It's been a fun week, beginning with the inspector coming in and signing off on our final! What a great opening day gift...really the only way we could open our doors. So officially we opened the doors a week ago in the afternoon once the inspector left. We received lots of phone calls that day and had so many people stopping by to wish us well.

Beautiful flowers on our reception counter

I'd like to take a moment here to thank everyone for their kind comments on the blog, congratulating us and wishing us well. I'd also like to thank the people that have stopped by to tour the practice and for their lovely compliments and the friends and family that have sent flowers and cards full of congratulations and good lucks! It has been an overwhelming outpouring of support and I can't thank you all enough.

Organic irises

It has been exciting to have the doors open and people scheduling appointments. Seeing pets in the practice has really given the space the extra dimension that it needed. We have been educating clients, taking care of the pets in the room with their families present - I always thought it was a little strange to take pets away from their families. When I was a freshman in vet school, I brought my dog, Seso in for a visit and they were going to take her to the back to draw blood. Like I said, I was in vetschool and I had worked in a veterinary office for years. Oh, and I have the personality to speak up...so when they were going to take her back, I simply said no. Probably a little strange back in 1992 but I held her for them and she was perfect. The mystery of what happens when the pets go to "the back" shouldn't be an issue in a trusted veterinary practice. We've demystified the process by inviting clients to be present. Even if we must go to the treatment room for a messier procedure, they can come with. The pets are calmer and it gives us an extra opportunity to teach and converse. Katie, our veterinary nurse, is very kind and skilled and is an excellent teacher for clients looking for hints on nail trimming or even medical procedures like injections. For those in the veterinary field that are mildly horrified by the concept of performing treatments in front of clients - I should tell you that we even drew blood from a kitten and with the help of her family did so with little trauma. If you have never had the opportunity to experience collecting blood from a kitten, it's not easy. They are not easily distracted, they hate being held still,  and they cry during the procedure. We used all of our tricks - we twirled the kitten around, used babyfood for distraction - which she liked and ate the whole time (but still cried), and used some mild tapping/shaking. She was good (but still cried) and reached her limit right when we finished. With a little "good kitty", petting and more babyfood and she was good to go. 

Red and DeeDee on the waiting room couch, supervising our hard work

We're still working out some kinks and still decorating, putting up baseboards, organizing, getting signage, ordering and figuring out our flow but we're getting there and enjoying every moment! Sometimes we're even there late until 2 am! Please feel free to come by for a tour or schedule an appointment with our wonderful client coordinator, Daniela.

Thank you all for such a great week and we're looking forward to meeting all of you and your wonderful furry families.