It's not likely you'll need seating for 30,000 people in your new veterinary hospital, at least. 

Crunching numbers have you screaming obscenities at your calculator? Yeah, we get it. That's why we put together this step-by-step method for estimating building costs for a new freestanding veterinary practice. (Or skip to the bottom of this article to calculate costs for a leasehold.)

Make a list of every room that you need with the exception of the treatment area

Assign sizes to each of the rooms on your list. Remember, you're ballparking here. So if you're off a foot or two, it's not the end of the world. Just plow forward. To get you started, you could put your exam rooms on the list at 10 feet by 10 feet (100 square feet) to work with some round numbers.	

Make a list of every treatment and induction station that you need.

Assign each treatment station a size of 10 feet by 12 feet, or 120 square feet.	

Add the square footages of all the rooms and treatment stations. Then multiply the entire list by 1.5 to get total estimated square footage. (Just as a point of comparison, the average size of winners in the 2019 dvm360 Hospital Design Competition was about 7,000 and the smallest was 2,100 square feet.) 

Note: This factor (1.5) is greater than an architect would use to make the same calculation, but you may not know exactly how big a room really needs to be-and people tend to underestimate. It's better to be on the higher end for your early estimates.

Now that you have a good guess at square footage for your project, multiply that number by a sample cost per square foot to estimate the construction costs of the project. Keep in mind, the cost per square foot can really vary depending on your region, the materials you pick, your labor costs and so on. So you'll really need to talk with an architect to refine your budget. But at this stage, let's use $300 per square foot.	

Bad news: You're not done. Beyond construction costs, you'll need to pay financing costs and professional fees; buy equipment and furnishings; and set aside some funds for contingencies. A rough rule of thumb is that these costs will run about 35 percent of the construction costs. So multiply your total construction costs by 1.35 and you'll have your ballpark project costs.

Don't worry, we didn't forget you key players going the route of the leasehold. Here's your step-by-step process.

Follow steps 1 - 5 above to determine the estimated square footage of your new practice space. 

Leaseholds cost less per square foot. So multiply your total square feet by $140 per square foot to get an estimated build-out cost.

Add 35 percent to cover additional costs like financing, equipment and furnishings, and other non-construction costs.

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Use this equation to estimate general costs for your new building or leasehold.

Up to bat: Lets talk ballpark estimates for your new veterinary hospital

Even though it can be frustrating to deal with the misinformation and strange nutritional questions veterinary clients bring to your exam room, simply declaring war on raw or homemade diets is not the answer, says Donna Raditic, DVM, DACVN, CVA. In a recent 

 lecture, Dr. Raditic dove deep into the raw food and homemade diet dilemmas we practitioners face daily with clients. The consensus? There 

 no perfect diet. The solution? Find common ground with clients and work together. 

“It's better to approach this on an educated basis and try to build trust with clients,” Dr. Raditic says. “Raw and homemade diets are here to stay.”

Benefits, potential missteps and best practices for homemade pet diets:

Clients know exactly what their pet's eating.

Pets won't poop as much (but you may need to warn owners so they don't worry); the majority of the nutrients are being absorbed because homemade diets have higher digestibility.

Some animals with chronic gastrointestinal issues or multiple chronic disease states do better on homemade diets.  

Therapeutic food-allergy diets use a novel protein or novel carbohydrate as therapy, and homemade diets can do the same.

Preparing and serving a homemade diet makes some pet owners happy they can help their pet in this way.		

Homemade diets can be unbalanced and even harmful if formulated incorrectly.They can cost more.

Clients may change a formulation without consulting an expert (for example, replacing olive oil with coconut oil)-a process called “client drift.”

There are no food trials or nutritional AAFCO analysis reports to help guide feeding decisions.	

Have a board-certified veterinary nutritionist formulate recipes or learn how so you can advise your own clients.

Homemade diet instructions should guide the client how to prepare the recipe in batches that can be frozen to save time and money.

Combine diets by making one-half or one-quarter of a pet's calories homemade and the remaining calories from a veterinary therapeutic diet. (And now your client has dry or canned food on hand if they run out of homemade.)

If clients don't want to go all homemade but still want to feed some fresh foods, give them permission to use fruit as treats or to add veggies to usual meals. Provide lists of fresh food options that can be safely added to usual diets. Clients feeding a homemade diet should have routine physical examinations with full blood and urine testing every six months. Use these visits to review the homemade diet and to prevent client drift.

