Oceanside Veterinary Hospital staff pose for a photo following their first official day in the new facility on 38th Street in Seaview.

SEAVIEW, Wash. — Bigger, better, cleaner and more comfortable.

On Monday, the Oceanside Veterinary Hospital officially opened on 38th Street, replacing an antiquated clinic across the street that served the community since the 1970s.

The new building is more than 5,000 square feet and roughly 40% bigger than their old building, which will now primarily be used for storage, according to owners Ben and Kelly Spall.

“Our other building was about 3,200 square feet. It only had two exam rooms and the new one has five,” Ben Spall said.

“We outgrew it and it was outdated.”

The new facility features five exam rooms with dedicated spaces for dental operations, general surgeries and euthanasia services.

The hospital is stocked with new equipment seldom seen in rural clinics, including a personal intensive care unit, mobile dental delivery system and a gas instrument sterilizer.

“We have a whole unit just for dental cleanings and extractions,” Kelly Spall said.

The new intensive care unit can help stabilize breathing for pets in distress.

“It’s an oxygen kennel, which we didn’t have before,” Ben Spall said. “If a dog is in distress or having trouble breathing after surgery, we can have them under 24-hour oxygen.”

The new equipment will allow the staff to tackle new surgeries and treatments.

“It will allow us to do more airway surgery, which we’ve always been a little hesitant to do before we had this,” Kelly Spall said.

Separate areas for boarding and bathing — for pets and staff— along with expanded office space are anticipated to make the hospital environment more comfortable, safer and sanitary.

A custom HVAC unit, one set for each room, will regulate the temperature while continuously providing clean, fresh air instead of the “stuffy” conditions that plagued the former clinic, once a former grocery store.

“We didn’t have a good air system in the other place. We wanted to have a good HVAC unit to regulate the ventilation and temperature. With this building, new air will come in every 15 minutes. It’s important that everyone is comfortable. Here it’s a constant temperature now,” Ben Spall said.

“The building is top notch. The goal was to build not only the nicest building for this area, but for the Pacific Northwest, and I think we’ve achieved that.”

The Spalls look to continue a peninsula pet-care tradition that started with the Goulters, then Ed Ketel and Catherine Lindblad.

The Spalls purchased Oceanside Animal Clinic from Ketel in 2017.

The Spalls credit the Ketels and the Goulters for providing the foundation for peninsula pet care, a tradition they plan to continue in the years to come in their new building.

“It wasn’t just our hard work, it was the Ketels and the Goulters,” Kelly Spall said. “This has been a generational process.”

As pet owners choose to invest more in their pets, pet insurance has become a more popular way to help mitigate the growing costs for care. Pet owners can expect to pay roughly $20 to $80 per month, depending on the plan.

“Getting it from the time they’re a puppy is great, especially if it’s a dog that’s prone to more health issues,” Kelly Spall said.

While the primary customer base is on the peninsula, staff have increasingly seen customers traveling further distances for their services, particularly orthopedic surgery.

“We have a lot of people coming from Portland and Seattle and all up the coast coming for surgeries,” Kelly Spall said.

“We get a big draw because we do surgery, particularly orthopedic surgery. Not a lot of vet clinics in the area offer that, so we pull from a large distance,” Ben Spall added.

The hospital has five veterinarians on staff, but will continue to expand to meet the area’s growing need.

“The goal is to attract the best staff possible, and we’ve got to be competitive with other places. We’re trying to stay competitive by having nice facilities, which will help us attract quality vets,” Ben Spall said.

“The space we’re in is going to reflect the work that we’re doing,” Kelly Spall said.