The Directors of the Blue Cross Veterinary Hospital want to assure our clients that we will do everything in our power to ensure that your animals are well cared for in this time of crisis. We will endeavour to continue providing you with a high-quality service, but we are obviously constrained by what we are allowed to do in the state of “lock-down.” We must also weigh up what would be considered responsible in light of such a contagious disease. We all have an obligation to help reduce the spread of Covid-19 and must find a balance between protecting the health of our staff and their families and, simultaneously, ensure their job security.

It has been announced by the Department of Agriculture, under which we fall, that Veterinary Services are still considered essential and we are therefore allowed to continue of service to our clients and patients. We will not be performing any routine procedures that could be deferred to a later date. These include:

• Sterilizations
• Vaccinations of adult animals
• Nail clipping
• Anal gland expression and
• Cosmetic procedures

We will still see any animal that is sick, injured or otherwise in distress. We feel that puppy and kitten vaccinations should continue as normal. Our hours will continue as before for now (except the shop will close at 12 on Saturday) but they may be reduced if we find it necessary (this is being encouraged by the South African Veterinary Council). Our staff will work in teams to avoid contact with the whole practice so you may see fewer faces when you come in.

We are particularly concerned about our elderly clients, clients who are in self-isolation or who have been quarantined, clients who are high risk such as asthmatic, immune-compromised or undergoing chemo- or radiation therapy and encourage them to take advantage of all of the below measures

At the moment we are offering a limited service with the following measures in place:

• Clients to please phone in for an appointment, to call us when they get here and to stay in their cars until we call them in or if you prefer, we can send a handler out to collect your pet from the car and bring it to the vet. We ask for your patience at this time as we will be asking questions on your exposure and contact with any people that may have contracted the Corona Virus.
• Extra health and sanitation precautions have been implemented at the hospital and we ask you to abide by these rules.
• Clients can drop animals off and leave them with us and the Vet will call them via video call for a consultation.
• If your pet has a condition such as lameness, it may help to make a video of the animal and send it to the Vet for a telephonic consultation.
• We can collect animals from your home and drop them back after consultation.
• We are offering a delivery service for food, flea and tick control and chronic medication.
• No visitation of in-house patients will be allowed.

We would like to re-assure clients that at present we have no supply chain issues but cannot promise that this will continue.

Please be re-assured that at present there is no evidence that dogs and cats transmit Covid-19 to people.

Please be advised that our Covid-19 plan may change as the disease progresses but we will continue to provide a full service for as long as possible.

Please stay healthy and safe.

Dr’s Triegaardt, Bernhardi and Bebbington

The Directors of Blue Cross Veterinary Hospital

YOU PET, YOUR VET, OUR PASSION.