You can send out your client's homemade diet for nutritional analysis by an independent lab.

Here are some guidelines to help you help your clients who want to go homemade with their pets' diets.

It's important to understand where your clients are coming from in their desire to feed homemade food to their pets. Dr. Raditic has talked to lots of clients who are:

Worried about processed foods being toxic because of recent pet food recalls involving melamine, pentobarbital and vitamin D. (Sometimes it helps to explain that human food gets recalled all the time.)

Frustrated by pet food labels that are difficult to understand and don't contain as much information as human food labels. A pet food label lists ingredients according to weight-this gives no information about how nutritious the food is, the quality of ingredients used or how they've been handled or processed.

Treating their pets like children. These clients want to be more in control and extend their own attitudes about nutrition to their animals-whether that's an interest in eating organic, vegetarian or vegan.

Concerned that pet foods aren't nutritious or healthy-society and the media are telling everyone to avoid processed, packaged products and eat more whole foods and fresh ingredients.

Using homemade diets when a pet has a medical condition and a therapeutic diet isn't ideal or the pet won't eat the desired diet.

 Some clients need to be supported because they're concerned-and rightfully so. Don't be dismissive or they'll feel that you don't understand them and they can't turn to you for advice. If counseling these clients is not something you can take on, ask them to reach out to a nutritionist through 

Recognize the need for more nutrition information. 

In veterinary school, some of us were taught to familiarize ourselves with pet food labels so we could better advise clients. Nope, says Dr. Raditic: “Don't waste your time. They aren't comprehensive enough. You still may not know what's really in that bag of food. This is why consumer demand for transparency and improved pet food labelling is real!”

To demonstrate how unreliable labels or marketing claims can be, Dr. Raditic shares information on diet-testing studies using ELISA and PCR.1 Over-the-counter (OTC) diets that claimed to contain venison only, for instance, included other meat proteins such as soy, chicken and beef. In another study using PCR, many diets contained meat sources not identified on the label (due to either mislabeling or contamination).

“They don't declare everything on the labels and legally aren't required to,” she says. “Therefore, selecting between OTC diets is very difficult.”

You're better off getting your clients to feed therapeutic veterinary diets or homemade diets, says Dr. Raditic. ELISA testing performed on therapeutic diets showed that they were more reliable. What they said was in the bag was in the bag.

Recognize that these clients want what's best for their pets.

 But they don't always have the knowledge to make it happen. One study showed that 90% of homemade diets on the internet were nutritionally inadequate because they were formulated incorrectly.

 Ideally, homemade diets need to be formulated by someone familiar with the pet and their nutritional needs, which is you, the veterinarian, who then can collaborate with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.

When it comes to raw, start exactly like you did with the homemade food discussion: Remember to ask clients “why?” and find out more. Find common ground, and don't get defensive or judgmental-like the veterinary students who've shadowed Dr. Raditic.

“Students can be so adversarial,” she says. She hears them metaphorically “huffing and puffing,” aghast that a pet owner would feed a raw diet. But take a chill pill, she tells them: Do 

“Have you ever eaten raw cookie dough?” she asked the Fetch dvm360 audience. “Eighty-four percent of veterinary clients feeding raw diets have a college education. They aren't stupid.”

“Eighty-four percent of veterinary clients feeding raw diets have a college education. They aren't stupid.” 

The fact is that there are a number of food companies with Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)-certified raw diets out there. Pet owners gravitate toward them because they look more like real food than kibble.

Dr. Raditic shares some of the possible advantages and disadvantages for raw pet food:

Raw foods may be more digestible and bioavailable due to less processing and often have limited ingredients, which may reduce their antigenicity.

They may result in less stool output, and owners often report a better coat and a healthier overall appearance.

Contamination can be reduced by searing or cooking the outside of meat. Also, pet owners can purchase freeze-dried raw or flash-pasteurized formulations.

Some raw diets have an AAFCO-like “statement,” but this is 

 the same as an official AAFCO statement and can be misleading.

Some commercial raw diets have excess fat content, so read the label because, as you know, pets eating too much fat are at risk of weight gain or gastrointestinal upset.

The calcium-to-phosphorus ratio can be high or even off, so caution against raw diets for dogs with orthopedic diseases or growing animals (you're looking for 1:1 or 1.4:1 calcium to phosphorus).

