Last Updated: August 13th, 2020

Penn Vet COVID-19 Related News and Information

If you have questions about any of the information below, give us a call at 800-233-0210.

As a medical supplier, we have remained open throughout the COVID-19 crisis with our team members working from home wherever possible.  Our shipping facilities are open, however, we have chosen to suspend our local delivery service and pick-up at our shipping branches as a precautionary measure, but will continue to ship products as normal.  Please see below for more specific shipping information.

As states begin to lift and/or ease restrictions, we will begin to transition our field sales force to serve those areas differently.  Our sales reps have worked with some customers to schedule virtual visits for those that prefer it, but depending upon your location, they may also be able to begin scheduling in-person visits once again.  Please feel free to reach out to your representatives to discuss the options!  

Practice Resources

  • The AVMA has released guidance on testing animals for SARS-CoV-2.  View them here.
  • Clinician's brief released updated guidelines on owner contact on March 30th.  View that here.
  • The AVMA has a COVID-19 resource available that is being updated regularly.  View it here.
  • Congress has passed two legislation packages to support individuals, families, and small business.  Click here to read more. 
  • Updated information on the government's forgivable loan program for small businesses.
  • Read more about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act here.
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Penn Vet also offers a library full of resources to help you communicate to your clients. We have client handouts, social media posts, and posters all directly related to COVID-19 and all FREE to you!


Shipping Information

It is important to remember that UPS suspended their service guarantee on March 26th until further notice.  We have experienced longer than normal delivery times to some areas, so it's important to plan ahead as much as you can.  We have chosen to suspend our local delivery service and pick-up at our shipping branches as a precautionary measure.

Our recommendations to minimize shipping disruption as much as possible:

    1. It isn't always possible, but please try to plan ahead with your ordering and order cold products as early in the week as possible to avoid delays causing them to sit out over the weekend.
    2. Put a sign on your door communicating how you wish to receive deliveries to avoid confusion from carriers. Our recommendation is to have a separate note on your doors specifically for each carrier. The note should state that you are open for deliveries, and what the delivery personnel should do with the packages. Penn Vet is not able to communicate specific delivery instructions to carriers. If you are having trouble receiving shipments, we recommend you reach out to the carrier directly.
    3. If you are in an area where many businesses are closed, UPS has recommended that you reach out to their customer service team at 800-742-5877 to let them know you are open.  They will send a message to your local center to advise that your business is open to receive deliveries.
    4. If you often need to give specific delivery instructions to your UPS driver, you may want to consider opening a free UPS My Choice account.  The free service allows you to give specific 'leave at' type instructions once a package has shipped.  Click here for more information.


Our measures to protect you and our employees

We continue to follow the situation closely and are making arrangements to ensure that we are keeping everyone safe and are able to service our customers to the best of our ability. Internally, we have been providing our employees with health and safety education as well as ensuring our facilities are cleaned and disinfected appropriately.  Our team members are working remotely, where feasible and we have cancelled all business travel and participation in group events as well.

Our customers are our number one priority and we are committed to continuing to service you while keeping our employees safe. We join in the sentiments of our fellow distributors and our manufacturers that as a community we must support one another until we see this through. 


Supply chain concerns and issues

There are several products that distributors across the board are seeing shortages on due to high demand and/or products being manufacturered in affected areas. Disinfectants, PPE, and select antibiotics are among the products affected. To ensure that our customers get equal access to these products, Penn Vet has put allocations in place for the time being to limit the quantity a customer can purchase within a certain timeframe.

Our best advice to you during this time is to place orders wherever you are able to. We fill our backorders in the order in which they were received, so putting products on backorder with us puts you in line to receive them when they come in.  This is more important than ever right now, because when products are being allocated by our suppliers, we may not always receive shipments that exceed our backorder demand, so there isn't extra inventory to be offered for sale.  Placing orders with multiple suppliers will increase your chances of receiving the product you need as well. 


Disinfectant information

Most disinfectants commonly used in a veterinary hospital are effective against enveloped viruses, which coronaviruses are.  You may not see coronavirus listed specifically on labels, however, so be aware of what type of disinfectant you are using and call the manufacturer if you have specific questions.  If you are using a quaternary ammonium (KennelSol, ParvoSol, D-128, Foam-Quat), they are considered to be effective against enveloped viruses.  Other types of disinfectants, such as hydrogen peroxide (yGiene, Clorox Fuzion) are also effective.

For information on specific disinfectants you can also view the EPA's list of disinfectants for use against SARS-CoV2.  Please be aware that searching by EPA registration number is the most accurate way to find a specific disinfectant, as not all brand names may be listed.  

One of our manufacturer partners, Alpha Tec Pet (makers of KennelSol and SteriCide) have released a presentation with valuable information about animal care facility sanitation.  View it on YouTube.

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