We sincerely hope that you and your animals are keeping well!

Level 1 allows the OVAH to continue to render all services, including the sale of medication and pet food. Our outpatient clinic is open, as are our specialist small animal clinics (internal medicine, surgery, dentistry and reproduction) – please call and make a prior appointment.

Our farm and wildlife veterinarians are available to attend to all call-outs as well as see cases that are brought to the hospital – please call and make a prior appointment.

To make an appointment please dial 086 100 8387 and follow the prompts. If you know the clinic or office extension then you may dial it directly (the 4 digit extension is always preceded by 012 529…)

Please adhere strictly to the following:

• Make a prior appointment for your animal unless it is an emergency.

• Limit the trip to the minimum number of people required to control the animal.

• Do not attend an appointment if you:
  • have a high temperature, a sore throat or have developed a cough in the past two weeks;
  • are suspected to have, or have been diagnosed to have, the Covid-19 infection, or are in a self-isolation period;
  • have been in close contact with anyone who has been suspected to have, or who has been diagnosed to have, the Covid-19 infection.

If you are in good health, please:

• Wash your hands thoroughly before you leave home to come to us
• Wear a mask at all times. In accordance with COVID-19 regulations, we may not allow you on our premises if you are not wearing a mask that covers the nose and mouth.
• Use the automated hand sanitiser at the main hospital entrance when you enter and leave the premises.
• Note that we will take your temperature before you enter the hospital. Should it be above the recommended maximum of 37.3, we will take it again and if it remains high, we will ask you to go back to your car. We will then arrange for someone to assist you further.
• Please try to keep a distance of 1.5 metres from other people and avoid making physical contact.

You are welcome to complete a COVID-19 pre-screening by means of the HealthCheck tool, before travelling to us. This tool is already utilised daily by staff and students who enter the Faculty of Veterinary Science campus. You can access it on the following platforms:

• Web: healthcheck.higherhealth.ac.za
• WhatsApp: 060 011 0000
• Mobile phone USSD: *134*832*2#

Your support and cooperation is greatly appreciated!

The Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH) is one of a kind in Southern Africa – possibly even on the African continent.

Part of the University of Pretoria, and designed primarily to provide world class practical training to final year veterinary and veterinary nursing students studying at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, the hospital nevertheless succeeds in providing, at the same time, a unique and highly valued service to the greater veterinary and pet-owning community.

From a tiny, helpless domestic shorthair kitten, to a stately and economically important stud bull, all companion and production animals are optimally cared for in species-specific clinics, and treated by clinicians and specialists of national and international repute.

The OVAH is the only veterinary hospital is South Africa where veterinary specialists of so many different disciplines practice under one roof. Our scope of services is very broad and includes:

• Medical and surgical oncology for dogs and cats
• Critical care (including ventilation) for dogs and cats
• Tracheal stenting in small breed dogs
• Total hip replacement and other implant-driven orthopaedic procedures for dogs and cats
• Dentistry, all species (including specialised maxillofacial reconstructive surgery)
• Ophthalmology, all species
• Horses, medical and surgical colic management
• Horses, standing tie-backs
• Horses lameness assessment and management
• Cattle, hoof health
• Cattle, general medicine and surgery
• Small stock, (calves, sheep goats) medicine and surgery
• Exotic species, (parrots, small primates, snakes etc) medicine and surgery

In order to perform such diverse and challenging veterinary work, the OVAH boasts 10 theatres, a dog/cat ICU, referral clinics for various species, a bustling first-opinion Outpatient clinic and an impressive array of diagnostic imaging equipment ranging from digital radiography, to computed tomography. Furthermore, the OVAH is the only veterinary facility in Africa to perform diagnostic nuclear imaging, known as scintigraphy. All this ensures the OVAH never lacks for patients to heal or opportunities to train students to the highest standards.

Host to over 70 trained and dedicated support staff, together with a number of enthusiastic and animal-loving veterinary and veterinary nursing students, the OVAH is an academic yet very client- and patient-focused hospital which strives to provide professional, skilled and compassionate patient care and client service at all times.