Brad Pope, Sheila Kilponen co-owners

Bayshore Animal Hospital

325 Marlin Drive, Warrenton

Bayshore Animal Hospital, much more than an average veterinary clinic, is part of the approximately 14 percent of animal hospitals that have been certified by the American Animal Hospital Association. The hospital provides such advanced procedures as body and dental x-rays, ultrasound, therapeutic and surgical laser treatments anesthesia and a full in-house lab. Call 503-861-1621 or visit www.bayshore animalcare.com. The office is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

What do you do?

Brad: Were small animal veterinarians. We work on dogs, cats for the most part, then quite a few what we call pocket pets: ferrets, rabbits and gerbils, guinea pigs, rats (and some wildlife). We dont do large animals per se farm animals. We dont do reptiles either, really. But we have some dogs. We have some dogs that weigh more than some goats and sheep, too. We get 250-pound dogs sometimes. It used to be that veterinarians did kind of everything, but its become a much more specialized profession now. Now there are practices that just specialize in cats, that just specialize in birds not in our area, but in the metropolitan areas.

Sheila: We dont do birds.

How did you get started doing this?

Sheila: I grew up on a farm over in Naselle (Wash.) and basically knew from a really young age, growing up on a farm, that thats what I wanted to do. I graduated high school over in Naselle and went on to Washington State University, got into the honors program over there, did a fast-track, accelerated approach to get my bachelors and then did my four-year DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) degree. My aunt actually introduced me to Dr. Pope. Ive pretty much been with the practice since 2002.

Brad: Ive wanted to be a veterinarian since I was in probably the third grade. I also grew up on a small farm. The veterinarian we used also went to our church, and it just kind of got arranged that I would get to go out with him on farm calls. Its kind of just always what I wanted to do. Im originally from Longmont (Colo.), which is only about 30 minutes from Fort Collins (Colo.), which is where Colorado State University is. I went to vet school there. I graduated in 1980, so Ive been doing this 33 years. This is our 25th anniversary this month. I bought the practice from Dr. Victor Oliver in 1988.

What is the volume of your business?

Brad: Were really kind of a low-volume, high-quality practice. We are by appointment only, because we limit the time, make sure we have enough time for each client, each patient. We dont try to run a lot of animals through, although we do have emergencies that come in and kind of throw that schedule off. As far as the number of people we see, it really fluctuates. There are times when I tell people the animals are all healthy today; theres not much we need to do. Other times, especially the last few months, its been pretty steady, pretty busy. We probably see 20 to 30 animals a day. Theres a lot of things that the doctors dont see, too. A lot of them come in to see our technicians.

Does the economy affect your business?

Brad: I would say that just from a business standpoint, weve been a little bit flat for the past couple of years. Were growing again now. For the most part, people have still had to bring their animals in if they have issues and problems.

Edward Stratton