Monday, April 24, 2000
Late-night emergency room caters to injured pet patients
Vet clinic open when others closed
By William Weathers
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The activity resembles a scene from the television program, ER.
Dr. Douglas Hoffman and assistants Amie Marmer and Heather Smith examine a Yorkshire terrier.
(Craig Ruttle photo)
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There are patients on two adjacent operating tables. The doctor and his assistants move quickly back and forth attending to injuries and checking vital signs.
One patient has a puncture wound to the chest, and the doctor determines stitches will be necessary. The other patient appears to have a broken leg and possible internal injuries. X-rays are needed.
Although both patients are conscious, neither makes a sound as the doctor examines them.
It's like a regular emergency room, except the pa tients are animals.
Call them Pet Patients.
The doctor is Dr. Doug Hoffman — one of four veterinarians who work at the Emergency Veterinary Clinic of Cincinnati Inc. on Red Bank Expressway in Madisonville. The practice is strictly emergency work, he said. “Basically, we're open when other vets are not. Basically, all regular vets refer their emergencies here on nights and weekends.”
The clinic is open 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and open continuously on weekends from 6 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday. The basic fee for exami nation is $59.
The patient list during a few hours on a recent weekday night included about a half dozen dogs, a cat and a ferret.
Ninety-nine percent of the clinic's patient are dogs and cats, Dr. Hoffman says.
“We get the occasional skunk or hedgehog,” said the 33-year-old Cincinnati native who received his doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1993 from Ohio State University after graduating from St. Xavier High School and Xavier University.
Clinic patients also include rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, rats, pythons, lizards, birds, turtles, squirrels, racoons and a fawn. One of the other veterinarians, Dr. Daniel C. Carey, specializes in the treatment of exotic animals.
Weekends are busiest, Dr. Hoffman said. “Saturdays or Sundays, it's not uncommon to have a three-hour wait.”
The two patients this night are Duncan, a Weimar-
aner who ran into a bush and punctured his chest, and Duffy, a Golden Retriever hit by a car.
Dr. Hoffman determines the puncture didn't harm any internal organs and Duncan should be fine after a few stitches.
X-rays confirm Duffy has a broken leg; he gets a splint.
Later, a Yorkshire Terrier is brought in. He'd been hit in the head with a golf club.
The dog got in the way of a practice swing, the owner explained. “He'll lose the eye for sure,” the doctor said after his examination.
The next patient is Lucinda, a ferret with labored breathing. Dr. Hoffman's finds an irregular heartbeat. “Heart disease in ferrets is common.”
Earlier in the evening, John Conners and daughter, Shannon, of Mount Lookout, brought in a grubby stray dog. The late-night clinic is great, Shannon said. “If a dog is sick and can't wait until morning.”
The Conners have named the mutt “Babe” and want to give him to Mr. Conners' 92-year-old aunt.
They are pleased when he checks out with the doctor.
“Just dehydration,” Mr. Conners said. With proper nourishment, there “nothing that can't be fixed with a little soap and water and loving care.”
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