Animal Diagnostic Laboratory

• Full-service animal health diagnostic laboratory and research center
• Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS) member
• AAVLD accredited
• Certified NAHLN member
• Dog and cat necropsy service now available

If you are experiencing an animal health emergency, please contact us by phone. Do not use email for emergencies. For emergency assistance outside of laboratory working hours, please call the PA Department of Agriculture hotline at 717-772-2852.

Attention Animal Diagnostic Lab Clients

Dear clients of the ADL,

Due to an unforeseen situation, we need to significantly reduce the volume of our usual mammalian necropsy services at the ADL. We anticipate this being a short-term situation (~6-8 weeks) and appreciate your understanding as we work to restore full and normal services. 

Effectively immediately, we will not be able to accept small/companion animal or exotic cases for necropsy.

For large animal/livestock cases we would encourage you to work with your veterinarian to have a field necropsy conducted on any cases. In this situation, we will provide field necropsy kits at no charge. Please email us at adlhelp@psu.edu or call 814-863-0837 for more information about these kits.

If your veterinarian is not able to conduct a field necropsy, please try to send any carcass(es) to one of the other two PADLS labs - the Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory, or the New Bolton Center (contact information below).

If none of these options are workable, please be sure to contact us to discuss further options. Please do not bring a mammalian carcass to the ADL for necropsy without calling ahead.

 We are working on interim plans to provide at least some limited necropsy services, and we hope to soon be able to hire a second mammalian pathologist to assist with the caseload. We will do our best to help you with your diagnostic needs.  We sincerely apologize for this abrupt and unplanned disruption of services.

Please note that avian necropsy and incineration services are not affected by this situation and will continue as normal. Anyone that arrives unannounced at the Animal Diagnostic Lab requesting necropsy services runs the risk of being turned away, or having their animal sent for disposal only (which may incur a fee).

Thanks for being such a great group of people to work with!  We want to be sure that we continue to earn your trust by providing great diagnostic services for you in a timely manner. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at 814-863-3745 (O), 814-769-0061 (C), or eph1@psu.edu. I will do my best to respond in a timely manner!

Sincerely,

Ernest Hovingh
Director, Animal Diagnostic Laboratory
Penn State University
PADLS Labs

Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory

2305 North Cameron Street
Harrisburg, PA, 17110
Phone: 717-787-8808
Fax: 717-772-3895
pvl@pa.gov

New Bolton Center Veterinary Laboratory

382 West Street Road
Kennett Square, PA, 19348-1692
Phone: 610-925-6725
Fax: 610-925-6822
Vet-nbccontact@vet.upenn.edu