Thank you for choosing the University of Missouri Veterinary Health Center to provide care for your animal. We are pleased to offer both wellness care and specialty care, as well as hospitalization, clinic visits and, for larger animals, ambulatory care in which we bring our doctors to you. We also offer emergency care for animals with sudden or severe injury and illness 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, through our emergency hospital. Please see our current small animal emergency service policies.
Our specialty care is provided by a wide range of board-certified veterinary specialists with ready access to the most sophisticated diagnostic testing procedures and the latest treatment options. We are proud to offer world-class expertise and compassionate patient care in a friendly environment.
More information on how to schedule an appointment and what to expect at your appointment can be found on pages devoted especially to each of our three hospitals:
Our Small Animal Hospital treats cats and dogs.
Our Equine Hospital treats horses, mules and donkeys.
Our Food Animal Hospital treats fiber and food animals, including cattle, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, pigs and more.
We want you to be fully informed about your animal’s care. Before we begin any diagnostic or treatment plan, we will discuss the plan with you. For animals kept in the hospital, we are happy to contact you with updates on a daily basis. When you leave, we will present you with written instructions for at-home care and describe any required follow-up.
Many of our specialty services work with your regular veterinarian as part of a health care team. We will contact your veterinarian by telephone to discuss your animal’s medical needs and send him or her a summary describing all medical care provided.
Although the Veterinary Health Center’s three hospitals are part of the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, we are a financially self-sustaining veterinary medical center. This means that we are dependent on fees to pay the costs associated with the premium medical care we provide. Although there is some financial support from the state of Missouri for the education of our students, there is no such support for the medical care of individual animals.
The veterinarian working with your animal will provide you with our best estimate of the costs for care. You have the right to decline any diagnostic tests or treatments suggested for your animal, and we will be happy to work with you to do what we can to help your animal within your budgetary constraints. More information on our billing policies can be found on our Client Billing page.
An important part of our mission is teaching a new generation of veterinarians and veterinary specialists. Our veterinary students are among the best trained in the world thanks to your willingness to let them interact with you and your pet. Our professional degree students spend 2 ½ years in classrooms and laboratories learning about anatomy, physiology and animal disease as well as medicine and surgery. During the final year and a half in the program, the students move from the classroom to the teaching hospitals. Here, they work with faculty veterinarians to put into practice what they have learned. Student veterinarians never perform any procedure on any animal until the supervising faculty veterinarian is convinced they can perform the procedure safely, and then only under close supervision.
You may have additional questions about your visit to the Veterinary Health Center. Please have a look at our Frequently Asked Questions. If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us by telephone.