Inevitably, you're going to face that veterinary client whose dog with a food allergy or chronic gastrointestinal problem switched from processed food to raw food and saw a “miracle” change. This could simply be a result of increased nutrient bioavailability and reduced antigenicity, and this probably could've been achieved with homemade as well.

Recommend that your clients read what experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have to say on the topic, especially with regard to 

Hilal Dogan, BVSc, CCTP, practices medicine in Denver, Colorado. She started 

 as a senior veterinary student at Massey University in New Zealand.

Raditic DM, Remillard RL, Tater KC. ELISA testing for common food antigens in four dry dog foods used in dietary elimination trials. 

Pagani E, Soto Del Rio MLD, Dalmasso A, et al. Cross-contamination in canine and feline dietetic limited-antigen wet diets. 

Stockman J, Fascetti AJ, Kass PH, et al. Evaluation of recipes of home-prepared maintenance 424 diets for dogs. 

You may not want to hear it, but clients interest in unconventional diets isnt going away anytime soon. This veterinary nutritionist says its time to listen to their reasons and work with themnot shut them down.

Clients feeding homemade or raw? Drop the judgment

You're in the middle of a busy day of appointments at your veterinary hospital when you hear the frantic voice of your receptionist paging overhead: “Stat to the lobby! Stat to the lobby!”

You run out to find Mr. Smith, one of your most valued clients, with tears running down his face, holding his seizing teacup Yorkie, Minky, in his arms.

“How long has she been like this, Mr. Smith?” you ask as your technician whisks the seizing dog away to the treatment room.

“About 20 minutes. I tried to get here as fast as I could!” Mr. Smith cries.

“Don't worry, we'll get her stabilized as best as we can,” you reply as you race to the treatment area.

Intravenous catheter placed, you find yourself giving multiple doses of diazepam, then phenobarbital, to no avail. You give a bolus of propofol that finally stops the seizure long enough for you to talk with the client.

“Mr. Smith, what was Minky doing today? Is there anything she could have gotten into?”

Mr. Smith reaches into his pocket and pulls out a chewed tube of topical 5% 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) cream and replies, “Well, I did see that she was chewing on this earlier today, but other than that she was fine. I can't think of anything else that was different today. Please help her! She's all I've got!”

As soon as you see the tube of 5-FU cream, your heart sinks. You realize your chances of being able to help Minky and Mr. Smith today are dismal.

 is an antimetabolite chemotherapy agent available in both intravenous and topical formulations for various cancers and precancerous conditions in human medicine. 5-FU acts by binding to and inhibiting thymidylate synthase, which is normally responsible for converting deoxyuridine nucleotides to thymidine nucleotides. The inhibition of thymidylate synthase by 5-FU prevents this conversion, leading to DNA strand breaks and the eventual death of rapidly dividing cells.

5-FU is commonly used in human medicine to treat dermatological conditions such as epidermal neoplasms (e.g. superficial basal and squamous cell carcinomas), actinic keratosis and vitiligo.2 Use of topical 5-FU in veterinary medicine is limited, primarily due to its toxicity in both dogs and cats, but rare use has been reported for the treatment of ocular neoplasms in dogs and, anecdotally, for actinic keratosis in cats.

 Exposure of dogs and cats to topical 5-FU is usually accidental, and the outcome of such exposure is often death.

Ingestion of topical 5-FU is likely to be fatal in both dogs and cats. In dogs, signs of toxicity can start within 30 minutes of ingestion, with rapid progression to seizures and death within six hours

 The most common clinical signs following ingestion in dogs include vomiting, tremors, ataxia and seizures.

There are several possible mechanisms of neurotoxicity secondary to the ingestion of 5-FU and buildup of its metabolites. Fluoroacetic acid, a metabolite of 5-FU, inhibits aconitase, an important enzyme involved in the conversion of citrate to isocitrate in the citric acid cycle.

 This causes inhibition of the citric acid cycle and thus inhibition of oxaloacetate production. Without oxaloacetate, aspartate cannot be produced either, leading to failure of the urea cycle with consequent toxic hyperammonemia.

In addition, 5-FU can prevent the conversion of thiamine to its active form of thiamine phosphate.

 Lack of thiamine phosphate prevents conversion of α-ketoglutarate to succinyl-coenzyme A in the citric acid cycle, again inhibiting production of oxaloacetate and ultimately causing failure of the urea cycle.

Shutdown of the citric acid cycle may also further inhibit the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) shunt, which produces GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, contributing to the development of seizures.

