Veterinary medicine is a team sport that requires collaboration between different types of veterinarians working in different types of facilities to provide optimal care for your favorite fur person. Each type of facility plays a distinct role in your pet’s healthcare journey. Today’s blogpost will highlight three common types of veterinary hospitals and how they work together to ensure comprehensive care.

General Veterinary Practice

Your neighborhood veterinary office is the foundation of pet healthcare. They care for pets throughout their entire lives. While some focus only on dogs and cats, others welcome a broader patient population. As the clinic of one of my vet school classmates put it: “If it fits through the door, we will take care of it.”

General practice veterinarians are experts in primary care, including:

• Vaccination protocols
• Parasite prevention
• Treatment of illnesses that can be managed on an outpatient basis
• Routine surgeries like spaying, neutering, and lump removal

Because general practitioners often know your pet since puppyhood or kittenhood, they have a comprehensive understanding of your pet’s health history. While a few general practices employ overnight staff for round-the-clock care, others transfer patients to a facility with overnight care when they close for the night.

Veterinary Emergency Rooms

When your neighborhood veterinary office is closed and your pet is having an emergency, veterinary emergency rooms step in. These facilities range from urgent care centers that handle minor illnesses and injuries to full-service ERs certified as trauma centers. For example, the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center has the highest veterinary trauma center rating: Level I.

Veterinary ERs focus on acute problems rather than routine care like vaccines and parasite prevention. If your pet’s emergency requires extensive testing or treatment beyond what’s available in the ER, they’ll refer you back to your neighborhood hospital or an appropriate specialist once the immediate crisis is under control.

Veterinary ERs operate on variable schedules: some are only open nights and weekends, while others provide 24/7 care.

Specialty Veterinary Hospitals

Specialty hospitals offer a distinctly different experience from general practice. The veterinarians will have completed an additional 4-5 years of extra training beyond their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and may be board certified in their specialty.

The American Veterinary Medical Association recognizes 22 specialty organizations encompassing 48 distinct specialties. However, no single specialty hospital houses all specialties—location and patient population determine which specialists are available. For example, AMC does not have a horse or cow specialist because we don’t have those types of patients in New York City. We do, however, have specialists representing 17 of the 48 specialties, including avian and reptile specialists.

Specialty hospitals typically feature:

• Advanced diagnostic equipment like CT scanners and MRIs
• Sophisticated tools for minimally invasive surgery
• Team members with unique expertise in areas like surgical oncology ,  interventional radiology or a social worker
• Veterinarians in training who are working toward specialty certification
• Interdisciplinary care to solve complex problems without an obvious answer—for example, determining if the change in your cat’s litterbox habits requires surgery for a blockage, a pet behavior specialist or an oncologist to treat a tumor

The AMC Advantage: Three Hospitals in One

The Animal Medical Center represents a somewhat unique model in veterinary care. As an American Animal Hospital Association-accredited specialty hospital, we combine all three types of veterinary facilities under one roof: general practice, emergency care, and specialty services.

Our integrated electronic medical record system exemplifies this collaborative care. Any doctor in our hospital can access a pet’s entire medical history, regardless of whether the visit involves primary care, emergency treatment or a consultation with a specialist. This means an AMC primary care veterinarian can ensure seamless communication and continuity of care. This comprehensive approach allows us to provide truly collaborative care that serves your pet’s needs at every stage of life and health.

For guidance on selecting the right veterinary hospital for your pet’s needs, visit our blogpost on choosing a veterinary hospital.