UPDATED MAR 11, 2022
In an effort to respect everyone’s comfort level, we are strongly encouraging that you continue to wear a mask when you visit the clinic. If you choose not to wear a mask, you will still be allowed in the reception and retail areas. We are continuing to require a mask if you choose to be present for an appointment in the exam rooms. We are happy to relay findings and conduct the exam over the phone, or weather permitting, complete the visit outside. We are also continuing to limit the number of people allowed in the exam room to 1.
We also ask that you not enter the clinic if you are not feeling well. This will help keep our staff safe and healthy and allow us to continue to care for your pets.
Please continue to be respectful of our staff and their comfort levels. They are putting every effort into balancing caring for your pets and their physical and mental wellbeing.
As always, we appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we navigate a difficult situation. A special thank you to those folk who have been taking advantage of our online booking and ordering services, allowing us to focus more of our energy on those pets who have urgent needs.
UPDATED JAN 18, 2022
As you know, the newest variant of COVID has been spreading throughout the province. As a result, we anticipate that some of our staff will need to isolate in the coming weeks. This may impact the level of service you have come to expect from us.
We are only allowing one person to accompany their pet into the clinic for their appointment, or to drop off or collect hospitalized patients. When visiting, please try to keep the time you spend in the clinic to a minimum.
As staffing numbers are reduced, we may need to phone and reschedule some appointments. Our team is doing everything possible to minimize the disruption to our clients. We ask that you be patient and understanding as we try to accommodate as many patients as possible, and prioritize care for those animals that need it most urgently.
With this in mind, we ask that you use our online services as much as possible. This helps reduce the amount of non-urgent phone calls our staff are receiving. If you have a non-urgent question that we can answer by email, please send it to [email protected].
Our pet portal offers online booking for routine appointments, vaccine and exam reminders, and prescription refills all in one place.
Our clinic has been experiencing delays in receiving orders of both food and supplies. As there are a limited amount of trucks available to deliver our orders, we are trying our best to keep our allotted space for necessary supplies.
If you need to order food, we suggest you use our webstore and have it delivered right to your door. Delivery is free for any order over $50.00, and we have found that people are receiving their orders faster.
In addition to us both receiving orders quicker, home delivery helps us keep the number of people visiting the clinic down, and helps reduce the number of phone calls.
Thank you all for your continued support.
UPDATED DEC 30, 2021
Due to the rise in COVID cases in our region, and the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, we are suspending our house call service indefinitely. The unique safety challenges posed by being out of the clinic setting are just too great a risk to our health, and to yours. We realize that this is less than ideal for some of our clients, however, we are committed to keeping our staff and clients safe, and feel this is the right direction.
We extend a huge thank you to our staff and clients who have frozen their fingers off or gotten soaked while caring for animals under challenging circumstances over the past year. You have gone above and beyond and done it with professionalism, good grace and an excellent sense of humour.
UPDATED OCT 22, 2021
Supply chain delays are affecting everything lately, and unfortunately, we are included in these.
We know that you take your pet’s health and diet seriously, so we want to ensure that you don’t run out of food or medication. Here’s a breakdown of what’s affected and how many days it’s taking right now:
Food ordered over the phone through us – At least 10 days notice should be given. That being said, if you have the option to order through the webstore for home delivery, we HIGHLY suggest you do. While the timeline is the same, it allows us to keep our phone lines clear for urgent medical concerns, special orders and help with diet change suggestions due to backorders.
Webstore Orders for Home Delivery or Clinic Pick Up – Order at least 10 days in advance. If you need to set up a webstore account, or place an order, you can do so here.
Prescriptions – While we try our best to get medication to you 24 hours after the request, there may be delays due to product shortages. Please allow us 48 hours to be on the safe side. Again, if possible, please make the request through your PetPortal or use our online refill request form.
UPDATED AUGUST 27, 2021
Hello everyone!
As you may know, the Provincial Health Officer has reinstated the order on masks being required in public places. We, as always, are following those orders. This means that you must be wearing a mask to enter the clinic. If you choose not to wear a mask, you are welcome to text us to check in, and we will perform the exam and relay the results to you over the phone. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
UPDATED JULY 2, 2021
We are a few steps closer to normal!
