Frequently Asked Questions
What are your clinic hours?
Dr. Backus is available for phone consultations and in-person visits by appointment only. We have walk in Wednesdays in Kanab, (you show up and it is first come first served system.) Keep in mind, we still only have one doctor and one veterinary nurse, so we will be as efficient as we can! This also means no surgeries that involve inhalant gas anesthesia; procedures requiring mild sedation are appropriate. The time is 9am-5 pm; generally, on the same week as the walk in Wednesday, we do appointments that Friday and Saturday. April dates are 17th and 24th. PLEASE NOTE THAT DR. BACKUS WILL BE ATTENDING AN OZONE CONFERENCE IN ITALY AND THE CLINIC IN KANAB WILL BE CLOSED THE MONTH OF MAY. WE WILL BE BACK OPEN JUNE 5TH FOR WALK IN WEDNESDAY AND THAT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 7TH AND 8TH FOR APPOINTMENTS.
Salt Lake City visits are 1-2 times a year. Next Salt Lake City date: to be determined, looking at June OR JULY.
PLEASE HELP US TO HELP YOU BY UTILIZING THE GETHEALTHIE PLATFORM AND ITS CHAT FEATURE AS THE PRIMARY COMMUNICATION. YOU CAN LEAVE A VOICEMAIL ON THE PHONE AS WELL BUT DO NOT EXPECT AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE. WE GENERALLY RARELY ANSWER TEXT MESSAGES AND NEVER ANSWER FB MESSENGER except through the chat in the GetHealthie app in response to any text.
NEW FOR 2024! Dr. Backus is now working at the Page Animal Hospital on Mondays and Tuesdays every week. Dr. Roundtree is there Wednesday and Thursday. While Page Animal Hospital offers only traditional medicine, it is a long standing, full service, high quality clinic that has a small town, family centered value and approach. They are very convenient, answer the phone immediately (have a full staff) AND very reasonable prices for the quality of services. The phone number is 928-645-2816. Collaboration between the two clinics is awesome for a continuity and expansion of care.
ALSO see the home page for the link to Vetster for after hours telehealth care options.
What type of consultations are available?
Our clinic is extremely unique; therefore, we have several consultation options available including coaching support at a lower price point than medical consultations. You can even pre-purchase packages on Healthie and read to clarify the difference between general coaching support and medical veterinary consultation. The packages include ongoing support at discounted rates. We require that the intake process and forms are completed before we accept any appointment type with no exceptions for out of the Kanab area clients. Kanab is an animal friendly town, most hotels and B and B’s allow animals so you can spend a few days and have an animal medical get away!
What is the approximate cost of a consultation?
An initial evaluation/consultation varies on price, depending on the complexity of the health condition. Please refer to our Our Rates to learn more about the different types of consultations and basic pricing. Here is a direct link to our financial policy: Financial and return policy
What does an initial consultation include?
All consultations include one on one time with the doctor, a medical records review, a comprehensive physical exam, an action plan, and a follow up communication through our Healthie platform to clarify the pertinent points of the consultation. (All services/treatments/supplements are sold separately and an estimate can be provided upon request). In general for ANY veterinarian service: traditional or holistic, a basic simple situation is $150-$250. A more involved situation can expect $300-$500 and any urgent medical and certainly for a life or death emergency/urgent situation can expect $500-$1000’s any species anytime of day or night. It is your responsibility to have the ability to pay in full at the time of service.
What is the value of your consultations versus one with my traditional veterinarian?
1. The most notable aspect of difference is that we focus on forensics or finding the root cause for the health issue versus just applying a ‘band-aid’ to symptoms. 2. Even with a known cause, for many complex medical issues and even simple wellness puppy and kitten care, we offer more choices in our approach to care. (“There has to be more options than this cookie cutter, corporate, computer generated treatment/support plan of traditional medicine, right"?”) 3. As a valuable second opinion, we spend much more time with our clients and patients, both helping to explain the reasoning for the traditional medicine suggestion, the pros and cons AND offering other valid choices. THAT ALONE is of unique value, to get one on one access with a veterinarian is becoming more and more rare especially considering, that the typical maximum time a traditional vet spends with each patient is 7 minutes! We offer as much one on one time that you feel you may need and we respectively do charge for that valued time. An informed decision can only be made with having all available information. Please visit our Services tab: service overview to learn more as well as videos on the home page.
How do I schedule a consultation?
