At Knollwood, we practice integrative medicine, not holistic medicine. If you are seeking a holistic consultation, we encourage you to seek elsewhere. Would you like to learn more about the difference between integrative medicine and holistic medicine, or about the many different integrative medicine therapies available at our practice? Just click here to visit our Integrative Medicine section.
The Initial Consultation
Integrative consultations with Dr. Deborah Mitchell are by referral appointment only. The initial consultation appointment is one hour in length, and does not include any initial treatments or therapies. During this initial appointment, Dr. Mitchell will thoroughly review your pet's history and medical conditions, will listen carefully to your concerns, and together with you, will decide upon an appropriate therapeutic strategy designed to maximize your pet's health, happiness, and well-being.
After this appointment, we encourage you to go home, review everything we've discussed with all concerned family members, and contact us right away if you have any additional question or concerns. A tremendous amount of information is typically exchanged during a consultation, and we want to make sure that you are comfortable with our treatment plan and with working with us. Once you are satisfied that we can help your pet, we'll get started!
Part of our working strategy will be regular communication between Dr. Mitchell and your primary care veterinarian, regular communication between you and our Veterinary Nurses, and a consistent, in-office recheck schedule with Dr. Mitchell. While the extended time frame for consultations limits their availability to Tuesdays and Thursdays only, follow-up visits can be scheduled during any hour of any of Dr. Mitchell's working days, Monday through Thursday. Whether you are an early bird or a night owl, we'll work together to find time to see you and your pet for any necessary follow-up!
Several important considerations before we can schedule an initial appointment:
1. Consultations represent a partnership between your veterinarian, you, and Dr. Mitchell. We cannot proceed with the consultation process if your veterinarian does not consent to a referral or if they are unwilling to complete our referral forms; nor are we willing to work without their knowledge or consent.
2. A consultation with Dr. Mitchell is not a substitute for your regular veterinarian's medical or surgical care, nor for their medical advice. Dr. Mitchell works with your primary care veterinarian and keeps them informed as to your pet's progress. She cannot take over regular primary care for any pet that is referred to us by your regular veterinarian. And, unless your veterinarian asks us to do so in writing, our office cannot serve as a substitute location for procedures that would normally be performed at their office, such as heartworm tests, nail trims, dispensing of medications prescribed by your regular veterinarian, or routine treatment for ailments unrelated to the condition for which you were originally referred to us.
3. We ask that you plan to arrive at least fifteen minutes prior to all scheduled appointment times, so that our Front Desk staff can collect all the necessary medical information from you at each visit. It's also helpful for your pet (and you!) to be relaxed and comfortable during appointment times. That's why we always try to make sure that we have you and your pet comfortably settled in an exam room, with a cup of soothing herbal tea or a cool drink (and an empty bladder) at least a few minutes prior to your time with Dr. Mitchell.
4. Restoring health to a severely ill pet cannot be done instantaneously. What's a good, realistic approximation of how long it will take for us to help facilitate your pet's welless? Usually, as long as it took for your pet to take those steps from vibrant good health to their current condition. Pets that have declined over a period of months to years cannot be restored with one (or even two or three) treatments. We're very skilled at what we do, but we're not magicians. We ask you to respect and acknowledge that restoring health to an ill pet takes time and patience.
5. Our consultation service is never an opportunity to transfer care of your pet to Dr. Mitchell for primary care. Dr. Mitchell's primary care practice is closed to new clients and has an extended wait list. We respect the confidence that area veterinarians and veterinary specialty practices have shown us by their referrals to us over the years, and we will not engage in any unethical behaviors (such as agreeing to accept referral patients for primary care by Dr. Mitchell) that could jeopardize that relationship.
Follow-up visits (Integrative Progress Examinations)
Follow-up visits may be as short as 10 minutes or as long as 40 minutes. Your pet's follow-up will dpeend upon your pet's medical needs and the necessary therapeutic strategy. You and Dr. Mitchell will work together to decide how often your pet will need progress visits, what therapeutic strategies will be most beneficial, and how long the visits will be. All progress examination fees are based upon the time frame of your appointment, and all services and dispensed supplements and medications have associated fees.
Should you decide that you need more time with Dr. Mitchell than the time recommended for any appointment, please notify our front desk when you schedule that appointment, and we will give you extra time based upon availability. (Extended-duration appointments have an extended fee). If we do not know in advance that you'd like extra time, or would like to discuss new or additional issues, we will still do our best to accommodate you - but Dr. Mitchell's schedule may preclude the extra time.
If we set a progress exam schedule that you elect to not utilize, we will of course respect your wishes and will so advise your primary care veterinarian. Should you elect to not pursue the recommended follow-up care, we will be unable to continue to dispense medication or to continue to offer telephone medical advice.
Ready to start?
To begin the consultation process, please complete the fields at the bottom of this page and click 'submit.' A member of our Online Consultation Coordination Team, headed by Chani, will contact you within seven working days. Please note that while this action begins the consultation process, a consultation appointment will be scheduled only after your primary care veterinarian has e-mailed or faxed us a referral form, complete with suppporting documentation such a complete medical history, blood test results and biopsy results.
Once all of this material arrives in our office, Dr. Mitchell typically takes 45 minutes to an hour to thoroughly review all of your pet's medical findings. Often, she will contact your primary care veterinarian for more information. Only after this review, and only after we are satisfied that we will be able to work with you to improve the health and well-being of your pet, will Dr. Mitchell give the "OK" to schedule your appointment.
Your veterinarian may prefer that some hard-copy documentation, such as non-digital radiographs (X-rays), be either mailed or hand-carried by you, to our office. If so, we will need to receive this documentation at least 1 week prior to your appointment, so that Dr. Mitchell has time to thoroughly review your pet's history and to make sure that the materials received are adequate to properly evaluate your pet.
In order to receive a reply from our Consultation Coordination Team, please add postmaster@knollwoodhospitalforpets.com to your safe senders list, contact list, or address book. If you have not received a reply in your inbox within 24 hours, please check your Junk Mail folder to be sure that our response was not mistaken for spam.
