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Companion Care Animal Hospital celebrates first anniversary Story and photos
by Larry Austin
Dr. Martin Downey started Companion Care Animal Hospital the week of Thanksgiving of 2005. He now can give thanks for a successful first year in business in the Town of Wheatfield. He called his first year of business “excellent. It was beyond our expectations. The client growth has been huge.” Most of his clients, those of the human variety, come from Wheatfield and Niagara Falls to his hospital at 2558 Niagara Falls Blvd. Downey already has 1,174 clients, but 1,730 patients because some people have multiple pets. “Our smallest patient is a mouse,” he said, “and our largest is named Odin,” a 174-pound Great Dane. Downey said he saved the mouse, who had trouble breathing due to a corn kernel stuck in the back of his mouth. “He bit off more than he could chew, so to speak.” Downey’s slogan is: “Your other family doctor.” Though Dr. Downey can’t talk to the animals, if he could they would probably tell him the motto is an apt description. “And that’s exactly what it is,” Downey said. “Our schooling’s the same as a human physician. The same number of years as a medical doctor.” Downey is an orthopedist, dentist, pharmacist, surgeon, radiologist and anesthesiologist to name a few of his specialties. Downey performs all the jobs of a regular doctor, and even adds photographer to his duties. He adds pictures of pets to a patient’s medical chart.
Clients can see everything for themselves, as windows built into the walls allow owners to watch grooming or a surgical procedure performed on their pet. Downey welcomes having owners watch a surgical procedure through the glass from just four feet away. It gives the owners an education into veterinary medicine, he said. “One thing I wanted to make sure is that the hospital has windows for all these things,” Downey said. “For the grooming, I wanted people to see their dogs getting groomed, if they care to, so they know how we handle the dog and how the dog behaves. I built a window for surgery because I’m all for having people educated. They’ll be able to watch their pets when they’re under my care.” Day Care Planned Downey plans to fence in the backyard of the property to offer doggy day care in the spring. Owners will be able to drop off their pet on their way to work in the morning. “They’re enclosed safe and sound and they can just play all day long with other dogs, and owners can pick up the dogs at the end of the day,” Downey said. The dogs will have a great time and will go home happy and exhausted, he noted. “They do a lot of barking if they’re always chained up,” Downey noted. |
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