Because of the unique situation of every pet and appointment type, ONLY WE schedule the appointments. The quickest and most efficient way to help us to get you on the schedule is through the Get Healthie app chat if you are a client already or you can go to the home page of this website, scroll down to the client portal and click on the new client button to create an account and access the chat feature. Please note that we best communicate through the Healthie chat feature. You ARE able to leave a voicemail but it is often the delayed communication route over Healthie. (This specifically means that we will commit to a response within 24 hours or less with the healthie platform, a further incentive!! ;-) ) Please do not leave multiple voicemails or repeatedly call the phone and not leave a message at all!! That only bogs down the system and slows our response time. Please do not expect a response with texting, facebook messaging, twitter, instagram or email and certainly not if you use Dr. Backus’s personal cell phone or call her Kathy.
Can I fill out my forms online prior to my scheduled consultation?
YES! On our homepage, you can click the button titled, “New Client” to begin the online paperwork process. To make your consultation more convenient and time efficient, we request online forms to be completed & submitted prior to your scheduled consultation. WE DO allow the option to fill in a one page form in person for simple traditional medicine services or if you do not have any way to access a computer or digital platform. Please allow 15-20 extra time to do the paperwork BEFORE your scheduled appointment time. THIS OPTION IS ONLY FOR KANAB AREA RESIDENTS! PLEASE NOTE: Once consultation is scheduled, we will need and request for YOU to share ANY and ALL medical records. IF medical records are not received in a timely manner prior to your appointment then you may be asked to reschedule. The best way to share medial records is to have them faxed to 855-791-0111 or upload them into Healthie in the document section NOT the CHAT!
Why do you need ANY and ALL medical records prior to the consultation?
Medical records, even breeder and adoption records, contain enough information for a starting point to be built upon. We don't want to waste your time and money redoing tests that have already been done or trying to create a timeline of events from memory. Most medical records contain accurate dates/times/assessments/and prescriptions, which could be useful when trying to identify a possible health pattern. PLEASE ALSO KNOW THAT THE ACTUAL DOCTOR NOTES ARE THE MOST VALUABLE, NOT A LIST OF SERVICES IN SUMMARY OR ON AN INVOICE.
What if we don't have any medical records?
If you don't have ANY medical records then we will start from the bottom and work our way up. However, ANY medical records, even breeder and adoption records are useful. PLEASE NOTE: Our strong preference is to review this information prior to the consultation; our office fax number is 855-791-0111 and/or you can easily upload them directly into your own portal in Healthie. Ideally you would upload the information into your Healthie account which is a safe, HIPPAA compliant platform on your time preference 24/7. The more admin we have to do to prepare for the appointment, the more cost adds up into the consultation time bank. WE apologize for these steps, it is a current reality of the legalities of medicine and also are driving up the cost of medicine in general. We are small and thus have limited resources to be able to handle this additional paperwork. We constantly try to improve upon efficiencies and seek solutions that ask you to step up and be a part of the active process as well as an advocate for your animal.
What if I just have a quick question, but don't want to schedule a consultation?
Our website contains a lot of great information you can review for FREE! Please visit RESOURCES for books, articles, food options, products, and more.
PLEASE NOTE: Dr. Backus values her medical license and cannot legally diagnosis, treat, or prescribe over the phone/email. Meaning, IT IS illegal for us to comment without establishing a client patient relationship. This is specifically defined by having a face to face, hands on meeting with the animal within 12 months. However, we would be happy to schedule a phone consultation for "general questions", We offer these paid coaching sessions at a lower price point for you as often getting general suggestions and access to medical thinking is super helpful. WE are constantly building upon this website and adding resources. Consider this webpage the go to resource starting point!
Does your clinic provide emergency care?
We are a very small clinic and at this time don't provide a full emergency service. Southwest Animal Emergency Clinic 435-673-3191 is the closest semi full service, propery staffed emergency and urgent care center in St. George for nighttime and week-end problems. We ARE ABLE to offer triage and stabilization of both large and small animals during and after business hours at this time 2023. A second emergency/urgent care facility opened in St. George that offers triage urgent walk in services 10 am-10 pm: Lavarock veterinary services:https://www.lavarockvet.com/ In general, PLEASE do NOT wait until Monday morning to bring your animal into an urgent care facility thinking it will cost less if you wait for your general practitioner. This delay could actually end up costing more as the seriousness of the problem progresses with delay of treatment. And the ‘cost’ could be the death of your animal in the worst case scenario. Please refer to our Emergency Care page for more information. Please DO learn what IS an emergency: imminent death if not addressed quickly and have the money to pay for this much more expensive service.
Does your clinic give vaccinations?
