As many of you have seen or heard, Healthy Pet Altoona is for sale. And we may close.  As of right now we are hiring relief veterinarians, but availability and appointments are unfortunately sporadic. 

Healthy Pet Rice Lake and Healthy Pet Chetek are very much open, and are absolutely not affected by changes in Altoona. Any Altoona client that needs their pets’ records can contact Chetek/Rice Lake if they cannot reach Altoona

And while we know it is a drive, Altoona Clients are still welcome in Chetek, and if medications need to be refilled, we can still approve and ship them from our other locations.  Please keep this availability in mind, especially when it comes to very expensive procedures. We know part of our appeal was being reasonably priced, and we do not want our clients to potentially have to spend several thousand dollars if their cat has a urinary blockage, their dog eats a sock, or pet has a broken tooth.  We cannot promise we can fit everyone in, but our costs can sometimes be half or even a third of emergency prices. It never hurts to call

The long-term plan for Healthy Pet Altoona is still unknown, which is why we waited until now to disclose this. The goal is to sell the hospital to another veterinarian, but as we are learning, that is not an easy task.

Finally we are still actively trying to hire another veterinarian. And we offer a very competitive wage and benefits package (totaling about 200,000/year). So if the public wants to help keep this hospital open, please get that word out.

Even if Altoona does close, the hope is that is only temporary, as again we may find the staff we need, or another owner may have the opportunity to help the clients and pets that have supported us through the years. 

Kamran Khan, DVM