Frequently Asked Questions

As a rule, in order to keep the Ark afloat, payment is required at the time service is rendered.

Unfortunately, it’s been our experience that a VERY small number of people honor the payment plan they’ve agreed to. Therefore, we simply cannot offer payment plans. We do accept CareCredit, and many of our clients are able to qualify for that option immediately to pay for services. CareCredit is a great option as long as you pay your full balance during the no interest grace period.

If you have pet insurance, we will accept payment directly from the insurance company. Also, if you have a pet insurance policy, and use Noah’s Ark for veterinary care for an insured incident, Noah’s Ark will reimburse you $100 towards your deductible after your bill with us is settled.

Your other options for payment at Noah’s Ark:

For annual check ups and wellness exams: We offer a lay away plan. Even our most comprehensive wellness packages are $169 and we offer a layaway plan where you can make advance monthly payments to plan for that expense.

For our sick patients: If you fear you cannot afford your visit AND your pet is actively suffering, or has a possibly life threatening injury, call our office to discuss the situation with a member of our administrative team. You may qualify for some financial assistance. In order to conserve our Angel Fund, we require that clients at least attempt to bring the fee for the office visit with them to their appointment. ALWAYS communicate in advance if you feel you will not be able to afford your visit. Our staff is trained to help you. Do not receive service and then state you cannot pay—that automatically disqualifies you as a recipient of aid.

Cash, Debit Card, Visa, MasterCard, Discover. We accept checks, but only from established clients. The first time you visit Noah’s Ark you’ll be asked to pay by cash or credit card. If you’d like the option to write a check in the future, we’ll ask you for a copy of your driver’s license and your social security number. We accept payment directly from major pet insurance plans—and we help you with $100 towards your deductible, once a year, if you use Noah’s Ark for a covered service. You are responsible for your deductible and co-pay at the time service is rendered.

We’ve developed our payment policies after years of experience with what works, and what doesn’t. It’s important for us to collect fees for the service we provide, and control our receivables so that we can keep your fees at their lowest.

Call our main number (828) 524-6121 and press 2 for instructions. If you’d like to discuss your emergency with one of our staff,  It’s very important that you leave your phone number and then stay off the line so that we can return your call.

We have a 24-hour emergency animal hospital in Waynesville, NC.

Haywood Animal Emergency: (828) 452-1478

There are two other emergency animal hospitals in the Asheville, NC area:

REACH: (828) 665-4399

Western Carolina Emergency Animal Hospital: (828) 697-7767

For 24-hour emergency service, contact Western Carolina Veterinary Emergency Hospital at (828) 697-7767 or visit by clicking here. 

If your adult dog or cat is healthy, you may have chosen a pet food based simply on whether or not your pet will eat it. Cost may also play a factor in your decision. However, not all pet foods are equal. And feeding the right amount is not as simple as following the directions on the package, they’re just guidelines created by the people trying to sell lots of food.

Choosing an appropriate diet can set your pet on a path of lifelong good nutrition and help prevent many problems, including allergies, nutritional deficiencies, skin and coat disorders, and obesity. Nutritional requirements for dogs and cats vary depending on a variety of factors, including age, breed, coat density, and activity level. For instance, senior pets have significantly different requirements than puppies or kittens, and animals with diabetes, kidney disease, and other health conditions can benefit from special diets.

Our veterinarians can help you make informed decisions about your pet’s diet. We can counsel you on what foods are the best choices based on your pet’s needs and your financial considerations, how much to feed, and even how to decode pet food labels. We can create a nutrition plan specifically for your pet, and we’re also happy to work with owners to help their overweight pets get down to a healthy weight.

For more information on how to read your pet food labels, click here.

Now that’s a question that comes up every day! Here’s the short answer: no. You would never believe the variability between what people describe over the phone, and what walks in the door. Please believe it’s not that we don’t believe you personally!

Even though your pet may be showing the same symptoms as he or she did the last time, the problem may be different. Many diseases have similar symptoms, and a Noah’s Ark vet needs to examine your pet to ensure that we have the correct diagnosis, and don’t waste your precious dollars on the wrong or ineffective treatment or medication.

Dental health is just as important for dogs and cats as it is for people. Bacteria and food debris accumulate around the teeth and, if left unchecked, will lead to deterioration of the soft tissue and bone surrounding the teeth. This decay can result in irreversible periodontal disease, tooth loss, and expensive oral surgery. Bacteria can also cause serious, potentially fatal infections in your pet’s kidneys, liver, lungs, and heart.

Unless your pet just ate something fishy, stinky breath isn’t normal. Noah’s Ark veterinarians carefully examine your pet’s teeth during their annual physical exam. They’ll be sure to recommend if your pet needs some work done on those pearly whites!

