The West Side Animal Clinic Expansion Creates More Opportunities for Care
Visiting the veterinarian can be a stressful time for people and their furry friends alike, but seeing a familiar face – or paw – can really help soothe you through the process. Jack the orange tabby has been providing this service for more than a decade now at his animal clinic home.
“We’ve always had clinic cats, but Jack is really like a therapy cat- he knows who needs comfort.” says Maria Sullivan, Office Manager at West Side Animal Clinic. “Our clients have stopped by just to see how Jack is doing in the new location.”
At West Side Animal Clinic, the need for more space in order to expand services prompted Dr. Sara Horton to set in motion a plan to build an entirely new building. This building, only a few blocks from the old location, still provides the same quality of care, but in a larger, beautiful new building.
The new location looks more like a “mountain lodge” than a hospital at first glance. Soothing blue walls and comfortable seating in the large lobby keep everyone at ease, and most long-time clients have appreciated a simple but very beneficial change.
“The new parking is a real hit with the clients,” says Sullivan. “It used to be very hard to find a parking spot, and employees would park far away and walk to the clinic. It’s been awesome to have enough parking for our clients.”
The building has expanded West Side Animal Clinic’s capacity in nearly every respect: from three to six exam rooms, double the surgery table space, and an expanded kennel with 14 spots that are larger than the six spots available in the older building.
“At the other building, we could only do one surgery at a time. Now, we can have two doctors doing surgeries and one doctor doing a dental procedure in our new dental suite,” explains Sullivan.
The animal clinic has been able to expand their appointment offerings because of the building, while still retaining appointments each day to see sick patients.
“There were times, at the old building, when we couldn’t take any more animals in,” says Sullivan. “We don’t want to turn clients away or stop accepting new clients.”
Small details of the new building make a big difference: having a glass wall on hospital ward areas for dogs and cats means that the entire staff can keep an eye on animals in their care with just a glance. The vet technicians have also enjoyed the new lab area, and the kennel features a big playroom covered in turf, where kenneled dogs can play and get some energy out.
One design feature that has been especially helpful is having the kennel area and the hospital area in different sides of the building with separate entrances. This allows for the kennel to be full of chatty dogs while keeping the exam rooms and surgery areas quieter for clients.
The future looks bright for the clinic moving into 2020; while these first few months have been focused on settling in, the team at West Side Animal Clinic hopes to eventually expand hours, bring on more doctors, and possibly even start a doggy daycare service.
As for Jack the clinic cat, he has found plenty of new spots to hang out when he isn’t sitting in a client’s lap or exploring.
“We were really worried about moving him, but he is really a trouper,” says Sullivan. “It took him less than 24 hours to be right out front, back in everyone’s business. We thought it would take weeks since he’d lived his whole life at the other clinic.”
No matter the many changes over the years, the West Side Animal Clinic remains incredibly important to its clients, as well as the multiple employees who have spent decades of their lives serving the residents and pets of Hamilton.
“This is our second family,” says Sullivan. “We’ve all grown up together, really.”