10/16/2026
🐾 A little perspective from your locally individually owned veterinary clinic 🐾
Running a busy, independently owned, single-doctor rural mixed-animal and exotic veterinary practice is not for the faint of heart. Every day, we juggle appointments, surgeries, hospitalized patients, emergencies, farm calls, and everything in between. We love what we do, but there are limits to what one doctor and a small team can reasonably and safely provide.
One thing we are seeing more frequently is an increase in expectations without the same level of personal responsibility or accountability.
Establishing a relationship with a veterinarian BEFORE an emergency happens is part of responsible animal ownership. We cannot emphasize this enough.
When an animal that has never been seen at our practice experiences an emergency, we cannot abandon our existing patients, pull staff away from their care, or compromise our responsibilities to accommodate an animal with whom we have no established veterinary-client-patient relationship (VCPR).
This is not because we don’t care. It is because we DO care about the patients and clients who have entrusted us with their animals’ care. Those relationships come with responsibilities that we take very seriously.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Special Note to Our Exotic Pet Owners 🦎🦜🐰
We are a rural mixed-animal and exotic veterinary practice, and we recognize that we are one of the very few options for exotic animal care within a considerable driving distance. We offer these services because our doctor genuinely believes that every life matters, regardless of species. We know that, for many of these animals and their owners, we may be the only reasonably accessible option for veterinary care.
However, offering exotic animal care is something we have chosen to do out of compassion and a desire to serve an underserved population of animals. It is not a service we are obligated to provide, nor does it mean we can provide every level of specialized care.
We have always been transparent that while we are happy to assist exotic patients to the best of our abilities, more complicated cases may require referral to one of several excellent specialty facilities a couple of hours away.
Being one of the few practices willing to see exotics does not eliminate an owner’s responsibility to establish veterinary care before an emergency arises. The same policies, expectations, and requirements apply to our exotic patients as they do to every other species we treat. This includes the policies pinned at the top of our page, which we encourage everyone to review before scheduling.
Additionally, if you are traveling a considerable distance to see us, please understand that certain medications, particularly compounded medications, must be ordered through an outside pharmacy. We do not provide in-house compounding, and medications may not be immediately available at the time of your visit. If immediate access to specialized medications or advanced exotic care is a concern, traveling directly to a referral facility may be the better option for your pet.
We want to help, and we genuinely care about these animals. But caring does not mean we can replace the resources of a specialty hospital, guarantee immediate access to every treatment, or assume responsibilities that ultimately belong to the pet owner.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Special Note to Our Large Animal and Farm Call Clients 🐴🐄🐐
We love serving our large animal clients and understand that working with livestock and horses comes with its own unique challenges. However, we also want to remind everyone that our veterinary team is there to provide medical care, not to serve as additional farm hands.
When scheduling a farm call or bringing a large animal to our clinic, it is the owner’s responsibility to have the animal safely caught, contained, and reasonably prepared for examination or treatment. Our doctor and staff should not be expected to round up loose animals, chase livestock through pastures, or assume primary responsibility for handling animals that are unmanageable or unsafe.
We certainly understand that animals can be unpredictable, even those that are normally well-behaved. We are happy to assist with appropriate restraint and handling as part of providing veterinary care. However, there is a difference between assisting with the safe handling of a patient and being expected to do the owner’s work of catching, containing, or managing that animal.
These expectations are not simply about convenience. They are about safety, efficiency, and ensuring that our team can provide the best possible medical care without unnecessary risks or delays.
Please have adequate help available when needed, particularly for animals that are difficult to handle. If an animal cannot be safely restrained, we may need to postpone or modify the examination or treatment until appropriate arrangements can be made.
Responsible animal ownership extends beyond providing veterinary care. It also includes ensuring that your veterinarian and their staff have a safe environment in which to work.
We genuinely appreciate our farm clients who go the extra mile to have their animals ready and appropriate assistance available. Your preparation allows us to spend more time doing what you called us there to do: providing veterinary care to your animals.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Regarding Our After-Hours Emergency Services 🚨
Our emergency services are reserved for our established, current patients. We are proud to be the only clinic in our area offering overnight and weekend emergency care for our own patients, but this service requires boundaries to protect our patients, our staff, and our doctor’s ability to continue practicing medicine.
Please use our emergency phone line for TRUE emergencies only.
Leaving messages about things you don’t want to forget, routine questions, prescription requests, or concerns that can wait until regular business hours creates unnecessary message volume. More importantly, it can delay our ability to respond to an animal experiencing a genuine emergency.
If your animal is not an established patient, our voicemail provides information about alternative emergency facilities, including an option to connect directly with a local small-animal emergency clinic. Please listen to the recording and follow those instructions.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lastly, Let’s Talk About Kindness and Respect. ❤️
Our receptionists, technicians, and support staff are human beings. They work incredibly hard, often under stressful circumstances, and deserve to be treated with the same respect that every client expects in return.
We understand that emotions run high when a beloved animal is sick or injured. We understand fear, frustration, and worry. But those emotions do not excuse mistreating the people who are trying to help.
Sometimes, the tone of a conversation is influenced by how someone approaches our team in the first place. Respect and kindness are a two-way street, and accountability should be, too. We expect our team to remain professional and compassionate, and we ask that our clients extend them the same courtesy.
Boundaries are not a lack of compassion. They are what allow us to continue providing compassionate care.
Being independently owned means we don’t have a corporate network of doctors or an unlimited pool of employees to call upon. We have one doctor, a dedicated team, and a tremendous responsibility to the animals already under our care.
We also have families, personal responsibilities, and lives outside of veterinary medicine. Our doctor and staff cannot be available to everyone at every hour without eventually compromising their own well-being and the quality of care they provide.
We are incredibly grateful for the clients who understand, respect our policies, plan ahead for their animals’ needs, and treat our team with kindness.
Responsible animal ownership includes planning ahead, establishing veterinary care, understanding the limitations of your veterinary provider, providing a safe environment for veterinary care, and accepting accountability for your animal’s needs.
We will always do our best for our patients, but doing our best does not mean we can do everything for everyone.
Thank you for supporting locally owned veterinary medicine, respecting our boundaries, and allowing us to continue doing what we love: caring for animals of all shapes, sizes, and species.
❤️ Footloose Veterinary Services
