MEDICAL LAKE — As of Oct. 1, after months of construction on its new 70,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, the Medical Lake Veterinary Hospital is open for business at its new location just east of downtown at the intersection of State Route 902 and South Bartholomew Road
The hospital offers services for just about any domesticated animal — companion pets to large farm animals including horses, and exotic pets like hedgehogs, rats or even emus.
They even have a special snake enclosure.
The only animals they don’t serve are wildlife, which require special licensing, and “four more years of college,” Practice Manager Jeannette Dutton said.
In addition to services that include vaccinations, an on-site laboratory, dental care and surgery, staff doctors also make farm and house calls for all the animals they serve.
For those who wish to bring larger farm animals to the hospital, the hospital offers a covered drive-through drop-off area that doesn’t require turning trailers around.
The covered area includes a padded horse stock with warm water for treatment and surgeries.
Smaller farm animals are brought inside — it’s not uncommon to see a goat on a leash in the waiting room.
But being a farm animal vet requires additional education; it’s also not a lucrative area of veterinary medicine, according to Dutton.
“Most vets don’t see farm animals,” she said, which gives the hospital a niche in the region.
She noted that they have clients from as far away as Davenport and even Idaho.
Care is currently provided by four full-time licensed veterinarians — two owners and two associates — but the building was built with room for a growing need for more, according to Dutton.
“Right now we could use another one,” she said of staff doctors.
Two of them are also her daughters.
Dr. Trina Dutton, who serves as the hospital’s medical director and performs advanced surgeries, and her sister, Dr. Heather O’Bannan, are co-owners.
Mom serves as the practice manager and is also a co-owner of the facility.
Three of the four doctors are farm veterinarians, including horses.
The staff works hard to stay abreast of the latest surgical and care techniques, often attending the latest training available.
“It’s expensive to stay up to date, but it’s a priority for us,” Dutton said. “We want to do what’s best for the patient.”
The hospital only hires farm vets, Dutton said, because Medical Lake Veterinary is one of only a handful of clinics that also service farm animals as compared to standard pet care veterinarians.
This sets them apart for both the services they provide and the professionals they attract. The result is a demand for a position on the Medical Lake Veterinary staff.
“They have to be able to do it all,” she said of the doctors they hire.
But what sets them apart from other farm vet hospitals is the level of care.
“It’s not standard care here,” Dutton said. “It’s high-quality, compassionate care.”
For example, believe it or not, but old-school veterinary practices didn’t use anesthesia — some still don’t, Dutton cautioned— and didn’t provide pain medication.
But things have changed. Medical Lake Veterinary uses human-grade anesthesia.
“We want to do what’s best for the patient,” Dutton said.
The hospital boasts a $70,000, human-grade digital-radiography X-ray system that provides immediate three-dimensional diagnostics of patients.
The system is another example of the additional training staff undergoes that gives them the skill to understand what the X-rays are illustrating
“A typical practitioner wouldn’t understand the detail,” she said.
For an additional fee they also offer a dental X-ray with every dental cleaning, Dutton said, because two-thirds of animal’s teeth are below the gums.
“It’s important to be able to see because animals can’t talk,” she said, noting that pet diseases are often caused by tooth bacteria.
The hospital offers a variety of care and wellness programs, including a pet protection program for senior pets, puppy and kitten packages that provide for spay and neutering and a full year of vaccinations, and credit plans.
Purchased in September 2011, Medical Lake Veterinary Hospital started out as a one-doctor practice, according to Dutton. But word got out about their high standard of care the practice grew — and continues to grow.
“We’re four full-time doctors, and we could handle more easy,” Dutton said.
Go to http://www.medicallakeveterinaryhospital.com for more information about the services Medical Lake Veterinary Hospital provides.
Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.
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