Emergencies

Call 540-231-4621 to connect to the Emergency and Critical Care Service.

Consultations

If you are a veterinarian and have a referral question about one of your patients, please call 540-231-4621 to connect to the appropriate service for consultation.

Referral appointments

For referral appointments, please follow the procedures outlined below.

Small animal referrals and consultations

If referring an emergency, call 540-231-4621 to connect to the Emergency Service.

For referral appointments, follow these procedures:

  1. The referring veterinarian completes the VTH Patient Referral Form and emails or faxes the document to the location listed at the top of the form. Do not input "see attached" into any of the required spaces. Please ensure that the owner and patient information is complete so that our staff can contact the client.
  2. The case coordinator for the requested service reviews the referral, discusses it with the service, and then contacts the client to schedule an appointment.
  3. Instruct clients to contact the Veterinary Teaching Hospital if they have not heard from a case coordinator within 48 hours/two business days.
    • The hospital's case coordinators are not veterinarians. Although case coordinators can, in many cases, provide a general cost estimate for common medical appointments or surgical procedures, they cannot offer opinions regarding current symptoms or which tests and special procedures may be needed once a pet has been examined.
    • Clients do not need to bring referral information for their appointment.
  4. A clinician, resident, staff, and/or student will communicate with the referring veterinarian during the patient's hospitalization or within 24 hours of the patient's discharge from the hospital.
  5. Appropriate patient updates are provided to the client until the animal is discharged from the hospital.
  6. Referring veterinarians are encouraged to provide the hospital with follow-up information on the patient; this practice improves the hospital clinicians' ability to teach and manage cases.

Because the Veterinary Teaching Hospital is staffed by faculty who have teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities, referrals will be made with the clinician on duty, unless directed otherwise by a specific clinician. This process is maintained even if a referring veterinarian has spoken directly with the clinician who has recommended that the case be referred.

  • Image Submission for Radiologist Review (PDF)
  • Radiologists are able to provide teleconsultations, for radiographic interpretation only, during normal business hours Monday through Friday. Reports are generally available within one business day of submission.
  • Image Submission for Patient Referral: Submit all imaging studies of referred patients to vtimaging@vt.edu. Please include owner and patient names, as well as the service to which the patient is being referred.
  • Teleconsultations can only be completed if submitted using the Asteris Keystone Community, web-base application. The only exception to this policy is if traditional films are used.

Large animal referrals and consultations

If referring an emergency, call 540-231-4621.

Referral services are available to all veterinary practitioners. The procedures are as follows:

  1. The referring veterinarian calls the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at 540-231-4621 to discuss the case with the appropriate clinician.
  2. Hospital clinicians communicate with the referring veterinarian or the client during the patient's treatment or hospitalization.
  3. The referring veterinarian will receive a letter upon discharge of the patient.

Because the Veterinary Teaching Hospital is staffed by faculty who have teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities, referrals will be made with the clinician on duty, unless otherwise directed by a specific clinician. This is true even if you have spoken with the clinician directly on the phone and he/she has recommended that the case be referred to the hospital.

On-farm consultations

  • Consultations are provided to veterinarians outside the 35-mile radius service area.
  • If the referring veterinarian wishes to request a farm visit, call the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at 540-231-4621 and request to speak to Equine Field Services or Food Animal Field Services about a farm visit. You will be connected with a clinician, or a clinician will return your call.