Starting on Monday, July 5th, we will no longer limit the number of people allowed in the clinic for appointments. In addition, if you received your second vaccine at least 14 days ago, you are no longer required to wear a mask.
However, depending on the Patient Care Team members treating your pet, you may be asked to limit the number of people in the exam room or wear a mask. This will allow our staff to balance their comfort and safety with your pet’s needs. We ask that you be respectful of our team in these situations.
We are keeping the text to check-in that was adopted at the start of the pandemic, as it has helped reduce anxiety for pets that do not like waiting in the clinic and been an improvement to the overall process. Thank you for the positive feedback!
We hope you are as excited about the progress we are making as we are, and we are looking forward to seeing you!
UPDATED JUNE 18, 2021
Now that we are in Step 2 of the BC Restart Plan, we are welcoming one pet parent back into the clinic during appointments and one person in the retail area to pick up or purchase food and medications starting on Tuesday, the 22nd of June!
Because of the amazingly positive feedback we’ve gotten about our text check-in process, we will be keeping that the same, maybe forever!
So, what should you expect before and during your appointment?
- We will still send you reminder messages via email or text.
- When you arrive at the clinic, you will text the number posted on the parking stalls. If you don’t have a cell or aren’t driving, that’s ok! Just let us know, and we will be more than happy to accommodate you!
- We’ll text you back when we’re ready for your appointment and ask you some basic health screening questions.
- We’ll meet you at the main entrance of the clinic and show you to your appointment.
- After you are done, we’ll direct you to the reception area, where our client care team will finish up with you!
But what if I’m coming to pick up/purchase food?
- We’re welcoming one person into the retail area at a time.
- We’ll have signage to let you know where to line up.
- While we are still encouraging people to use the webstore to prepurchase food and help us keep the phone lines clear and line ups outside short, you are welcome to come to buy off the shelf.
- If you are picking up medication, we ask that you come to the retail door as well. This allows us to keep the reception area clear for pets and people coming and going from their appointments.
We are so excited to see you all face to face again! Please be patient, kind and respectful to our staff when being asked to follow our safety protocols. We still ask that you wear a mask at all times in the building, keep distanced from our team, and sanitize your hands when entering the clinic. Your help in keeping us all safe and healthy has allowed us to continue to provide care for your pets over the last 18 months. Our entire team wants to thank you for that. We couldn’t have done it without your ongoing support!
The team at McKenzie Veterinary Services
UPDATED APRIL 16, 2021
Due to the current COVID situation, we have made the difficult decision to stop allowing owners to accompany their pets into the clinic starting Monday, April 19th.
We understand that this has been a tough time for everyone. We want to ensure that our staff stays healthy so they can continue to care for your pets. We believe this is the best way to keep our exposure to a minimum. We know how devastating a closure at our clinic would be to you and your pets, and we are doing our best to avoid that.
We know it is difficult to be separated from a pet you care deeply about and will make every attempt to make things go as smoothly as possible. Now that our beautiful spring weather is upon us we have the option of conducting many routine appointments outdoors. Our doctors will also be able to consult with you by phone during the appointment and after the exam to go over their findings with you.
We have had a massive increase in phone call volume lately. This increase means that people calling with urgent concerns have to wait longer to speak with our Client Care Team. We ask that you consider using the Pet Portal for prescription refills and booking routine appointments or our Webstore for food orders. We offer free home delivery on orders over $50.00. You can even save 10% if you sign up for our convenient Auto-Order feature. If you have a non-urgent question or concern that can be addressed by email, feel free to send it to [email protected].
We appreciate the amount of patience you have shown us as we work hard to adjust to this situation.
UPDATED NOVEMBER 26, 2020
In light of the most recent Provincial Health Order, we have altered our operations slightly.
We are requesting that if you have travelled off Vancouver Island, you not enter the clinic until 14 days after your return. We are happy to reschedule your appointment if necessary.
If your pet is experiencing a medical emergency or needs urgent care, we ask that you have a friend or family member outside of your household, bring them to the clinic. If this is not a possibility, we will make special arrangements at our discretion to see your pet outside or having them in the clinic while you wait in your vehicle.