Yes! We do offer vaccinations and have vaccination packages available depending on the vaccination need of the animal. However, it is important to note we always put the individual needs of the animal above all else. This means that some vaccinations, typically given in a bundle, are often spaced out to allow the immune system to both process and recuperate fully between inoculations. In other instances a titer test can be performed to help identify if a vaccination is even necessary. Please refer to our Vaccination page to learn more about our vaccination protocol, the vaccines we use, and the packages available. Also, you can visit Dr. Jean Dodds website to learn more about titer testing.
Does your clinic do titer testing?
Yes! We do offer titer testing for Distemper/Parvo and Rabies. The lab we prefer for horses is Hemopet created by Dr. Jean Dodds who is a well respected leader in her field. If you have questions regarding Titer Testing, here is a link to her FAQ's on Titers. We primarily utilize Kansas State University for titer testing for small animals as they are currently able to subsidize titer testing and have the best pricing for the service and they offer a quantitative number for reference and clarity.
Does your clinic spay and/or neuter and/or offer surgical services?
We are a small "specialized" clinic and we can do routine spay and/or neuter and/or surgical services. However, we limit our surgery to do ovary sparing spays and vasectomys for dogs as very few veterinarians are offering this option. We do not have the equipment for orthopedic surgeries at this time. All surgeries are performed at our surgery suite in Kanab. Kanab is incredibly animal friendly with many hotels and BNB’s allowing for animal overnight as well.
Is there a clinic you would recommend to spay and/or neuter my pet?
If you are looking for a minimally invasive surgical options (Laparoscopic ovariohysterectomy [spay] as well as the leading expert for laparoscopic gastropexy) then our recommendation would be the office of Dr. Pam Nichols at her Daybreak clinic location in Salt Lake City. In Kanab, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary is THE most economical, efficient state of the art facility for spay and neuter services. They have a waiting list, so be sure to plan in advance. Page animal Hospital also has a state of the art surgical suite and capacity at reasonable prices and great care.
Does your clinic offer dental services?
Our clinic does offer dental services. We have a full dental surgical set up with the additional use of ozone. Ozone gas in dentistry is becoming the standard of care on the human side. We use ozone both in the animals mouth but also to clean and sterilize the dental machine with ozonated water. Anesthesia free dentistry is possible on a limited case basis and only for grade 1&2 dental disease. Please be aware not all animals are candidates for this service and require a physical comprehensive exam with Dr. Backus prior to being put on the dental schedule. Also, our Anesthesia Free Dental Services are sold as a package. Please refer to our Biologic Dentistry page to learn more.
Does your clinic offer equine dentistry?
Our clinic does a balanced full mouth float, with upper cervical adjustment to ensure that your horse is in proper alignment for optimal performance and wellness. Please refer to our Biologic Dentistry page to learn more. We offer this at the Kanab location and not mobile, unless you have multiple horses and a suitable space/set up.
Does your clinic do acupuncture and/or chiropractic work on small animals and horses?
Dr. Backus is qualified and certified in both acupuncture and chiropractic work however, it is our observation that both chiropractic work and acupuncture are more efficacious and successful as part of a whole functional medicine model. Therefore we use acupuncture and chiropractic work in an integrated manner as opposed to a stand alone therapy. Please refer to our Treatment page to learn more.
Does your clinic offer nutrition consultations?
We can schedule nutrition consultations; however, if you are looking for some food ideas or best food options then we recommend visiting our Food Resources page. We have taken great time in researching and speaking with our resources and they are truly specialists in their field.
What do you recommend for equine nutrition?
We attempt to mimic nature as much as possible in equine nutrition. As such, our barn manager recommends the book, ‘Feed your horse like a horse’ by Dr. Juliet M. Getty, a link can be found on our resource page.
Do you offer boarding services?
Unfortunately, we cannot provide public boarding services at this time. (Ask the City of Kanab why they think that is a good restriction in a tourist town?)
We do allow short and long term in patient medical boarding on a case by case basis for both small and large animals.
What do I do if my animal develops diarrhea and/or vomiting while transitioning/changing foods?
Great Question! Believe it or not this is a common issue when transitioning your animal from a kibble to raw diet or vise versa. Typically, this occurs when you don't prep the gut before hand and/or during the transition and/or transition to fast. To learn more about food transitioning: https://healthypets.mercola.com
We do have natural supplements to prep and help the system during the transitioning process. Please let us know if you require a consultation to go over options.
NOTE: Diarrhea can also be a response to stress as well as other causes. If you suspect it is NOT food related, please visit our Emergency Care page to learn more.