Get prepared for your appointment with the oncology service, whether it's your pet's initial visit or a routine chemotherapy appointment.
General Information
Your pet is required to come in either leashed or in a carrier for safety purposes.
The Purdue Veterinary Hospital operates on the US Eastern Time Zone, and your appointment time corresponds to this time zone.
If your pet is aggressive towards other animals or does not do well being handled by other people, please inform the client liaison or front desk receptionist so further arrangements can be made.
When you arrive for your appointment, you will need to go through Entrance A and check-in with our liaisons at the Werling Comparative Oncology Center. The front desk for our service will be located on the left-hand side as you enter the reception area.
Please be mindful that we are a veterinary hospital that is located within the College of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University. Therefore, our faculty and staff will be helping the next generation of veterinary professionals as they rotate through our service. There is a potential that you will be interacting with our students at some point during your visit(s), and they could be assisting in the care that your pet receives.
Initial Evaluation
Fasting: Do not give your pet any food after 10:00 p.m. the night before the appointment. They can continue to have water throughout the evening and the morning of your appointment.
Medications: If your dog needs anti-anxiety/sedative medications before vet visits, please contact your pet's primary veterinarian for a prescription and give as directed. Give all morning medications as usual. If required to give with food, give a very small amount with the medication. If your pet has diabetes and receives daily injections of insulin, please call for instructions.
Diagnostic Imaging: For the majority of our new patients, we will recommend staging tests. Staging tests are a series of exams and tests that our veterinarians use to determine the stage of cancer. This might mean performing a CT scan, ultrasound, or taking x-rays of your pet. Our Radiology team serves the entire hospital on a "first-come, first-served" basis, with priority given to emergency cases. We will not be able to tell you until the time of your appointment whether your pet will be able to get these services on the same day, the following day, or need to schedule a separate staging appointment for a different day.
In-House Consultations: Your pet may have medical conditions that would benefit from the attention of a veterinary specialist working outside of the Oncology service at the Purdue Veterinary Hospital. In these instances, we may request a same-day consultation with another specialist, such as a veterinary surgeon, neurologist, cardiologist, or opthomologist. In these circumstances, we do not have any control over when other specialists are available to see your pet. Seeking a same-day consultation with another specialist may significantly lengthenyour pet's visit with the oncology service. Like our service, the other specialists also have scheduled appointments to see, which take precedence over the same-day consultations with other services. If a same-day consultation with another specialist would benefit your pet, one of our doctors will discuss this with you during your initial appointment. Our team will keep you updated on the anticipated timing of the consultation during your pet's visit.
Bladder Cancer Evaluations: It is possible that our doctors will recommend a cystoscopy procedure to obtain a biopsy sample of your dog's bladder tumor for a definitive diagnosis. Cystoscopy procedures are typically performed the day after your pet's initial appointment with the oncology service. Please be prepared to either have your pet stay overnight in the hospital or bring them back the next morning no later than 7:30 a.m.If you would like them to stay overnight with you, you might need to make overnight accommodations somewhere locally depending on where you live.
Chemotherapy Appointment
You can schedule your pet's chemotherapy appointments Monday through Thursday, with bladder cancer patients taking precedence on Monday of every week. Our morning time slots are 8:45, 9:00, 9:15, 9:30, 9:45, 10:00, and 10:30. Our afternoon time slots are 1:15, 1:45, 2:15, and 2:30. We are unable to automatically schedulesubsequent appointments, so be sure to schedule the next one at time of checkout or call in to schedule with our client liaisons.
After checking in, a veterinary professional will come out shortly to ask about your pet and how they have been doing. Once your pet goes back to the treatment room, you can expect the process to take 3-4 hours. You are free to leave the building at this time if you would like but are also welcome to stay in the lobby or Continuum Cafe upstairs.
Our team will contact you via cell phone throughout the visit for updates, further questions, and to let you know when your pet is finished with treatment. Please be mindful of your phone calls during this time, and note that sometimes our calls will show up on your phone as an "Unknown" caller.
When picking up your pet in the afternoon, you will need to let the front desk know you are here for pickup. You are required to be back in the building no later than 4:30 p.m. to pick up your pet unless otherwise stated by the doctor. If you are having someone else pick up your pet, please let us know ahead of time.
