Tim Pasma

Animal Health Laboratory, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON

AHL Newsletter 2023;27(4):4.

Purolator adding an extra day to transit times

Purolator has informed us that they will be adding an extra day of transit time to their Purolator Ground Service.  This change will be in effect from October 29, 2023, until Spring of 2024 and will account for increased volumes during the holiday season and occurrences of inclement weather.  The standard transit time for shipments by Ground Service will be 2 days or more.

Please ensure that you package materials to prevent freezing of samples due to the extra transit time and colder weather at this time of year.  To prevent formalin from freezing, add 1 mL of ethanol to 10 mL of formalin.  Specimens such as EDTA tubes should be packaged in an insulated container along with room temperature ice packs.

Postmortems protocols for OVC-HSC cases

Our clients may not know that our facilities are shared between the AHL and the Department of Pathobiology at OVC.  For clients that submit cases to OVC, please note that if the patient dies while at OVC-HSC, the case can be sent for a postmortem conducted by graduate students and pathologists in the Pathobiology department.  This postmortem is done at no charge to the client or owner and enables OVC-HSC to follow up on cases from its hospital, and to meet its mandate of education, research and training opportunities for graduate students.

If AHL receives a submission that has previously been a case at OVC-HSC, our staff will contact the submitting veterinarian to confirm whether they want the postmortem to be conducted by AHL pathologists (standard fees apply) or the Department of Pathobiology.