About Dr. Gardner's Services
IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ:
· I wish I could help every pet that would benefit from my services, but I simply cannot. I am very busy because I have a large established client base.
· At this time I am accepting new clients who live in my neighborhood (the Hunters Point area of LIC). Also, I will consider accepting new clients elsewhere who are moving to NYC with a pet that needs to continue acupuncture or chiropractic treatment; pet must have been receiving treatments on a regular basis and current practitioner must be able to transfer their records. I do not have immediate openings, so please reach out to schedule as soon as possible.
· Once I resume taking on new clients outside of my neighborhood, I will no longer accept new clients requesting acupuncture who live more than 30 minutes away by subway/bus. I will continue accepting new clients for chiropractic up to 60 minutes away. If you would like me to check the travel time now, feel free to email me, making sure you have provided your exact address for me to put into Google Maps.
· I AM NOT MAINTAINING A WAITLIST. I will update this website as soon as I have more availability. Please do not ask me to contact you when I’m accepting new clients again – I do not have any support staff (I do everything myself to keep appointment costs low!) and have found in the past that this was not worth the effort. Please also do not ask me to let you know if I have a cancellation – I will only offer any openings from cancellations to established clients.
· As a busy house call vet, I am not the right practitioner for you if you are also very busy, can only do appointments on a particular day or at a particular time, or will need to reschedule if appointments are booked weeks in advance. With the exception of new clients who live in my neighborhood, going forward I will only take on those who are able to do appointments in the afternoons on Mondays-Thursdays.
· Please read through the info on this page to make sure my services are a good fit for your needs first, then submit an inquiry by email. You must tell me your exact street address and which service you are inquiring about in your email (acupuncture or chiropractic or both). If I cannot meet your needs, please use the links provided at the bottom of this webpage to search for other practitioners. Thank you. –Dr. Gardner
Treatment modalities that Dr. Gardner uses
Dr. Gardner’s services include chiropractic and acupuncture/traditional Chinese veterinary medicine, provided by house call. There are individual pages on this website with more information about these treatments. Dr. Gardner only treats dogs and cats.
A chiropractic appointment includes a nail trim (if the patient allows), chiropractic adjustment, laser therapy, and recommendations for prevention of subluxations (nutrition, lifestyle changes, etc.).
An acupuncture/TCVM appointment includes acupuncture treatment (no extra charge for special techniques such as electro and aqua), prescription of Chinese herbal formulas (the purchase price of the formulas is an additional cost), laser therapy, and recommendations for nutrition/food therapy and Tui-na/acupressure.
Before contacting Dr. Gardner, please scroll down to the second to last section of this webpage called “what Dr. Gardner does not do” to read about the services she does not provide (but often receives inquiries about) and the types of cases she will not treat.
Locations served
Dr. Gardner treats patients in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, within 60 minutes of travel time by subway/bus from her home in the Hunters Point area of Long Island City, Queens. (Dr. Gardner does NOT provide services in the Bronx, Staten Island, New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester County, or at any address that she cannot reach within 60 minutes or less by subway/bus. Please do not ask for an exception or offer transportation by car.)
IMPORTANT: From this point forward, Dr. Gardner will only accept new clients for acupuncture that she can reach within 30 minutes of travel time. There are many veterinary acupuncturists in NYC, but very few animal chiropractors, so she must use her time as efficiently as possible to have more availability for pets who need chiropractic care.
Services are provided by house call (home visit) only. (Please note that Dr. Gardner does not have a clinic or office, so it is NOT possible to bring your pet to her.)
Cost of services
An initial acupuncture appointment ranges from $375 to $450 and follow-up acupuncture appointments range from $225 to $300, depending on travel time. An initial chiropractic appointment ranges from $275 to $350 and follow-up chiropractic appointments range from $175 to $250, depending on travel time. The cost of products such as Chinese herbal formulas or the Assisi Loop is additional. (To treat a pet with both acupuncture and chiropractic at the same appointment, the initial appointment would range from $500 to $575 and follow-up appointments would range from $300 to $375, depending on travel time.)
To find out exactly how much appointments for your pet would cost, email Dr. Gardner at doctor@joannagardnerdvm.com and please let her know whether you are inquiring about acupuncture or chiropractic (or both) and provide your exact address. The exact address is needed for Dr. Gardner to use Google Maps to accurately determine the travel time by subway/bus from her home in the Hunters Point area of Long Island City, Queens. (Note: To avoid misquoting appointment cost, Dr. Gardner will not “estimate” the travel time to a neighborhood or even the nearest cross streets. You must provide the exact address where the patient will be treated.)
Payment is due at the time of the appointment. Accepted forms of payment include cash, check, credit/debit card (VISA, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express), and Apple Pay/Google Pay. Venmo and CareCredit are NOT accepted. If you have pet insurance, contact the company to find out the details on your policy’s coverage of alternative/complementary medicine for your pet’s diagnosis.
Please note: Dr. Gardner now requires a deposit of $150 for acupuncture/TCVM or $100 for chiropractic to schedule an initial appointment. This deposit is NON-refundable for ANY reason if the pet owner cancels OR reschedules the initial appointment.
Discounts
Packages of multiple appointments can be pre-purchased at a discount: 3 appointments at 10% off or 6 appointments at 20% off. Payment for the entire package is due at the first appointment in the package.
