For the Love of Animals

Veterinarian Dr. Carl Prior gives lots of reasons for keeping his Park City Animal Clinic in town, but it all comes down to a simple statement: “I recognize all of the dogs on Main Street!” Prior means more than just being familiar with the dogs’ faces. So does Dr. Keith Lund, who opened White Pine Veterinary Clinic 30 years ago and seems to surprise even himself when he observes, “I realize I’m now seeing my FOURTH generation of dogs [in town].” Silver Creek Animal Clinic owner Dr. Randall Barbe characterizes Park City as “a place where you can really be part of the community.” These sentiments from our local animal experts imply that veterinary medicine in Park City is part of the family fabric of the town. As a community, Park City offered a lot of enticements for our local “Dr. Doolittles.” Lund saw “great opportunity” in 1978 when he opened the first general veterinary practice in Park City itself. A decade later, his now-partner Dr. David McDonald was drawn by “all that white stuff.” All of our local vets describe settling in Park City for its seasons, its scenery and its small-town atmosphere. According to McDonald, “It’s a great place to raise kids.” Park City residents, hailing from all over the globe, make savvy customers who can sometimes be particularly demanding pet owners. “It’s more challenging [practicing in Park City],” says Dr. Barbe. “[Park City residents] are well-educated … I’ve learned a lot from my clients.”

McDonald sees in his clients a great “willingness to get to the bottom of a problem.” He speaks of being able to practice a higher level of medicine. Lund concurs, saying, “I’m better able to be the kind of veterinarian I was trained to be.” Interestingly, Lund says most of those being trained to practice veterinary medicine today differ from him in an important way: they’re women. There’s been an incredible shift in the nation’s veterinary demographic, with the majority of students at veterinary schools now female. Exemplars of the trend, Park City’s three newest vets are women — Doctors Kate Bjordahl and Hope Teyler at White Pine, and Park City Animal Clinic’s Dr. Angela West — who joined established local practices for many of the same reasons that brought their male colleagues here. West, for example, is a Louisiana transplant who loves the alpine atmosphere as well as the residents, whom she calls “smart and caring.” “This is dog heaven,” says West, who’s very impressed with the rescue work of Summit County Friends of Animals and the astonishing number of people who adopt even “special needs” cats and dogs.

Aside from more women practicing veterinary medicine, Lund also sees another shift nationally, and is a bit guarded as he looks to the future. “The trend is corporate,” he says, with a note of dismay. Independent practices are being bought by chains better able to use economies of scale for everything from the best prices on x-ray film to providing medical insurance for staff.

All of the doctors agree, however, that there are advantages to change. New treatment methodologies, pain management techniques and the range of vaccines and drugs available literally give new life to domestic animals. And unheard of not long ago, there are now also highly sophisticated rehabilitation protocols, complete with human-proven therapies (treadmill, anyone?) that can potentially invigorate pets of almost any age and condition.

Dr. Prior’s facility, with its quartet of full-time feline tenants, is a good example of the convergence of science and soul. At one end of the suite are a state-of-the-art digital x-ray monitor and an EKG machine, while down the hall is a purposely homelike room equipped with sofa and fireplace, where animals are helped to sleep for the last time. “We don’t want [the animals] to be scared,” explains Prior. Going the extra step — or mile — is not an aberration for our local vets. Prior frequently takes overnight patients home with him to assure their care. And McDonald recently drove a seriously injured patient to Salt Lake City for an MRI himself.

Luckily, not all of the cases Park City vets handle are urgent. Sometimes, what seems serious can be … well … not so. Dr. Prior remembers a dog whose owner was very worried about constant, unexplained bleeding all over the rug. During a single visit, Prior was able to diagnose and cure the problem: a red crayon stuck in the dog’s paw.

It takes a big paw to hide a crayon, and Park City is, according to all of the vets, a BIG DOG town. Numbers of small and toy breeds in this mountain town have increased, but they’re a long way from displacing the Lab and the Golden. Though the evidence is anecdotal, it appears that Park City pet owners hardly ever stop at one pet anymore. Multiple cat families are especially prevalent and food sharing can present a problem. Says Barbe, “It’s hard to put a cat on a diet!” Lund has seen his practice change from one in which his typical patient was a horse to one that focuses mostly on household pets. He even remembers a brief fad where people were welcoming hedgehogs as pets. The current exotic pet choice is apparently the flying squirrel-like sugar glider.

Park City also has another unusual constituency: avalanche dogs. Barbe suggests that these rescue workers are distinguished more by their training than by inclination. “In general, he says, “most dogs are underworked. Dogs LOVE to work.” Indeed, a lot of pets in Park City do have jobs (even if, as for many of Main Street’s famous store dogs and cats, their jobs are in retail). Barbe also points to the large number of herding breeds represented locally as an inheritance from the ranching life that still prevails in Park City’s environs.

At home, Dr. Barbe — like most local vets — has the usual assortment of dogs, cats and horses, plus a turkey (“Not a lot of interaction but, once a week, a really good omelet.”) His partner, Dr. Tyler Stiens, also owns a feathered friend — a goshawk. Stiens is one of a relative handful of licensed falconists in Utah, and he’s married to one of the others. Together the couple follows a 2,000-year-old tradition of falconry that he refers to as “probably the oldest team sport in the world.”

Sports are important to outdoor-oriented Parkites, and that enthusiasm is reflected in some of the emergencies local vets handle. The natural world can be a playground for pets, or it can harbor dangers such as moose and porcupines. All of the clinics log a fair amount of time removing porcupine quills from local canines. Cats that are allowed outdoors also encounter wildlife hazards, including fox and coyote. Then there are the sports injuries. Unprompted, each of our local veterinarians mentioned the relatively large number of leg cuts they see in dogs that get ahead of — or behind — their owners’ backcountry skis.

In Park City, the term “companion animal” is not an overstatement. That animal-human connection finds many expressions. Keith Lund tries not to romanticize it, but he does think that the human/animal bond is very real, and powerful. Not all of his canine encounters include an emotional element, but Lund believes that most dogs in need “know you’re trying to help them. They’re not stupid. Somehow, even just coming up to you on the street, they sense you’re a healer.”

Writer Kate Doordan lives in Park City, where she enjoys the pet-friendly environment.