 Histological examinations of the brains of dogs experimentally administered fluoroacetic acid have revealed leukoencephalopathy in the cerebrum due to intramyelin vacuole formation.

Accidental ingestion of 5-FU in pets can occur in many ways. Most commonly, pets chew and puncture the tube containing 5-FU and ingest the medication (

). Additional means of exposure include licking an owner who has applied the product on themselves as directed by their physician or pharmacist and self-grooming after inappropriate topical application of 5-FU to a pet.5-7 Consumption of more than 43 mg/kg is uniformly fatal in dogs,

 but fatalities may occur at doses as low as 2.5 mg/kg.8 In a small patient like Minky, accidental ingestion of just 2 to 3 g of 5% 5-FU cream can be fatal.

Figure 1. A tube of the commonly prescribed topical 5% 5-FU cream used for many human dermatological conditions. Note the teeth marks and puncture in the tube causing the cream to ooze out from a dog chewing on the tube. The cream can be fatal upon accidental ingestion by dogs and cats. (Image courtesy of Rachel Song, VMD, MS, DACVIM (Neurology).)

There is no defined effective treatment for 5-FU toxicosis in dogs and cats except palliative therapy aimed at ameliorating clinical signs. If ingestion is detected early, a veterinarian can attempt to induce emesis and then give activated charcoal orally to limit gastrointestinal absorption. Despite aggressive attempts to limit the amount of 5-FU absorbed, patients may still develop significant gastrointestinal signs, including vomiting and diarrhea, due to 5-FU's pronounced activity on rapidly dividing cell lines, such as the epithelial cells of the intestinal crypts.

Unfortunately, intractable seizures that are unresponsive to typical anticonvulsant therapy occur frequently with ingestion of 5-FU. General anesthesia may be necessary to control seizures, and the patient may require mechanical ventilation and management of elevated intracranial pressure.

 Treatments directed at reducing hyperammonemia (such as oral or rectal administration of lactulose) and thiamine supplementation may be helpful.

Uridine triacetate can act as a direct antidote for human patients with 5-FU toxicosis, as uridine competitively inhibits cell damage and cell death caused by fluorouracil.

However, this drug has not been used successfully in dogs and cats with 5-FU toxicosis and is unlikely to be administered quickly enough in veterinary patients to be effective since death can occur within hours of accidental ingestion.

Despite how frequently topical 5-FU is prescribed to and used in human patients, it's rare for prescribing doctors and pharmacists to provide information about its severe toxic effects in dogs and cats.

 It's up to veterinarians to be well-versed in the drug's toxic effects. It is our responsibility to educate pet owners as well as physicians, pharmacists and even the pharmaceutical companies that produce 5-FU to help prevent further tragic deaths in our beloved dogs and cats.

With approximately 38% of American households owning dogs-totaling a population of 76.8 million-it's obvious that there's a substantial risk of dogs being exposed to 5-FU.

It's interesting to note that geographical differences may exist in human use of topical 5-FU, with prescriptions more frequently given in sunny states such as Florida, given the higher rates of certain dermatological conditions in those states. Furthermore, it's been suggested that higher rates of 5-FU toxicosis in dogs and cats may also occur in those same sunny states.

As the large population of baby boomers reaches retirement and many retirees move to destinations with year-round warm, sunny environments, we may see an increase in the exposure of pets to 5-FU. This makes the dissemination of information and education on the toxic effects of topical 5-FU even more crucial in these states to prevent unnecessary deaths of dogs and cats. 

As for poor Minky, the teacup Yorkshire terrier patient, you estimate based on the size of the tube and the number of punctured areas on the tube from her teeth that she ingested a minimum of 1g of 5% 5-FU. To calculate the total milligrams of 5-FU consumed, convert the percentage of drug per weight of cream into milligrams drug per grams of cream. A 5% concentration of 5-FU contains 50 mg 5-FU per 1g cream. Therefore Minky potentially ingested a minimum of 25 mg/kg dose of 5-FU.

You immediately call poison control, where they tell you the dose is well within the toxic and fatal dose ranges of 5-FU in dogs. Due to her active seizures and now sedated state, you do not think it's safe to decontaminate her stomach. Rather, you send Mr. Smith and Minky immediately to an emergency hospital for further care. Unfortunately, you receive notification from the hospital that Minky was put to sleep after three days of hospitalization because of intractable seizures and hemorrhagic diarrhea.