How many appointments will be needed
Both chiropractic and acupuncture typically begin with a series of 3 or more treatments on a frequent basis, then as the patient responds the interval between treatments is lengthened. The number of treatments needed and the interval between treatments will depend on the condition being treated and patient factors such as age. A longer course of treatment will be needed for chronic diseases. Management of incurable conditions (osteoarthritis, for example) requires on-going treatment. Routine chiropractic adjustments for healthy dogs are recommended at an appropriate interval for their age and risk factors for subluxation. For more specific information please email Dr. Gardner at doctor@joannagardnerdvm.com with your pet’s diagnosis/symptoms, how long ago the problem started, and the age and general health of your pet.
Appointment length
Dr. Gardner allows generous time for each appointment. This is so the patient can relax, she can explain the diagnosis, treatment options, and other recommendations, and clients can have all their questions answered.
Initial appointments for acupuncture/TCVM often take 2 or more hours, while follow-ups generally take around 1 hour. Initial chiropractic appointments typically take around 1.5 hours, while follow-ups are generally 30-45 minutes.
The client’s attention and assistance will be needed during the entire appointment as Dr. Gardner does not employ a veterinary technician.
Availability and scheduling of appointments
Dr. Gardner schedules appointments as early as 11:00 a.m. and as late as 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Weekend appointments are not available.
Dr. Gardner has a large established client base, so unfortunately she must periodically stop accepting new clients when her calendar is too full. When she is able to take on new clients, she generally can only accommodate two new clients per month, and she may impose limitations on travel time, services, and days of the week/times of day in order to better manage her calendar and help more pets. Exceptions will not be made for new clients with pets that need treatment urgently, and any openings due to cancellations will first be offered to new clients who are scheduled for the upcoming weeks. If Dr. Gardner is not accepting new clients or your pet cannot wait for her next opening, please use the links at the bottom of this webpage to search for other practitioners who offer the same or similar services. If your pet needs veterinary care urgently or is not responding to their Western medical treatment plan, contact your pet's primary veterinarian or an emergency veterinary hospital ASAP.
To inquire about scheduling an initial appointment, please email Dr. Gardner at doctor@joannagardnerdvm.com and she will reply within two business days. You must say which service you are interested in and provide your exact street address.
Cancellation policy and initial appointment deposit
Dr. Gardner requests that clients let her know more than 72 hours in advance if they need to cancel or reschedule a follow-up appointment. If less than 72 hours’ notice is provided, a late cancellation/rescheduling fee of 50% of the appointment cost will apply.
In order to schedule an initial appointment, Dr. Gardner requires a non-refundable deposit of $150 for acupuncture/TCVM or $100 for chiropractic. She will send a Square invoice by email which can be paid by credit or debit card. Dr. Gardner does not “hold openings” and will not add an initial appointment to her calendar prior to receiving the deposit, so a delay in paying the invoice may push back the date at which a pet begins treatment. Also, be aware that the deposit is non-refundable for any reason if the pet owner cancels or reschedules the initial appointment, at any time after the initial appointment has been booked.
What Dr. Gardner does not do
Dr. Gardner is not a general practitioner, holistic or otherwise, and does not offer any general veterinary services. All her patients must have a primary veterinarian for regular veterinary care such as physical examinations, diagnostic testing, and prescribing pharmaceutical drugs when needed. Dr. Gardner has chosen to limit her practice to traditional Chinese veterinary medicine and chiropractic, but she believes in Western medicine and supports an integrative approach to treatment.
Likewise, Dr. Gardner does not provide second opinions on Western medical diagnoses. Dr. Gardner is not a specialist, and her services will not substitute for referral to a specialist for advanced diagnostics if needed to diagnose your pet’s condition.
Dr. Gardner also does not provide emergency veterinary care (nor does she see patients on an emergency basis for chiropractic adjustments) – contact your pet’s primary veterinarian or an emergency veterinary clinic ASAP.
Dr. Gardner is not accepting allergy/dermatology or anxiety/behavior cases.
Dr. Gardner will not perform chiropractic adjustments on dogs with an acute disc herniation while they are on (or should be on) crate rest/exercise restriction (typically 6-8 weeks following sudden onset of neck or back pain and/or neurologic deficits). This includes cases which are suspected but not confirmed and which may also have been referred to as a pinched nerve, bulging/slipped/ruptured disc, acute IVDD/intervertebral disc disease, etc.
Dr. Gardner does not offer telemedicine consults and only provides advice by phone or email for current clients. She will not prescribe Chinese herbal formulas or an Assisi Loop/Lounge for a pet she has not personally examined within the past 12 months.
Dr. Gardner does not practice homeopathy or reiki, nor does she offer ozone therapy. While she utilizes Tui-na techniques during acupuncture/TCVM appointments, she does not offer Tui-na or massage therapy appointments as a stand-alone service. She also does not offer appointments for only laser therapy, though it is included with both chiropractic and acupuncture/TCVM appointments.
Dr. Gardner’s services do not include physical therapy/rehabilitation. Though the treatments she uses are sometimes considered rehab modalities, Dr. Gardner is not qualified to prescribe a complete therapeutic exercise plan customized for an individual pet’s needs. There are at least 3 well-equipped and well-staffed canine rehab facilities within NYC which can be easily found with a Google search.
Dr. Gardner is not a nutritionist and does not provide recipes for custom diets. She is a Certified Veterinary Food Therapist, which refers to the branch of TCVM where foods are selected to balance a patient based on their Chinese medicine pattern diagnosis. For more information, see the acupuncture page on this website.
How to find other practitioners
Dr. Gardner’s services may not be a good fit for everyone, and it is not possible for her to take on every case that she is contacted about. Fortunately, there are many other practitioners in the New York City area. If Dr. Gardner is unable to meet your needs, search for other veterinarians on these websites:
Acupuncture/Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine
Chiropractic
Holistic treatment modalities