What Sets CheckOut Apart from Other Veterinary Clinics

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thirteen ten WIBA and ask the experts with check out
Veterinary online. The website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
vet dot com. Great website and resource to learn more
about checkout Veterinary. We'll talk a little bit actually this
morning about what makes checkout Veterinary so unique. I will
tell you it is a great concept. You can learn
more again on that website checkout vet dot com. All right,

(00:22):
tel number six so eight three one eight sixty seven hundred,
that's three one eight sixty seven hundred. Open Monday, work
every day except for Thursdays. And I would say Monday
through Friday, but that would not be true because they're
also open weekends, closed on Thursdays from nine am until
five pm. And of course joining us at studio this
morning is doctor Marty Greer. Doctor. There's got to be
got to figure a smoother way to point that out.

(00:43):
You guys are open though on weekends and all that
great stuff. I'll figure it out. How are you doing
this morning? I'm great.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
And we're closed on Thursdays at checkout because it tended
to be our slowest day. But we're open Monday through
Friday at check in. Its sister clinic, so you're not abandoned.
It's not like Thursdays you're on your own. And then
we also will have the Marshall Pet Care clinic as well.
That will be Monday through Friday, so we'll have two
Monday through Friday locations and then the other location will
be closed on Thursdays until we doctor up a bit

(01:11):
more and can get to that point.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
But have you mentioned that on the area yet or
is I know we talked about the new clinic off there.
Is this the first time it's come up on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
I think maybe we mentioned it a couple times ago.
But yeah, So that's new and exciting for us. So
Marshall Petcare's veterinarian, doctor lu Schumacher, after a long and
very great career, has elected to retire, so she's going
to be handing the clinic off to us at the
beginning of September. So we're very excited to be able
to keep that clinic open in that small community. It

(01:43):
was going to look it was looking a little bleak
there for a bit. We want all of their clients
to know that we're there for them. We're going to
keep as much staff is interested in staying We're going
to keep as many things the same. The phone number
is the same, the website's the same. We're not going
to change anything up. I have a new manager, my
CVT that's been working for us for a year is
going to be managing that. She has twenty years of

(02:03):
experience in the veterinary field, so it should be really great.
And we're going to be for the short term substituting
doctors in and out until we finally get somebody in
there that can be solid, but we will be available
there as much as possible based on doctor availability.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
That's great to hear. And I think sometimes you know,
and we deal with as people and our you know,
I had a doctor that I had for years and
he retired, and you kind of go, oh, yeah, it's
great to have that continuation of saying, and especially for
a great community where a smaller community has that great
relationship with the clinic and you know, and that type
of thing, having somebody that's able to take that honestly
enough to worry about going to a new city, new environment,

(02:41):
those type of things too.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
So definitely, right, your pets used to it, You're used
to it. So the website will be the same the
same person, I'll be answering the phone. It should be
as smooth as transition as we can possibly make. So
we're trying to keep everything as level as possible so
that it doesn't shake anybody up. And you know, it's
a really nice little clinic and it's a nice little
town and I kind of like small towns, and I
just didn't want to see this place disappear.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
It'll be great. Well, of course, we'll keep folks posted
on all the developments. And speaking of learning about the clinics,
check out vet, let's talk about checkout Veterinary and the
clinic and Sun Prairie. Just just a very very cool
concept for people that haven't heard you talk about. And
let's talk about what kind of the start of this,
the idea, and then of course what it's become.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Sure, so the idea really came from a garage that
we built at their clinic and the Mayra. So to
be clear, we are a family owned business and myself
and my husband and we have one associate there, so
we're not corporate. We're a small, family owned business. We've
been in business for forty three years, so we've been
around a bit. So we built it originally a garage
in the clinic and the mayra for client conveniences. They

(03:48):
could pull in and their pets could go in and
out after surgical procedures, and if the weather wasn't good,
and those kinds of things, litters of puppies, you know,
the things that we want to protect from the weather.
So about ten years ago I started kind of playing
around in my head after a meeting the opportunity to
do something on a larger scale along the same lines.
So we have four garage bays that each have two doors.

