is critical to your animal's health that you seek treatment for urological and kidney ailments. If your animal is straining to urinate, lethargic, incontinent, or in pain, please contact us immediately.

Your Appointment

When you and your animal come to your appointment, we will start by a comprehensive intake, reviewing your case and any existing lab work that you and your veterinarian may have already completed. After this initial meeting, we will make some recommendations for how to best approach your case, including:

  • Additional blood work
  • Urinalysis and urine culture
  • Ultrasound and/or additional radiography, including ultrasound, contrast studies, or a CT scan.

Additional diagnostics include kidney function testing, cystoscopy, contrast studies, blood pressure measurement, and more depending on the underlying cause. The advanced testing available at Penn Vet may be essential to properly diagnose your animal's problem to create and implement the appropriate treatment plan. Some treatment options may include:

  • Antibiotics
  • Medications or supplements
  • Dietary changes
  • Fluid therapy
  • Surgery
  • Minimally invasive procedures
  • Additional treatments to address underlying conditions

Learn more about treatment options...


Preparing for Your Appointment

About Medications and Food

  • Make a list of your pet’s medications and bring this with you to your appointment.  Include the name of the medication, the size (mg) of the tablet, and the amount your pet takes per day.  For liquids, note the concentration (mg/ml) and the volume (mls) your pet takes per day.  
  • Note the name of your pet’s food and how much s/he eats per day.
  • Bring a list of any supplements that you are feeding your pet.
  • Be prepared to tell us if your pet has any allergies to food or medications, or if they have had a past reaction to a certain medication or vaccine.  We’ll also need to know if your pet has a history of any problems with sedation or anesthesia.
  • Please FAST your pet prior to their initial consult appointment, in case any additional imaging or sedation is needed.  This means no food after 10 pm the night before their visit.  Water is fine to continue.
  • Please check with us ahead of time regarding special instructions if your pet requires any medications with food in the morning, or if your pet is diabetic.  

About Medical Records

The best way for us to understand what's happening with your pet is for us to have as much information as possible. Be sure that we receive records from your primary care veterinarian.

  • Generally we request records from the past year, especially any blood work, imaging, or pathology results leading up to your pet's diagnosis.
  • If your pet had diagnostics performed by multiple veterinarians, please make sure we have all pertinent records to review.
  • Remember to ask your veterinarian to send images (x-rays, ultrasound, CT or MRI images).  If these can’t be sent by email, please pick up a disk or the film radiographs to bring to your appointment.
  • Bring a copy of your pet’s vaccination history. Vaccine reminders are often printed on the most recent invoice from your primary care veterinarian.

What We Offer at Ryan Hospital

Getting an accurate diagnosis is critical in successful treatment planning. At Penn Vet's Ryan Hospital for companion animals we offer the best in diagnostic testing, including radiological services such as radiographs, ultrasound, CT-scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). 

Some of the procedures that make Penn Vet unique among specialty hospitals include traditional surgical procedures such as ureterotomy and ureteral reimplantation, minimally invasive procedures and the placement of stents within the urinary tract, laser ablation of ectopic ureters, extracorporeal therapy and renal transplantation.

We also rank as one of the nation's top academic diagnostic laboratories. That means we can process tissue, urine, and blood samples quickly and our diagnostic team comprises board-certified specialists who treat each sample with care, insight, and compassion.


About Our House Officer Team Members

As a teaching hospital, PennVet takes great pride in training the next generation of veterinary specialists.  All of our house officers – our residents and interns – have earned their veterinary degrees and are practicing veterinarians. They are always supervised by attending specialists who are board-certified in surgery.  

Even if you are primarily communicating with a house officer, rest assured that your pet has also been seen by one or more of our board-certified specialists, and that your pet's case has been reviewed in rounds with the entire team.

It is important to remember that specialization is optional in veterinary medicine; not all veterinarians seek this additional training, which often encompasses 3-5 years beyond the 4-year veterinary degree program.  Specializing in veterinary surgery is highly competitive.


About Emergencies: We're Always Open

Penn Vet's Emergency Service is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year, including holidays.  If you are concerned about your pet after hours, please call the Emergency Service at 215-746-8911.  

If you need to bring your pet to a different Emergency Service that may be closer to you, they can also call this number for access to your pet's records.  It is helpful to keep copies of your pet's most recent discharges from Penn Vet readily available in case you need to visit a different hospital on an emergency basis.

The Surgery service is open Monday-Friday, but our surgery team is available seven days a week for emergency surgeries. Routine appointments are seen Monday-Thursday.