Animal Hospital Has New Precautions to Deal With Coronavirus

GLADWYNE, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Like almost any other business right now, Gladywne Animal Hospital has a sign on its door with new rules for dealing with COVID-19.

"We're only allowing appointments that need to be seen and that does include vaccinations which are important this time of year," said Carrie Sutor, the veterinarian at the hospital.

The precaution also includes not letting owners in with their pet, asking people to call when they arrive, and doing a parking lot handoff with the animal.

"We'll talk to (the owner) on FaceTime or telephone about the history or the findings or like today, it's beautiful out so I can talk to someone across the parking lot pretty easily," said Sutor.

Sutor says it's for the people not the pets. She says the most recent information on the virus shows dogs are not at risk of getting sick, but they can be carriers, so she says anyone who does have the virus should isolate their pet as well.

"That just suggests we should treat them like anything else that has virus on it potentially," said Sutor.

Her customers say they appreciate that she's being careful.

"We have to take it one day at a time, we can't really do much about it other than follow the directions given by the county health department and the federal government," said Bill Rorer of Conshohocken.

"I think everyone needs to stay home unless it's really necessary to go out otherwise we're never going to be over this thing," said Abbey Cuckerman of Bryn Mawr.