(04:09):
You drive up to the door, we open the door,
You pull into your vehicle into the garage bay. That
becomes your exam room. So it's the biggest exam room
that you'll probably ever be in. So you pull into
the garage, we close the doors. If you have a
dog that's comfortable in the car or they have mobility issues,
they can stay in the vehicle. If you have mobility issues,
you can stay in the vehicle. You never have to
get out, so you can have all the care provided

(04:30):
in the car. If your dog wants to get out,
roam around the garage bay or dogs, so you can bring,
you know, as many as you want at one time. Well,
we'll do the whole family at the same time. They
can come out. We have an exam table in the
garage base so that they can be on that. And
then if you have a small dog or a cat
that's more comfortable on an exam table, there's an adjacent
examroom with a window, so you can stay in the

(04:50):
car and see your pet through the window. Your pet
can see you through the window. You never have to
get out of the car. If you have kids with you,
say the kids are sleeping in the car, you don't
want to leave them in the parking lot. That's day.
We don't want to do that. If you have grandma
with you and you're worried that she might take off,
you know, forget that she's not supposed to be driving,
and she takes off and goes over to McDonald's. So
you can keep an eye on everybody, they're all right

(05:11):
there together. You never have to go into a lobby
a waiting room. There's never a rottweiler staring at your
little dog or your cat. There's never a cat screaming.
None of those things are happening. That pets are really
comfortable in that environment. So we find that in that
fear free kind of opportunity where pets just don't want
to be stressed, and you don't want to be stressed
by your pet being stressed, that this offers opportunities for that.

(05:34):
So people that have dogs that are uncomfortable or cats
that are uncomfortable in those settings, you don't have to
do that anymore. You just pull in and all you
want to do is just come look at us. You
don't have to pay us a penny. You can come over,
you can drive in, you can let your dog out,
you can bring your cat in. They can just wander around.
If you don't want anything done, oh then I just
want to see this place. I want to meet the doctor,

(05:55):
I want to meet the staff. I want to understand
how it works. I want people to feel percent comfortable
and that that's why we're doing first visit free, So
your first exam is free. After the exam, if you
do bloodwork, need heartren medications, any of those things in
there's a charge for that. But the physical exam the
doctor will do on your pet is done at no charge,
so that you can feel completely comfortable with the level

(06:18):
of experience that the doctor has with their way they
interact with you and your pet. We want you to
be really comfortable. So that's what this is about, is
really making people feel safe in a world that doesn't
always feel that safe.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
It's really it's a really great concept. Today's a great data.
Of course, you mention the website checkout vet dot com.
You can request appointment right online. Of course you can
stop on in right at twenty seven to ten Prairie
Lakes Drive in sun Prairie. That's twenty seven to ten
Prairie Lakes Drive in sun Prairie. Open every day except
Thursdays from nine am until five pm. And you mentioned
check in VET available Monday. I got to write those

(06:53):
days down Monday, Monday through Wednesday, Friday, Monday through Friday.
I'm going right there we go.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
I got check check your So check in is the
inpatient clinic. Check out is the outpatient clinic. And so
we rebranded. We took Nature to Preserve pet Care, which
we purchased about six years ago as the foundation for
this that was named originally pet Care Center than Nature's Preserve,
and now it's called check In. We actually did have
a client that ran through the wall of the building

(07:19):
last September she accidentally hit the gas instead of the
brake and she drove into the building. That wasn't really
the intention when we called it check in, but that
kind of helps you. Distinguished check in is the inpatient
We can have surgery, dentals, x rays, ultrasounds, any of
the complete care that you need that needs to be
done for your pet, dog or cat can be done
at check in. And then the outpatient things the less serious.

