It means the hospital is responsible to provide a level of care that meets or exceeds a standard established by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA.) AAHA is the only companion animal exclusive organization to accredit veterinary practices. In order to become accredited, the hospital must undergo regular comprehensive evaluations by AAHA veterinary experts who evaluate the practice on approximately 900 standards of veterinary care. The practice and the veterinarians that successfully achieve this standard of care maintain their facilities and medical care with the highest standards of excellence.
This is not an easy task. AAHA accredited practices continually train and look to improve the quality of care in many facets of veterinary medicine. For example, some veterinary hospital perform dental cleanings for pets, but AAHA accredited hospitals perform dental cleanings and provide dental xray to make sure they don’t miss anything below the gumline that cannot be seen. It is really no different from your dentist, if you have a toothache would you let your dentist fix your tooth without an xray? Veterinary patients can’t even tell us if a tooth hurts! It’s the veterinarian’s job to find problems because pets cannot tell us. The only way it can be done is to perform these services with only the highest standard of care so nothing is missed, because our pets deserve nothing less.
My 3 veterinary hospitals provide excellence in medical and surgical care and strive to exceed client expectations. I believe in practicing medicine with a standard of care that meets and exceeds all the guidelines established by AAHA. I am proud to offer this care and encourage you to search for a hospital that does the same, your pet will benefit from optimal care.