These new measures are in addition to our existing measures.
- A mask must be worn at all times while dealing with our staff, or inside of the clinic.
- 2 meters distance must be maintained whenever possible.
- We are allowing one person per appointment to accompany pets into the exam room.
- Clients are only allowed in the exam rooms at this time. We are unable to accommodate people in the retail area or the washrooms.
- We appreciate payment over the phone but are also accepting debit and credit payments outside once your appointment has ended.
As always, we appreciate your cooperation and support as we try our best to keep our community safe.
UPDATED OCTOBER 2, 2020
As we move into fall and start to experience some wet weather, we are adjusting some of our policies around clients in the clinic.
You will now be able to pay for services in the lobby after your appointment, provided there is enough space. Our current capacity for clients is 2.
You will still be required to wear a mask when you are in the clinic.
We are still allowing one person per appointment to accompany pets into the exam room.
We are still unable to accommodate clients in areas other than the lobby and exam rooms.
The next time you visit, you will notice that there are three tents set up outside.
- The blue tent is for people picking up food or medications. To avoid waiting outside, we encourage our community to use our webstore. Orders over $50.00 will be delivered right to your door!
- The white tent is for clients waiting to check out after their appointments if there is not enough space in the lobby.
- The orange tent is where you should go after texting to check-in for your appointment.
There is signage outside directing you to the right tent.
We also want to remind you of our current house call policy:
- We will perform all house calls outside. We are unable to enter a client’s home at this time.
- House calls are limited to our canine patients right now. This is due to the difficulty of examining cats outdoors.
- We are taking payment for the base cost at the time of booking. We will invoice any additional items and collect payment for them at the end of your appointment.
- Our staff will be wearing a mask during your appointment, and we ask that you do as well.
- 2 meters distance should be maintained whenever possible.
Our staff have the right to end an appointment if they feel that their safety is compromised. If we must terminate an appointment for this reason, the appointment is non-refundable.
We have put these rules in place to balance our staff’s health and well-being with the health, well-being and needs of you, our community. We hope that you will support us in our efforts to provide care for your pets safely and responsibly. We are all in this together.
-The Team at McKenzie Vet Services
UPDATED AUGUST 17, 2020
We will be resuming limited house calls starting September 8th!
To help ensure the continued health and safety of you as well as our staff, the following guidelines will be in place:
- All house calls will be performed outside. We are unable to enter a client’s home at this time.
- House calls are limited to our canine patients right now. This is due to the difficulty in examining cats outdoors.
- We will be taking payment for the base cost at the time of booking. Any medications or additional costs will be invoiced and payment can be taken either at the time of the appointment or over the phone once the team has returned to the clinic.
- Our staff will be wearing a mask for the duration of the appointment and we ask that you do as well.
- 2 meters distance should be maintained whenever possible.
We are also giving our staff the right to end an appointment if they feel that their safety is being compromised. If we have to end an appointment for this reason, the appointment is non-refundable.
Once we as a clinic can feel more confident that the risk of contracting COVID-19 on the south island is minimal, we will look at expanding our house call service to include offering exams in your home.
We also thought this would be a great time to recap the guidelines for appointments happening in the clinic!
- A mask must be worn at all times while dealing with our staff, or inside of the clinic.
- 2 meters distance must be maintained whenever possible.
- We are allowing one person per appointment to accompany pets into the exam room.
- Clients are only allowed in the exam rooms at this time. We are unable to accommodate people in the retail area, or the washrooms.
- We appreciate payment over the phone but are also accepting debit and credit payments outside once your appointment has ended.
We have put these rules in place to allow us to balance the health and well being of our staff, and the health, well being and needs of you, our clients. We hope that you will support us in our efforts to provide care for your pets in a safe and responsible manner.
UPDATED JUNE 8, 2020
We are so excited to see you again! We will be accepting routine appointments, and loosening some restrictions starting on June 10th.
This means that when you bring your pet for an appointment, we will be allowing one person to accompany them into the exam room.
Please wear a mask for the safety of our staff. A cloth mask is fine.
