Happy Holidays to our wonderful clients and patients! In this season of
reflection Dr. Hubert and I wanted to share a little about ourselves and
communicate our gratitude for the community and people of Greeley where
we both live and work.
Dr.
Hubert and I are your (not so typical anymore) Mom and Pop business
owners. Just like in the movies we took a curvy twisted road to get
where we are and it has not been without its share of bumps. But we have
come to appreciate that we would not be who we are without the steps we
have taken. We moved to the Greeley area in 1999 where I worked as an
Associate Doctor at the original West Ridge Animal Hospital location
with Dr. Emmett. We chose this area for its small town feel, desirable
location to Colorado State Veterinary School (where Dr. Hubert was
finishing her degree), and sense of community.
I
truly believe we found a real gem when I accepted the position at West
Ridge Animal Hospital. This is a hospital that was founded in 1968,
accredited through the American Animal Hospital Association in 1980,
and was staffed by people from the community who loved and cherished
every person and pet that walked through our doors. While we have grown
and now employ dozens of dedicated employees from throughout northern
Colorado, we still implore them to remember our community feel. I always
say you need to be polite in traffic and at the store, since you are
dealing with a Client, future Client, or a member of their family.
It
was with a giant leap of faith and plenty of encouragement from staff,
family, friends, and yes, even Clients that Dr. Hubert and I purchased
West Ridge Animal Hospital December 5th, 2001. The future Dr. Hubert
worked through veterinary school while we grew with the hospital. With
the desire to provide every service our Client's pets could need
(ambitious but it makes us happy) our Client family continued to grow.
We out grew the building on 28th street, that now houses our Sirius Fun
Doggy Day Care, and knew we needed to expand our facility to continue
to offer new healing services to the animals. We were fortunate enough
to strike a deal with Dr. Hemerson to move into the beautiful building
he and his son had built. With our team, horse trailers, a U-haul, and a
New Year's blizzard we moved our entire hospital over New Year's
weekend in January 2007.
Over the last several years Dr. Hubert and I have come to value the
traits that drew us to this community even more. With the addition of
our 2 precious children we have become even more rooted and appreciative
of the "village" that we have chosen. The small town feel has remained
even as Greeley has grown. We recognize most of our clients by name
and love seeing our patients happy, healthy, and out enjoying life with
their people. To our kids' chagrin, we always see Clients wherever we
go. We live in a town where we can let our children play outside, where
they know people everywhere we go. A place where we can have a flock
of chickens and horses that we adore. Our house is filled with noises
from the menagerie of animals that veterinarians always seem to
collect; our senior dog Madeline, our two kitties Speed Fast and Anika
(that is what you get when a 3 year old names cats), and our squawking
parrots who call the children's and late dogs names.
The sense
of community that we first felt in Greeley continues to grow within the
town and business that we love and work at every day. We have friends
that we can call on (both two legged, four legged, and feathered), we
get to be a part of local charity events like Bark for Life and the
Weld County Food Drive, we get to assist with the Weld County Animal
Response Team (helping in times of disaster or crisis), we LOVE
building and riding in the floats for the Greeley Stampede, and we
truly cherish all the people and pets that walk through our doors and
that we see around town.
West Ridge Animal Hospital continues to
be for us a way to engage with the community, to be a part of
hundreds of different families, and to bring the best veterinary
medicine and care we can to Weld County. Thank you for supporting us as
we continue to learn and grow. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Happy Holidays,
Dr. Combs, Dr. Hubert, and Family.
Senior Pets bring joy into the lives of their families. They are faithful companions who have often memorized the routines of our lives, share companionship, and have demonstrated time and time again why we love them best. As our pet's age many questions and concerns can arise as changes in what was once normal for them becomes abnormal. Older pet's may have changes in diet, behavior, and health. It's often difficult to know what a "normal" change is and what should be addressed by your pet's veterinarian. 
