It’s official! Valley Veterinary Hospital is celebrating 19 years of caring for animals and sharing our knowledge and experience with their devoted owners.
Our first patient arrived February 27, 1996. Dr. Lindsay Shreiber started Valley Veterinary with the mission of making a positive difference in the lives of his patients and clients. His practice has been to provide veterinary medicine with Care, Commitment and Compassion. Drs. Shreiber, Seelaus, McCartin and Valley Vet’s staff is dedicated to carrying out this mission every day.
“We are thankful and grateful to our clients, patients, staff, and our community for the opportunity to serve them and are looking forward to being able to care for many more veterinary patients as we enter our 20th year,” says Dr. Shreiber. “Not only has it been our privilege to see multiple generations of pets in households, but we are now seeing the ever progressing cycle of grown children becoming adults and forming household themselves and bringing their pets to us!”
We are proud to be the family veterinary practice of choice for our community. In 19 years we have celebrated new arrivals of puppies and kittens, mended broken bones, tended to senior patients, diagnosed both serious illness and common ailments.
Each case is special, because the health and wellbeing of our patients is our mission.
“The best part of having a veterinarian who knows your family … they take it as their personal responsibility to care for my dog and making sure she gets the best life possible,” says Kristin DePolo, Chester County, Pa.
Andi Winnemore, professional pet sitter, says Dr. Shreiber gives a wide range of care options. “He’s informative and he really takes the time to listen and come up with a solution,” she says.
Today we recall our very first case, which illustrates the peculiarities of veterinary medicine and the diagnostic challenges we often face. In January of 1996, three feet of snow covered the ground and snow storms continued weekly into April.
Our first patient was a collie coming in for a skin condition. Carrie, a 6-year-old female collie, stopped dead in her tracks when she entered our lobby. There were no ‘veterinary smells’ or other hints to inform where she was, only her canine intuition: Glass doors and laminate floor… it must be “the Vet!”
Carrie promptly “christened” the lobby with an unexpected potty break. We were officially a veterinary office. Dr. Shreiber was able to reassure Carrie and her owner that she would be well taken care of here. An examination showed her skin condition was chronic, but with fresh, more recent lesions. Despite the wintertime snow, it was determined that she had fleas. The culprit? Her favorite napping spots. The over-wintering fleas, despite the lack of warm temperatures, had thrived in was Carrie’s favorite indoor locations. They had become infested over the summertime, and her dog house which was infiltrated and infested with fleas, flea eggs, and larvae!
Carrie was treated with antibiotics, analgesics and anti- inflammatory medication for her painful skin eruptions, and put on an external anti-flea medication to kill the fleas on her. Dr. Shreiber also developed a plan for environmental flea control for the family, and further educated them about flea and external parasite control for the ongoing future. Sadly, Carrie would be 25 years old now, and passed away many years ago. But she is fondly remembered as the beloved (if a little wary) first patient of Valley Veterinary.