Consoling a devastated Mr. Smith is one of the hardest things you've ever had to do. Convincing him that he's not at fault for the loss of his beloved companion is even harder, as he sobs on your shoulder, “If only I had known!”

As you hold back your own tears, you look Mr. Smith in the eye and vow to spread awareness of the dangers of this drug to the rest of the medical and veterinary community.

Menard K, Flexner BK, Glahn A, et al. Concurrent 5-fluorouracil and carboplatin for the treatment of canine carcinomas. 

Moore AY. Clinical applications for topical 5-fluorouracil in the treatment of dermatological disorders. 

Overton TL, Allbaugh RA, Whitley D, et al. A pulse-dose topical 1% 5-fluorouracil treatment regimen in a young dog with corneal squamous cell carcinoma. 

Snavely NR, Snavely DA, Wilson BB. Toxic effects of fluorouracil cream ingestion on dogs and cats. 

Dorman DC, Coddington KA, Richardson RC. 5-Fluorouracil toxicosis in the dog. 

Sayre RS, Barr, JW, Bailey M, et al. Accidental and experimentally induced 5-fluorouracil toxicity in dogs

Friedenberg SG, Brooks AC, Monnig AA, et al. Successful treatment of a dog with massive 5-fluorouracil toxicosis. 

Van-de-Velde M, Simpson J, Bates, N. 5-Fluorouracil ingestion in dogs (abst). 

Yamashita K, Yada H, Ariyoshi T. Neurotoxic effects of α-fluoro-β-alanine (FBAL) and fluoroacetic acid (FA) on dogs. 

Mitani S, Kadowaki S, Komori A, et al. Acute hyperammoniemic encephalopathy after fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy – a case series and review of the literature. 

Cho IJ, Chang HJ, Lee KE, et al. A case of Wernicke's encephalopathy following fluorouracil-based chemotherapy. 

Ison G, Beaver JA, McGuinnWD Jr, et al. FDA approval: uridine triacetate for the treatment of patients following fluorouracil or capecitabine overdose or exhibiting early-onset severe toxicities following administration of these drugs. 

Glass EN, Song RB, Kent M. Letters to the editor: Toxicosis in dogs associated with ointments containing fluorouracil. 

Burns, K. Pet ownership stable, veterinary care variable. 

This topical drug formulation used to treat human skin cancers is often fatal when ingested by dogs and cats. The worst part? Human health professionals arent warning their patients about the dangers to pets.

5-fluorouracil: Lifesaving for one species, deadly for others

Editor's note: Psst! Want this as a client handout? 

“Oh,” your client tells you, with just a dash of superiority, “Bella only eats 

brand because it has real meat and less corn. It's labeled ‘gourmet,' which means it's the best.”

The irony here is that your veterinary client was probably sold that brand through a sponsored ad on Instagram, where 

 scroll through each month. Now, you'll have to educate your clients on nutrition myths, and you can use the very app they're scrolling through every day to make it happen. Here's how.

Hopefully, you and your clinic have an Instagram account set up. It's super easy to do. (Pro tip: Make sure your clinic's website link is in the bio.) Now, post a photo and add a caption. We've got options for you below, but feel free to exercise your creative freedom as you see fit. Let's get to posting! (Click on each image to download a larger version fit for Instagram.)

 Insider tip: Some pet food companies call out other manufacturers for using ingredients such as corn or meat meal, knowing full well that the food's ingredients are not the critical factor. What's important are the nutrients contained in those ingredients. It's also important to know that products with these labels are not required to contain any particular type of ingredient, nor are they held to any higher nutritional standards than other complete and balanced products. Manufacturers, nutritionists and pet owners simply can't predict a food's performance based on its ingredient list because there are too many unknowns: what the exact ingredients are and where they came from, ingredient quality and consistency, how much of each ingredient is present in the food, and the effects of processing. For more information, reach out to us at the link in bio!

 Some manufacturers make unsubstantiated claims about ingredients and manipulate their ingredient lists. For example, some dry food manufacturers tout real chicken, fish or beef as their first ingredient, because the food contains more of this ingredient by weight than any other ingredient. What they don't explain is that “real meat” is mostly water weight, and when the water is removed during the manufacturing process, meat moves way down on the ingredient list. They also neglect to mention that the technical term for “real meat” is mechanically deboned meat, also known as “white slime” (we kid you not). For more information, reach out to us at the link in bio!