If you would rather stay in your vehicle for the appointment, we are happy to have the exam over the phone.
When you arrive for your appointment, please text your name, your pet’s name, and your parking stall number to the phone number posted around the parking lot. Please text this number only if you are checking in for an appointment.
When we are ready for your appointment, you’ll be asked to come to the retail door, and you will be shown directly into an exam room. We will have distance markers taped to the floor to help you keep your distance.
Once your appointment is over, you’ll be asked to wait outside while we organize your charges and prepare any prescriptions you’ll be taking home. We would love it if you could pay over the phone, but if you can’t, that’s ok! We’ll be happy to take your payment outside the front door.
If you would like to book a routine appointment, please understand that we are working our way through a backlog of requests, so you may be placed on a waiting list. Please call the clinic and speak to our Client Care Team. Online booking will resume once we have cleared the waiting lists.
If you need food or prescription renewal, please consider using our webstore at https://www.myvetstore.ca/mckvets/, or call the clinic. We’ll be happy to get your products ready for pick up. Again, we would appreciate taking payment over the phone, but we will certainly have our payment machine available for you.
As always, we are so thankful for your understanding and patience while we work through these changes.
UPDATED MAY 19, 2020
With Phase 2 of BC’s restart plan underway, here’s what’s changing at the clinic:
– We are now taking non-essential appointments. Our hardworking Client Care Team is dealing with a large backlog of appointment requests, so please be patient with them as they try their best to accommodate everyone.
– We have added more surgical appointments, and are trying our best to catch up with the backlog in this area as well.
We will be keeping the current social distancing measures we have in place for the time being. We have, however, added the ability for clients to text us to check-in for their appointments. We hope that this will create a more quick and efficient check-in procedure.
We are not taking appointments booked online at this time. We will resume online bookings when we are closer to operating at full capacity.
We still encourage you to use the webstore for all prescription and food purchases. We are extending our offer of free delivery on orders over $50 to encourage social distancing.
We will maintain our current opening hours from 8 am to 6 pm daily. We will return to our normal hours as soon as we see fit.
Everyone at the clinic would like to thank our wonderful community for the understanding and support we have received during this challenging time. We are dealing with a massive increase in the volume of calls we are receiving, and understand that this can be frustrating. We appreciate the patience you have all shown us, and we know this will continue as we navigate this new phase in our day to day operations.
UPDATED APRIL 27, 2020
Due to the ongoing situation, we will not be resuming our housecall service, or non-essential appointments in May as we had originally hoped. We want to ensure the continued safety of our staff and community and believe that keeping all appointments in the clinic is the most efficient way for us to do that. We will update this page once we have a better idea of when we can resume these services.
Thank you all again for your understanding and continued support.
UPDATED APRIL 9, 2020
We want to take this opportunity to thank our clients for their continued support and understanding during this situation. We understand how scary and stressful this can be, especially if you have a sick pet. We want to assure each of you that we are doing everything we can to keep both our clients and our staff safe. Please read the statements below to find out how our social distancing policy will affect your appointment, as well as food and prescription purchases.
UPDATED MARCH 23, 2020
In an attempt to help minimize contact with our staff, we ask that you consider using our webstore if you need to purchase food. We have reduced the minimum purchase for free home delivery to $50.00. Our webstore allows you to order your pet’s food and keep contact with our staff to a minimum, allowing us to focus our efforts on the urgent care cases that we are seeing. Home delivery orders are currently being received by clients much faster than those picked up in-clinic.
We understand that this is a very stressful time for everyone. We are doing everything we can to keep our staff and our community safe while providing essential care for your pets. We ask that you be respectful of our team and the measures we have chosen to take while at the clinic for appointments or food purchases. These measures are in place for everyone’s safety. They also allow us to keep providing care for your pets during this pandemic.
If you are coming to the clinic for an essential appointment, here’s what to expect:
- Clients are no longer allowed in the building, except for exceptional circumstances.
- Please call or text us when you arrive. If you do not have a cell phone, please come to the front door and knock to get the attention of our Client Care Team. Then please wait behind the red line for us to help you.