(07:42):
No diagnostics, no, well, we send out blood work, but
we don't do any in house blood work, So anything
that you need that just needs a looxi and some medication,
your routine annual wellness, your routine heartworm test, your fecal analysis,
your booster vaccinations, poppy, oh gosh, we love having puppies
and kittens, and it's really fun to come in with
a puppy or a kitten because that's what they get

(08:05):
to know from the very beginning. And if that's all
they know is this is how veterinary care is provided,
you're going to have started them with a great foundation
of being comfortable at the vet clinic.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
That's an amazing model. Check it out the website. Look
at that. Check out vet dot com. That's check out
vet dot com. I want to ask you about blood
work in just a moment. But first last week we
started talking about healthy weights for your pet, and diet
came up and I was going to ask you and
we ran out of time, and thank goodness, we've got
a chance to talk today. Life stage diets is I

(08:36):
see you know you'll see like puppy food or adult
or senior? Is there actually a difference between those? Is
this marketing or is it something as a pet owner
you really want to pay attention to.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
No, it's for real. The older pets, we have lower calories,
more fiber, different quantities of fat. Sometimes I put in
some amino acids to help with weight loss. There's definitely
differences in life stage. Puppies need to have that higher
caloric intake so that they can grow. Their little tummies
aren't big enough to hold the amount of food they
need for growth, so those are important things. Of course,

(09:08):
we have prescription diets that veterinarians can sell that are
specific for medical conditions, and again those are very specific,
so we can treat bladderstones and diabetes and kidney failure
and joint disease. And you know, if humans ate as
well as our dogs do on these prescription foods, we'd
all be a lot healthier. Unfortunately we're not that good
at it. And then oil Canaan has a line of

(09:30):
foods that are breed specific, both for cats and for dogs,
and again people kind of roll their eyes a little
bit and they think, well, this is just marketing or
just gimmick, and it's really not. The docs and diet
is meant for low long dogs that have a tendency
to get too heavy, and it's not grooved for their backs,
so corgies do well on docks and diet. German shepherd
diet works really well for dogs that have a sensitive stomach.

(09:51):
Those dogs German shepherds in general stress for their guts,
so they don't always do well on certain kinds of foods.
So this is a highly digestible diet. The most highly
adjuticble food you can get without a prescription. Bulldog food
is like Persian cat food. They make it shape so
that those little flatter faces can pick the kibble up
off the bottom of the bowl. Labrador of food has
a hole through the middle of it, so as they

(10:12):
gulp down their food, they swallow less air. They have
all these things really well designed, both from a nutrient
perspective and from the shape of the kibble and the
size of the kibble so that they're more specific for breeds.
So if you're having a particular problem with food, are
you not sure? Maybe you don't even know if you
have a problem. Every time you go to the vet,
your veterinary clinic is more than happy to discuss nutrition

(10:33):
with you. So ask the vet tech, ask the veterinarians.
Many people are well trained and nutrition, so don't hesitate
to jump in and say, hey, can you tell me
if there's a better food I should be feeding? Is
this one? Okay? You know there are people that just
don't understand nutrition, and part of the problem is when
you read the label on the food, people are reading
an ingredient list, not a nutrient profile, and so they're

(10:55):
a little concerned about what some of the dry kibble
has in it. And you know, there's a lot of
great marketing going on right now on TV for some
of these pet foods that aren't actually as healthy for
your pet as the marketing people at the companies would
like you to believe. So listen to your veterinary clinic.
We're you know, people say, well, you veterinaries, you all
get kickbacks. No, no, actually we don't know. And yes,

(11:18):
actually we do have nutritional education when we're in vet school.
So your vetex, your vets, they're all skilled at this.
So don't overlook that resource when you're looking for what
to pick for your best pet food interting.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
When you when you mentioned, as we talked this morning
with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary Doctor, when you
mentioned different breeds, and you know, when you break it
down like that and different dietary needs, it really well
illustrates and we always for I think oftentimes as pet owners,
we tend to forget that there's a there's a whole
history of these breeds and where they came from, what they're,

(11:52):
what they were bred for over generations and generations, sporting
and those type of dogs. They all have very unique
needs all around, whether it's exercise needs, dietary needs, that stuff,
And when you explain it that way, it starts to
make perfect sense. I let me ask you about that too,
different dogs, different exercise regimens. Is that another area that