Believe it or not, many homes with indoor only cats become infested with fleas. Why? Because fleas are great “hitchhikers”, getting a ride into your home on your pant leg. Although they will bite you if necessary, they prefer a furry host where they can live out their lives. As you can read in our blog on fleas, by the time you see adult fleas, you’ve got a project on your hands. At Noah’s Ark we recommend monthly flea and tick prevention for all companion animals.

Never give your pet medication intended for people unless prescribed by a Noah’s Ark veterinarian. Many over-the-counter pain relievers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), can have serious, potentially fatal consequences if a pet ingests them. We’ve had these cases, and they’re very sad.

If you have a question about a problem your pet is having, call our office for advice. Great pain medications are available that have been developed and dosed especially for use with dogs and cats. Our veterinarians can help you determine which one will fit your budget and help alleviate your pet’s pain.

Yes, you absolutely can. We urge clients to consider pet insurance for unexpected pet medical expenses. The staff at Noah’s Ark can steer you in the direction of companies that we have experience with. Industry data shows that 50% of patients with pet insurance use it at some point each year.

We’re so committed to helping you help your pets that we contribute $100 towards your pet’s deductible each year, if you have a covered medical incident, and use Noah’s Ark for your care.

Please keep in mind, for the lowest monthly premiums, it’s always best to insure your pets while they’re young and healthy. Although deductibles and limits vary between companies, you can expect to spend $25 – $30 per month to insure a young dog. Cats are less expensive. We generally do not recommend that you carry insurance for annual examinations if Noah’s Ark is your primary veterinarian. Our fees for this work tend to be less than the additional insurance expense.

Links to insurers we recommend most often can be found in the links section of our website. If you have additional questions, please contact us at info@noahsarkvet.us

Legally, once you decide to adopt or “take in” an animal, you become the owner. As the owner, you are responsible for the pet’s care. When you take in a stray, he or she may be injured and require veterinary care. The amount you pay for his or her care isn’t related to how you’ve acquired the pet, so you need to carefully consider whether adopting a stray pet is a good decision for you. Anyone who lives in Macon County knows that there are stray animals everywhere. So many people come to us with animals they’ve found that it is just impossible to have different prices for services based on how the pet was acquired.

Taking on a pet is a long-term, lifetime commitment to that pet. If you can’t afford the pet’s care, we’d urge you to consider surrendering the pet our county’s Animal Control. They can scan the pet for a microchip to see if the owner can be found. You can also stop by Noah’s Ark and we’d be happy to scan for a microchip.

We find ourselves discussing financial matters with clients more and more as the recession has persisted and deepened in our area, and around the nation. In the United States, only about 5% of pet owners have pet insurance versus closer to 50% in many European countries. Without pet insurance; owners bear 100% of the cost of providing needed medical care to their pets.

In the past 50 years, pets have had radical promotions—from the barnyard, to the porch, to the house, and finally into the owner’s bed. Now, most of our clients consider their dogs and cats full fledged family members—and we often hear they’re a favorite family member! As pets have gained status and importance in our lives, veterinary medicine has grown increasingly sophisticated. Many clients tell us that the care their pet receives at Noah’s Ark is superior to the medical care they themselves receive.

Today’s modern veterinary “family practice” is one stop shopping—and much more complicated than your average human family practice. A veterinarian wears far more hats than a human doctor—Family Doc, Surgeon, Radiologist, Anesthesiologist, Pharmacist, Dermatologist, Dietitian, Psychologist… you get the point!

Veterinarians attend a minimum of 8 years of college to earn a doctoral degree. The average veterinarian coming out of school last year has an educational debt of $133,873; and veterinarians earn just a fraction of what human doctors earn.

Technological advances have led to improvements in disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. But in order to provide current “standard of care” to patients, a modern veterinary facility has extremely high overhead. This overhead includes maintaining—digital radiography, electronic medical records, accurate state of the art in-house laboratory equipment, fully outfitted surgical suites. And it’s also very important to mention that not all veterinary hospitals are equally excellent.

But back to the question of fees—how are they determined? For many of our services, fees are based on a careful analysis of what supplies are used, and how much time a service takes. Fees also must carry a factor for overhead—what it costs to keep the building open and maintained, among other things.

Some fees are artificially low, like spay surgery. That particular surgery is equivalent to a full hysterectomy in a human female. It requires the same skill, the same anesthetic equipment, the same surgical space and instruments, and the same amount of time. In human medicine an average fee for a hysterectomy is $9,160. At Noah’s Ark for a 120 pound female dog, it’s $269. How can we provide that surgery so cheaply? We can’t, but we’re committed to helping prevent overpopulation, and no one in our area could afford a $900 spay surgery. But we are concerned about keeping fees affordable for our clients in general, and enforcing strict payment policies is one just one of the ways we do that.