 A pet food label trick that some manufacturers play is called ingredient splitting, where they list different carbohydrates separately-corn, rice, barley, wheat and oatmeal, for example-or list different forms of the same carbohydrate, such as ground wheat and wheat flour. That way, the individual carbs appear lower in the ingredient list. Doing so makes it appear as if carbohydrates are not the first ingredient. For more information, reach out to us at the link in bio!

Story time! You can add this photo and text to your Instagram stories to add complexity to posting on the subject. Or you can make it another Instagram post.

 With so many pet food options, choosing the right diet for your pet can be tricky. As your veterinary team, we can help you select the best foods based on knowledge of nutrition and our experience with many pets, ignoring the blizzard of marketing ploys designed to appeal to your emotional needs rather than your pet's nutritional needs.

We can help you choose foods based on your pet's physical condition, lifestyle, any disease issues and other related health factors as well as on your preferences. So, before you reach for food you heard about on a commercial, talk with our veterinary team to get a recommendation tailored to the needs and preferences of both you and your pet.

Not only will this help you connect with your veterinary clients, but it will educate any pet owners who see and grow your brand in the process. Happy posting!

Your veterinary clients are using social sites like Instagram to gain information on how to best help their pets. This is where you and your clinic come in. 

Use Instagram to bust pet food label myths

"I saw my main challenge as keeping our staff intact, so clients would see the same friendly faces each time they visited while things played out in divorce court." 

In 2013, our veterinary practice owner at the time graduated with a nonveterinary advanced degree and was doing a lot of public speaking, our part-time doctor was growing her client base, and we were seeing good year-over-year growth. Then, in the span of a few months in 2015, our practice owner took a job in industry and put the practice up for sale. Then, we found out that the practice owner was getting divorced and that his ex-wife (also a veterinarian) would take over the business until it sold, although she wouldn't be seeing patients.

Clients were worried. Our staff wanted to jump ship. And the new boss had owned an equine practice but had never practiced small-animal medicine or managed a small-animal hospital.

Little did any of us know we'd be in this difficult holding pattern for almost three years.

I saw my main challenge as keeping our staff intact, so clients would see the same friendly faces each time they visited while things played out in divorce court. I really didn't have to offer any incentives. I also assured the team that I was sticking things out with them and that they would be the first to know if I felt things weren't looking good for the future.

We have an “open book” policy here, so every team member knows the financial status of our hospital at all times. We have weekly meetings so that we can vote on changes in protocols and air any concerns we have.

I also lead my team with empathy. I know that if something's going on with them personally, they aren't doing their best at work. Self-care and family come first, because you can really burn out in this field. It's extremely important to take time for yourself, so I encourage team members to take a longer lunch or a day off if I see they need it.

During this time, we reaccredited with AAHA. I don't know how other practices prepare for an inspection, but I'm a big “plan ahead” person. Months before, I printed a list and noted all the areas still good from the last inspection.

I then assigned the action areas that needed attention to different team members and checked in at our weekly meetings to make sure we were hitting the marks.

The week before, each person reported on their assigned area and shared any changes or updates they made to help us get an even better score than before.

We earned the rare compliment from the inspector, who said we were one of the easiest clinics she'd ever scored.

My second-hardest task was helping the ex-wife define her role as a would-be nonpracticing practice owner while she worked to acquire the practice in the divorce settlement. I helped the new owner see that we should stop making rapid changes so that the staff could ease into new ownership. We both worked to keep the drama out of the clinic and focused on providing healthcare in our loving, upscale environment.

These are all the reasons I think our staff stuck around. The whole staff also truly believes that we practice some of the best veterinary medicine around and didn't want to see Southpark perish. When everyone buys into the mission statement, you're a strong force.

Southpark happily survived three years of being for sale (including an offer from a competitor who wanted to fold our practice into his) and being the object of a legal tug-of-war.

As of this February, Southpark is solely owned by Dr. Jennifer Mathews, and we were all able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Shannon Newton is office manager at Southpark Veterinary Hospital in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She is a finalist in the 

2018 dvm360/VHMA Practice Manager of the Year

Our veterinary hospital was caught in a practice-owner divorce. We weathered that storm by remembering our mission, showing sensitivity to each other and doing good work.

Vetted August 2019

Up to bat: Lets talk ballpark estimates for your new veterinary hospital

Clients feeding homemade or raw? Drop the judgment

5-fluorouracil: Lifesaving for one species, deadly for others

Use Instagram to bust pet food label myths

Living through divorce, practice sale

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