Village Veterinary

Story by Margi Gomez

A bloodhound puppy’s proud owners drop in with a quick question. A brand new baby goat is getting weighed and measured. A senior Border collie is brought in for the acupuncture treatment that hopefully will ease his hip pain. A young chocolate Labrador is in for a “well doggie” checkup. It’s all in a day’s work for the team at the new Village Veterinary on Howard Street in Mendocino.

Mendocino veterinarian Karen Novak was ten years old when her family got their first dog. “Like every ten-year-old kid with a new dog, I thought then about what it might be like to be a vet, but didn’t really give it a lot of thought after that.” From then, the young girl grew up in Tarzana, California around dogs, mostly Labs. “Dad was a bird hunter. We kept retrievers as working dogs, but they were also family pets.”

Novak attended college at Humboldt State University, majoring in Marine Science. After college she worked for California’s Department of Fish & Game in Fort Bragg throughout the late seventies and early eighties, on abalone, albacore, and rockfish projects.

As the work was largely seasonal, Novak decided to pursue a license in Medical Technology and was accepted into a program at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where she continued to work after graduating from the program.

Novak worked as a medical technologist in a variety of settings, but never really felt completely fulfilled by the work.

“One day I read about a veterinary program offered at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute,” she remembers. “I realized that veterinary medicine would be a way for me to combine my interest in fish and marine mammals. I started looking into different schools, and found the Veterinary School at the University of Wisconsin was the best fit.” While in veterinary school, Novak studied not only the traditional patients like dogs, cats, and farm animals, but was able to complete two internships at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and also did stints at Sea World in San Diego, Marine World/Africa USA, the Marine Mammal Center, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium. “The first time I drew blood on a killer whale was incredible, certainly an experience I’ll never forget.”

After graduating, Novak was involved with creating a veterinary clinic at the Humane Society in Madison. “It was very satisfying work, but after my first daughter was born, I missed my family back in California,” she explains. “I was familiar with the northern California area from having gone to college at Humboldt State and from my work at Fish & Game. When a job at a local veterinary practice came up, I went for it.”

Novak had been practicing veterinary medicine in the area for fifteen years when she got the opportunity to open her own practice in Mendocino, in a property owned by Harvest Market owner Tom Honer. “I knew it was a unique, maybe a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I felt that it would be a real benefit to the community, and it seemed like good timing.” Village Veterinary, which is behind the store, Harvest at Mendosa’s, on Howard Street in Mendocino, opened up quietly in mid-December, 2009, and held their Grand Opening Celebration on January 31 of this year.

Currently eighty percent of Village Veterinary’s practice deals with domestic animals, mostly dogs and cats. They also care for rabbits and what Karen calls “pocket pets.” The other twenty percent deals with poultry, goats, sheep, llamas and alpacas, and occasionally fish, such as koi.

The clinic is a holistic practice offering the standard Western approach to veterinary medicine, but also incorporates the use of acupuncture, Chinese and Western herbs, and homeo-pathy. “After practicing traditional Western medicine for a number of years, I found I was often frustrated with the lack of options for patients such as the older arthritic dog who could not tolerate the anti-inflammatory drugs often prescribed for arthritis,” relates Novak. “I started to investigate medical alternatives, and ten years later complementary medicine, including homeopathy, nutrition, and supplements, has become an integral part of how I practice. Having both complementary medicine along with conventional medicine to draw from allows me to treat each individual patient as best I can.”

Karen Novak met Village Veterinary associate Barbara Fishelson, another veterinarian who specializes in homeopathy, three years ago. “We realized that we both wanted to expand our practice beyond Western medicine,” Fishelson says.

Fishelson worked as a registered nurse before getting her veterinary medicine degree at U.C. Davis, later studying at the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy. She moved from San Francisco to Mendocino four years ago, and is delighted to be part of the team at Village Veterinary. “I felt that here I’m finally able to do the kind of work I really want to do.” Fishelson explains that homeopathy is based on the “Law of Similars,” which follows the maxim that “like cures like.” She continues, “With homeopathy it feels like the focus is on true healing rather than just making the symptoms go away.”

Receptionist Jennifer Thompson is the face of Village Veterinary, and veterinary technicians Cathy Riehm and Nancy Mokry keep everything flowing in the examination rooms. Village Veterinary’s practice also includes high school student Iris Perry, interning there as part of her high school curriculum.

Tech Cathy Riehm introduces me to the clinic cat, Astro, who seems in a social mood despite a dislocated hock. Riehm shows me around the facility, with its cheerful examination rooms and pharmaceutical area. Behind the building, she opens a rustic-looking wooden door in the small building the team refers to as “The Barn.” Riehm shows me into a state-of-the-art surgery, radiology, and X-ray clinic. “We have the only digital X-ray machine on the north coast!” Riehm explains with pride.

A sad-eyed German shepherd looks up quietly from behind a small gated alcove. Riehm explains that the dog had an unhappy fall while walking on the headlands, an incident that ended in a broken leg.

“It happens more than you think,” Karen Novak tells me later. “Sometimes people have the mistaken notion that dogs know their way around in these unusual environments, just because they’re out in nature. Also, the dogs are just really excited, and they just don’t see where they’re going.”

Speaking of her own menagerie, Novak laughs. “They kind of come in twos. Right now at home we have two dogs, two cats, two rabbits, fifteen chickens, five llamas, a horse, and a goose.” This in addition to her two daughters!

Novak says she has been involved with llamas for a number of years. “Thirteen years ago a neighbor showed up with my first llama. “He said, ‘You’ve wanted to learn about llamas. Now you’ll have to!’ ”

Part of Karen’s practice includes house calls for larger animals, including quite a few llamas. As a sunny morning changes quickly into a rainy noon, Novak sets out for the Stanford Inn, where a gaggle of llamas is waiting for their spring round of vaccinations. They are easily led into a stanchion, and as Jerry Thomas of Redwoods in the Meadow farm expertly trims their hooves, Novak makes short work of the needed injections.

“I really enjoy the llamas,” Novak tells me. “At home they keep the field down, and they’re a lot of fun. They have a lot of personality.” Novak also has a longtime interest in all “the fiber animals,” which began with her other passionate interest, weaving. “I was a dedicated weaver for decades.” Novak explains. Now, however, she has had to pack her loom away for the time being, as her veterinary practice and home life currently fill all her time.

But, says Novak, she has no regrets. “I love everything about the field of veterinary medicine. It’s so interesting dealing with multiple species. Of course helping to ease the pain for the animals is very satisfying.” She also is happy with having her own practice. “I love the people I work with. I have more freedom to practice the way I want to and to spend as much time with patients as I feel is needed. I want to be able to accommodate both the animal and the owner.”

Most importantly, Novak stresses, “It’s a lot of fun. I think my favorite thing is being able to be part of the bond between the animals and the owners.”

Get acquainted with the Village Veterinary at 10490 Howard Street in Mendocino, behind Harvest at Mendosa’s. To make an appointment, call 937-0300.