Appointment Deposit, No-Show & Late Arrival Policy
At Paws for a Cause Vet Care, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable veterinary care to as many pets and families as possible. Because demand for our services is high, every reserved appointment is valuable.
When an appointment is missed or canceled with less than 24 hours’ notice, another pet may lose the opportunity to receive care that day. We understand that life happens, and unexpected circumstances come up. Our goal with this policy is to help keep appointments available for the families and pets who need them.
Whenever possible, we provide appointment reminders by text, phone, or email to help families keep track of their scheduled visits.
New Clients
We are happy to welcome new clients and their pets to Paws for a Cause Vet Care!
To reserve a new-client appointment, we require a deposit equal to the examination fee for each pet being scheduled. The deposit is not an additional fee and will be applied toward the cost of your visit at checkout.
If you need to change your appointment, please provide at least 24 hours’ notice whenever possible.
If a new client misses the appointment, arrives more than 10 minutes late and cannot be accommodated, or cancels/reschedules with less than 24 hours’ notice, the deposit may be forfeited. A new deposit may then be required before another appointment can be reserved.
When appropriate notice (greater than 24 hours) is provided, any refundable deposit may be refunded or transferred to another scheduled visit.
Established Clients
We truly appreciate our established clients and the trust you place in us to care for your pets. We also understand that schedules change and emergencies can happen.
If you are unable to keep your appointment, please contact us as soon as you know.
Because we serve a large number of pets and families, our team experiences a high volume of phone calls each day. Even so, please make every effort to call, text us, or email us to let us know if you are running late or will not be able to make your appointment. Reaching out gives us the opportunity to offer that appointment time to another pet who may be waiting for care.
For established clients, after one missed appointment without advance notice, Paws for a Cause Vet Care reserves the right to require a deposit before scheduling or reserving future appointments.
If a deposit is required, it will be applied toward the cost of the completed appointment. If the appointment is missed again or canceled without the required notice, the deposit may be forfeited and another deposit may be required before scheduling.
We recognize that individual circumstances vary, and our team may consider exceptional or emergency situations when applying this policy.
Surgical Appointments
Surgical appointments require additional preparation, staffing, scheduling, and reserved medical resources. Because of this, we kindly ask for at least 48 hours’ notice when canceling or rescheduling a surgical procedure, or deposits may be forfeited.
Late cancellations or missed surgical appointments may require a deposit before another surgical date can be reserved. Any required deposit will be applied toward the completed procedure.
Specific deposit requirements may vary depending on the procedure and will be communicated when the surgery is scheduled or rescheduled.
Running Late?
We know that sometimes getting out the door with a pet doesn’t go according to plan!
If you are running late, please call or text us as soon as possible. Even with our high call volume, reaching out helps our team determine what options may be available.
Clients arriving less than 10 minutes late may still be accommodated when our schedule allows. Depending on the time remaining, however, we may need to focus the visit on the pet’s most immediate concern.
If you arrive more than 10 minutes after your scheduled appointment time, we may need to reschedule your visit or offer another available option. This helps us avoid significant delays for clients and patients scheduled later in the day. We may require a deposit, similarly to the late cancellation policy, for booked appointments that are missed for this reason.
Emergencies & Unexpected Circumstances
We understand that true emergencies and unexpected situations happen. If something prevents you from keeping your appointment, please contact us as soon as you reasonably can.
Paws for a Cause Vet Care
1620 Bond Street
Naperville, Illinois 60563
Phone: 630-961-8000
Text: 630-364-4312
Our team receives a high volume of calls because so many families are seeking affordable veterinary care. If you do not reach us immediately, please still call or text us so that we have a record of your attempt to notify our team.
Thank You for Helping Us Help More Pets
Keeping scheduled appointments—or letting us know as early as possible when plans change—allows us to offer available appointment times to other pets and families in our community.
Our goal is always to approach these situations with kindness, understanding, and fairness, while also protecting access to the affordable veterinary care our community relies on.
Thank you for helping Paws for a Cause Vet Care keep pets and families together.