Grand Opening! Now seeing patients!
Grand Opening!
Well, we’ve had a busy week at Whole Health Pet Center! Saturday, May 31 was our Grand Opening Open House. I estimate 50-60 people came through, had tours, and found out about holistic veterinary medicine. Monday, June 2 was our first day in the office. Each day, and with every patient, we discover something else we need to figure out how to do, buy, or find. We are still learning how to use our record-keeping software, the lab missed a bloodwork pickup because they couldn’t find us, and we still don’t have a credit card machine. But we are making progress daily. We can’t give rabies shots as the mercury-free vaccine I ordered is on backorder. I think just in the short term, I’ll get the regular kind just to have some, but if you feel strongly about thimersol-free vaccines, you may want to wait on the rabies shots until I get it in. We appreciate all the patience those who have had appointments have shown, and will ask for your continued understanding as we work out the kinks and get into the swing of things.
Today, Tuesday June 3, we had Raymore Council members, Cass County officials, and Chamber of Commerce members at the clinic for the official ribbon cutting. We had about 20 people attend, got some pictures for the paper, and I got to pose with the giant scissors—lots of fun! Sure was great to see a full parking lot! It’s so nice to be a part of the larger community of business owners in the area, and I’m looking forward to integrating further with Raymore and surrounding towns.
We did our first vaccine titer today as well. It’s very interesting to see how much antibody a dog has to each of the three viruses we test for. In this case, his titer level was higher than the control for hepatitis and parvo and equal to the control for distemper. I recommended we test again next year and consider a distemper booster if needed at that time. This test takes nearly half an hour to run, so unless you want to wait on it you’d need to plan on returning at a later visit if your dog needed a booster vaccine.
Appointments: If you’d like to make an appointment, you can call us during business hours at 816-331-1868. I try to remember to forward the phones to my cell phone when we are closed—if you call and it just rings, I apologize as that probably means we forgot to forward (like tonight—oops). So what are those business hours? Glad you asked! Eventually, I will add them to the website in some form, but please understand that they are not carved in stone. If we have no appointments scheduled and no one waiting to go home, we might close early. Our Saturdays will vary. In general, we are open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9-5, Tuesday 12-5, and Thursday 1-7. Thursday evening and Saturday appointments will be limited to established patients receiving follow-up laser or acupuncture treatments, any patient receiving only chiropractic, and in-house labs such as fecal exams for parasites or heartworm tests. Other simple procedures such as nail trims, anal sac expression, or simple bandage changes can also be scheduled. We ask that new clients or those with sick patients schedule earlier on weekdays so they can receive the lengthier visit they need for a full work-up. With this type of scheduling, we are able to accommodate greater numbers of clients during those desirable evening and Saturday appointment slots.
Upcoming events: Now that the clinic is open, we will be giving monthly educational seminars free to anyone who would like to attend. On Saturday, June 21 from 10:30 a.m.-noon we will have a Pet Safety for Kids workshop where kids age 3-12 accompanied by an adult can learn about dog body language and how to interact safely with both dogs on leashes and those they may encounter running loose. On Thursday, July 24 at 7 p.m. is the seminar “Holistic Health for Pets” with a presentation on the different complementary therapies offered at Whole Health Pet Center, some examples of responsive conditions, and a chance to discuss the holistic approach to pet health. We hope to see lots of you there, and encourage you to invite your friends to come along as well! We do encourage you to call us at 816-331-1868 to register. There is no charge for either event, but we would like some idea of how many are attending.
All in all, I think we’re off to a good start! For our continued success, we need to get those new patients in the door—I know many of you receiving this newsletter will be out to see us when your pets are in need of care, but please let your friends know about us as well. We hope you’ll come to see us soon at our little clinic in the country!
