We understand that a pet’s diagnosis with cancer can be stressful. We are here to help explain your pet’s particular type of cancer and the diagnostic and treatment options available, in order to help you make the best decisions for your pet and your family.
The Recheck Appointment
Recheck appointments are primarily for ongoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments, as well as regular rechecks exams and/or imaging. All recheck appointments should be scheduled in advance through the Appointment Desk.
Duration: Most recheck appointments take about 2-3 hours, depending on the purpose of the recheck. You may drop off your pet in the morning and pick up later in the day (please leave a phone number where you can be reached to discuss the diagnostic and treatment plan), or you may wait for your pet.
Contact Phone Number: A nurse or veterinary student will greet you and your pet in the lobby and ask some questions about how your pet has been doing since their last visit.
Medications List: Be sure to bring a list of your pet's current medications. Even if we prescribed them, it is important to review what they are still taking, and at what dose. Make a note of which medications need refills, and let the nurse or veterinary student know.
Sedation: If your pet will be sedated or anesthetized for imaging tests, the nurse or veterinary student will review a special permission form with you to authorize these procedures.
What Happens: The nurse or veterinary student will bring your pet up to the CCC service, where your pet's primary clinician will complete a physical exam. All necessary labwork will be collected and submitted to our Clinical Pathology lab, and required imaging will be performed by our Radiology service.
Diagnostic Results: When diagnostic results are available, your pet's veterinarian will speak to you in person or by phone.
Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy treatments are then ordered through the Pharmacy, and patients are treated by the CCC nurses.
About Our House Officer Team Members
As a teaching hospital, PennVet takes great pride in training the next generation of veterinary specialists, and this is particularly true in the Comprehensive Cancer Care service. All of our house officers – residents and interns – have earned their veterinary degrees and are practicing veterinarians. They are always supervised by attending specialists who are board-certified in medical, surgical, or radiation oncology.
Even if you are primarily communicating with a house officer, rest assured that your pet has met one or more of our board-certified specialists, and that your pet's case has been reviewed in rounds with the entire medical, surgical, and radiation oncology 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 all aspects of veterinary oncology is becoming increasingly competitive.
About Emergencies: We're Always Open
The Penn Vet 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, or bring your pet directly in for evaluation.
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 PennVet readily available in case you need to visit a different hospital on an emergency basis.
The CCC service is open Monday-Friday. Routine appointments are seen Monday-Thursday. Please call the CCC service at 215-746-6557 and ask to speak with a doctor if you are concerned about your pet during normal business hours. After hours, there is always a doctor on call for emergency questions. After hours, there is always a doctor on call for emergency questions.