The terms “animal hospital” and “animal clinic” are often used for the same thing, a place that you take your pets for needed medical attention and care. Although there are differences between the two, they are becoming less distinct.
Full service animal hospital:
Many people are under the impression that the difference between the two is physical size. Yes, an animal hospital is usually bigger than an animal clinic but really the difference is not only size, more importantly it is the range of services offered. An animal hospital, similar to a human hospital needs to be larger because it often needs to keep sick and injured pets overnight for observation or even longer for extended care. Wicker Park animal hospital has greater capacity to care for pets in a more extensive manner; a typical animal hospital also has in house capabilities for diagnosing health problems and provides more in the way of services and treatment.
Typically, an animal hospital will have:
* In-house laboratory
* Ultrasound
* X-Ray capabilities
* Surgical capabilities
* Dental services, and much more
An animal clinic on the other hand can provide similar services but perhaps not as many and not of the same scale. An animal clinic performs extensive examinations, tending to focus more on the preventative side of veterinary medicine. Trained veterinarians obviously can make a diagnosis but in many cases do not have the same lab facilities; blood samples, feces samples, etc are sent to an outside lab which invariably means a longer wait for the results, this can make a major difference in life and death emergency situations.
Summary:
Although Wicker Park animal hospital is larger and has considerably more in the way of in-house capabilities, it does not have any impact on the care your pet will get. Small clinics as well as larger animal hospitals both have capable vets and staff.
Village West Veterinary is a full service Wicker Park animal hospital that can care for your pet from its first visit as a puppy or kitten through hospice care, all with in-house facilities.
