If you’re a regular here at Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic, you know you’re often able to get an appointment within 36 hours of your call. You also know our doctors make every effort to see your pet on the day of your call when you’re particularly concerned.
If you’re relatively new to Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic, you know you didn’t have to wait long to get in as a new client at our practice. While area clinics in Northeast Ohio are telling prospective clients of wait times from six to eight to twelve weeks, we’re often accommodating new clients in fewer than 5 days.
We’ve intentionally hired a team and built our schedule for the purpose of meeting pet owners’ needs at their time of need. We learned during the Covid era that animal owners aren’t content to watch their pet suffer at home and be told their concern wasn’t urgent enough to be seen. Many animal owners heard that message during 2020 and beyond… but not from us. We ended up seeing many of these folks on top of our regular clientele, and most of them stuck with us into this post-Covid era. Our strategy then was to serve the animal owning public, and our mission hasn’t changed.
What has changed is our ability to meet the demand at the present trend and pace while not simultaneously compromising the quality of care and medicine we deliver. There are some things we are willing to accept (eg. we can’t be all things to all people) and… some things we are not willing to accept (eg. compromising the client/patient experience we work so hard to deliver).
In this spirit, I must communicate in this early 2026 season a message similar to that which I posted in the later season of 2018. Because of factors related to personnel and personal health, we’re having to take an honest look at our situation, make some adjustments, and we want to be as transparent with you as possible in the process. With this in mind, we must make you aware that you may not experience as timely and on-demand of availability as you have experienced in the past at CFVC, and we ask for your patience while we work through this.
We’re all here because we love providing veterinary medicine and services to and for our patients. We love meeting our clients’ needs. We love supporting the human-animal bond. In order for us to keep doing these things in a sustainable way we must realize our time limitations and act accordingly.
While we work toward attaining the doctor talent necessary to keep meeting the demand for our services at the pace we’ve experienced over the past six years, some changes you may notice will include:
- Rather than offering you a same day appointment, we may offer you a drop-off appointment. Leaving your pet with us for a number of hours allows our doctors to meet the needs of the clients who made an appointment in advance while also providing time to evaluate your own need. Your pet will receive the same care and attention you’re used to from us, but this will be done on the doctor’s timeline as the day and case urgency dictates. You will receive the good communication you’ve come to expect from CFVC via our team of doctors and veterinary technicians, and they’ll arrange a discharge time later in the day that works for all parties.
- We may offer you an appointment time that seems new or unusual to you given our history of availability. Dr. Jenn and I have three children and they’re growing up. We prioritize our family time, and this includes making efforts to see patients while our kids are at school and out of the house. CFVC has historically provided more appointment availability in the late afternoon, but this will change for a time. We may come to find our clientele like this… who knows?!
- New clients may have heard or been told we can accommodate them within a few short days, but come to find out this time period has lengthened. Trust me, we’re not interested in putting off your needs or our own work. At the same time, we must continue to provide top care for our present clients, working to strike the best balance possible between maintaining those relationships and taking on new relationships. This is a constant conversation amongst our doctors and leadership team, and we’re regularly working to do the best we can on this front.
In 1981, Dr. Gates set out to practice good medicine for the pet-owning families of Cuyahoga Falls and the surrounding cities and communities. There have been times of transition since then, but the goal has always remained the same. We thank you for allowing us to be your veterinary services provider. We thank you for the patience and consideration you showed during 2018-19. We thank you for your patience and consideration now in 2026.