- We would prefer if clients could pay over the phone via credit card. If this is not possible, we can take contactless payments outside of the clinic. We would prefer not to handle cash transactions at this time.
Thank you again, everyone, for supporting us in our effort to stay safe.
UPDATED MARCH 17, 2020
Dear McKenzie Clients,
Due to the increasing recommendation of health officials to limit contact as much as possible, we have decided to update our clinic’s response to the pandemic.
The following changes are effective March 18, 2020.
Although we are open for business, our front door will be locked. When you arrive for your appointment, please come to the front door. A member of our Client Care Team will meet you and check you in. After asking a few screening questions, we will ask you to wait outside, or in your vehicle until the veterinarian is ready to see you. If you currently have any symptoms of COVID-19, have travelled, or have been in contact with anyone that has travelled internationally in the last 14 days, you will be asked not to enter the clinic at all. We will be happy to retrieve your pet, and the doctor can consult with you by phone, or outside of the building.
If you need food, we ask that you enter through the retail door and ask us to get whatever you need. We will be happy to help.
We also ask that when clients are in the clinic, they do their best to ensure that they maintain a safe distance of 2 meters with our staff. This includes helping restrain your pets in appointments.
The reason we are taking these temporary measures is to minimize contact between people. We know that our waiting room can get congested, and we want to ensure that we can maintain the recommended safe distance and help ensure that no one at risk of transmitting COVID-19 enters our clinic. Our top priority is keeping our clients and staff safe.
At this time, we are not booking house calls or non-essential appointments until May 2020. We are still taking appointments from May 1st onwards, but please be aware that this could change depending on the recommendations we receive from health authorities.
It will take a community effort to contain and eliminate the coronavirus. We appreciate you helping us play our part and thank you for your understanding.
The Team at McKenzie Veterinary Services
___
An earlier statement from March 13, 2020
Dear McKenzie Clients,
With so much concern around the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), we want to let you know what we are doing to help keep you and our staff safe. We are committed to taking the appropriate steps to help contain the spread of COVID-19 while continuing to provide your pets with uninterrupted care. Unless you believe you are contagious, please continue to come in for appointments and procedures as you normally would.
We are following the guidance and advice provided by health authorities. This means asking our clients who suspect they may have come into contact with the coronavirus, are exhibiting symptoms, or have travelled internationally in the past 14 days to avoid coming into the clinic unless it is an emergency. If your pet does have an urgent concern, please notify us before coming into the clinic. This is so that we can make the necessary preparations to minimize contact with other clients and our staff.
We are also taking steps to keep McKenzie a low-risk environment. This includes regularly disinfecting common areas and equipment (including POS keypads after each transaction), as well as maintaining open communication with our staff and clients. Two of our staff members have just voluntarily cancelled vacations at the last-minute following yesterday’s recommendation by the Provincial Health Authority to avoid international travel. We want to ensure we are doing our part to keep our community healthy.
Many people have been stocking up on pet food and supplies. We want to remind you of our webstore. When you purchase items online, you have the option to have them shipped directly to your house. Only prescription medication can’t be shipped. Free shipping usually requires an order of $150 or more (regular shipping is $9.95). We are reducing the minimum order to $50 until the end of June. This is to ensure anyone that needs to self isolate still has affordable access to the products they need.
A few people have asked us whether transmission of COVID-19 between humans and their pets is possible. Although there is not a definitive answer at this time, there is currently no evidence that pets can become sick. Infectious disease experts, as well as the CDC, OIE, and WHO, indicate there is no evidence to suggest that dogs or cats can be a source of infection with SARS-CoV-2. This includes spreading COVID-19 to people.
Links to reliable information sources, as well as an FAQ for pet owners from the AVMA, are at the end of this letter.
We will continue to monitor the current situation. We will notify you of any changes that could have an impact on your ability to get care for your pets. We are fortunate to live in an area that is currently low risk, but it will take a responsible approach by everyone to make sure that doesn’t change. Please take care of yourselves and your fuzzy buddies.
All the best,
The Team at McKenzie Veterinary Services
Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA)
BC Centre for Disease Control (CDC)
World Health Organization (WHO)
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) FAQ – COVID-19 For Pet Owners