Clinic Policies
AND PROCEDURES

Refunds

• If you miss an appointment or do not give AT LEAST 72 hours notice in writing (email) to cancel or reschedule, the appointment will be forfeited and no refunds given. This is for any appointment regardless of when you scheduled because late cancellations prevent us from scheduling another cat owner.
• If you no-show for an appointment and then reschedule the appointment, you will be charged a new appointment fee.
  If you miss your first-time appointment you can not use your remaining follow-ups in place of a first-time appointment.
• There is a cancellation fee of 50$ for first time intake appointments.
• The clinic has a 10 minute grace period for call start times if the cat owner or the behaviorist is running late. At the clinic’s discretion, we may recommend rescheduling to ensure there is enough time to cover everything that needs to be covered.
• No refunds are given for unused “leftover” appointment time or the free follow-ups and you can not use the unused time for new behavior issues or any behavior issue after your 4 or 8 week program time ends. You are responsible for setting up your follow-up calls within your program time frame using the #4 form provided in your original appointment email.
• Refunds are given for cancelled first-time appointments (not follow-ups) if you have given a minimum of 72 hour advance notice from your scheduled appointment time (no refunds are given if you have already submitted your Feline Behavior Intake Form) and a 35$ cancellation fee will apply.
• No refunds are given if you have already completed and submitted your Feline Behavior Intake Form. NO EXCEPTIONS as the team spends a considerable amount of time evaluating you cat’s behavior case.
• In the event the clinic does offer a refund, there is a 50.00 cancellation fee for first time appointments if given a minimum of 72 hours notice and a 100.00 cancellation fee if given less than 72 hours notice and an additional $12.50 – $16.00 credit card processing fee or Paypal processing payment fee and our additional clinic refund processing fee (16.00) that may also be deducted from any refund.
• We do not give refunds for gift certificates or consultations purchased for a third party, but will allow the consultation program to be transferred to a shelter or another cat owner. 
• Because behavior success is dependent upon owner involvement and animal behavior can be unpredictable, refunds are not given if your cat’s behavior issues are not remedied.
• If after evaluating your cat’s behavior case it is determined we do not want to take your case, the clinic will send a refund within 3 to 4 business days. We do not provide behavioral referrals and we may or may not provide details of your cat’s evaluation.

Clinic Release and Agreement

• The Clinic release and agreement online form must be signed and dated by you in order for the Clinic associates to work together with you.  If for some reason you can not complete the questionnaire on time, your consultation may still be conducted without it if the behaviorist approves, but the clinic release agreement online form will still need to be signed prior to your consultation. 
• If you do not complete the feline history form prior to your appointment and do not give the clinic 72 hour notice minimum that you need to reschedule your call, you will forfeit your consultation fee as it would be considered a missed appointment.

Correspondence with the Clinic

• The clinic staff generally responds to emails within 3 to 4 business days hours excluding weekends.
• The behaviorist and veterinarians are unable to correspond with you via email. Instead, we offer free follow-up phone appointments within your 4 or 8 week program time.  If you need help or have questions, please email the clinic here using this contact form: https://www.thecatbehaviorclinic.com/contact.html  
• To schedule a phone follow-up call during your program time, please use your Progress Report link (here). Behavior recommendations are given during your follow-up calls verbally and you will need to take notes during your call.  We do not email follow-up notes after each follow-up appointment.
• Consultations are conducted 7 days a week, but the clinic office is closed on the weekends and most holidays.
• The behaviorist will call you at the scheduled appointment time.  We do not send calendar invites or email reminders. If for some reason you do not receive a call, please call the clinic at 503-267-8888.

Appointments and Using Your Consult Time

• If you request a video appointment, these are generally reserved for the first appointment only. Subsequent follow-up calls are then performed by phone instead of video unless the behaviorist deems a video call necessary.
• Your behavior plan is given to you over the phone or video call during your initial behavior appointment.  You need to take complete and thorough notes during the call as we do not send written instructions. Certain consultation plans are progressive and will develop over time and further recommendations are then given during subsequent calls as part of your program time. 
• Please plan for 1 to 1 1/2 hours for your first consultation. Follow-ups are 30 minutes time slots, but may last longer.
• All allotted consultation appointment time must be used in the 4 or 8 week program time.  Program time is consecutive weeks from the date of your first appointment.  This allows the behaviorist to observe and evaluate behavior by the weekly updates you send in and during follow-up calls that typically occur every 1 – 2 weeks during your program time, and to give further recommendations for plans that are progressive or need to develop over time. 
• No refunds are given for unused “leftover” consultation time and you can not use unused time for cat behavior issues past your 4 or 8 week program time or for an entirely separate cat behavior issue than what you originally enlisted the clinic for.  You are responsible for setting up your follow-up calls within your program time frame.
• This is the link to send in weekly email updates for your cat’s file and to schedule follow-up calls:  https://www.thecatbehaviorclinic.com/progress-report-update.html
• Clients past their 4 or 8 week program time can schedule a follow-up consult of up to 30 minutes for 175.00 if they are within 3 months of their last appointment and if deemed appropriate by the clinic for the specific behavior issue.  The follow-up appointment fee after 3 months of the last appointment is between 250.00 and 300.00 depending on the behavior issue. Certain issues require a new consultation vs. a follow-up especially if several months have passed from your last appointment or you have a different behavior issue than before. New behavior issues require a new appointment program vs. a follow-up call.
• You can participate in the study reduced fee for urination and defecation one time only. After that, the fee is the regular Zoom fee of 450.00.
• Consultation program fees include your case evaluation by the clinic, behavior plan preparation, and your first appointment.  Remaining follow-up calls are included should you need them and you are responsible for contacting the clinic to schedule your follow-ups using the weekly update/scheduling form provided in your original appointment email.
• If you are scheduling a new one-time appointment to discuss whether a consultation program would be helpful for your cat’s behavior, the fee is $250.00.  No behavior advice will be given during this call.  If you wish to proceed with the program, the 250.00 will be deducted from the regular program fee.
• If you do not contact the clinic to schedule a follow-up call after your initial appointment, we will assume you do not need to use your remaining appointment time.