(12:13):
maybe pet owners need to really be aware of when
they're oh thing about dogs.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, especially we've talked about this before, but especially the
break these tophalixis short face breeds like the Frenchies, the
bulldogs of course, the Frenchies and everyone breed right now.
There's a lot of them out there. So we have
to be very careful in warm weather, hot weather, humid weather,
that we're not overdoing it for those pets. You don't
want to go out and run the lawnmower and have
the dog follow you through the yard every time you
make a pass, because we see dogs that come in

(12:39):
just heat exhaustion from things like that. So you want
to be careful. You want to be smart, be careful
when the weather's really hot, that if you're going to
take the dog out on the asphalt, that you place
your hand on the asphalt and hold it there for
five seconds and see how that feels to you before
you take your dog on a walk or to the
farmer's market or you know whatever.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
It's really fun to take our dogs places, but you
have to be smart about it. Be careful of swimming.
Certain times a year. We see blue gray, blue green
allergy this time of year. That can be toxic. So
be thoughtful, be smart, and you know, just be careful
with your pets. Care because although they may really look
like they're having a good time, they don't have great judgment.
Sometimes you just have to like put the brakes on.

(13:17):
They're like your kids, you know enough. Yeah, if you
got to stop.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
One of the things I love about my little Chiuala
I see the leisure Lee Walker. It's a stroll. We're
not not in any particular hurry, but yeah, it's really
good stuff. I want to ask you to and I
mentioned asking you about blood work. I want to ask
you about that and it will do that in just
a moment as we talk with doctor Marty Greer. Of course,
doctor Grear comes to us from Checkout Veterinary the website
check out vet dot com. That's check out vet dot com.

(13:43):
Of course, doctor Marty Greer the twenty twenty three Veterinarian
of the Year from Westminster Kennel Club. And of course
we get the chance to talk with doctor Greer each
and every Thursday at eight thirty. Don't forget if you
miss any part of the show, you can always listen
back to the podcast. You can subscribe as well online
at WIBA dot com. We'll continue our conversation with doctor
Greer next as ask the Experts with Checkout Veterinary continues

(14:03):
right here on thirteen ten dialible U I B A
thirteen ten dollible U I B A and ask the
experts we check Out Veterinary and doctor Murty Greer. Of course,
doctor Greer does come to us from Checkout Veterinary the
website check out vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
I'm talking earlier just about different life stage diets and

(14:24):
also a little bit about Checkout Veterinary. What makes it
so unique? And doctor when you were talking about bringing
your pet in. Some of the things that, of course,
as pet owners you want to get is things like
like blood work and other tests. What is and I
hear that term blood work obviously as a pet owner,
I've seen my pets, my dog's blood and cats blood
be drawn before. What are you looking for there? What's

(14:45):
how does that, how does that all work? What's going
on there? And is it? Is it a very helpful
useful tool?

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Sure? And that's a great question. So there's a lot
of things that we test. Probably the one thing that
most people hear the most frequently is about the heartworm test.
So we do test frequently, usually once a year a
heartroom test, and many clinics are also running a test
that includes lime disease, anaplasmosis, and er lichia, and those
are kind of a mouthful. A lot of people know

(15:10):
what lime disease is. It's a tick born disease that
can cause arthritis. We can see kidney failure from it.
It's a pretty serious disease. So we want to make
sure that if our pets are exposed to ticks that
are carrying anaplasmosis, aer lichia, or lime disease, that we're
testing for it and diagnosing it early enough before the
pet has symptoms that we can treat that and eliminate
it from their system. Some dogs, once they're positive for

(15:31):
lime disease, and sometimes for the other two as well,
anaplaus and aer lichia, they may be positive for many
years now. There's an additional follow up test that is
run right now. It's just run by one lab. It's
called a C six. It's a confirmatory test that tells
you what level of lime disease exposure your pet has.
So if it's under thirty, it's an old infection and

(15:51):
something in the past, maybe two years ago, they were
exposed and you cleared it with antibiotics. But if it's
above thirty, and we've seen them as high as eight hundred,
that these pets have a pretty serious and active infection
to lime disease. So we need to get a handle
on that before they go into kidney failure or end
up with other organ dysfunction. So that's the test we
most commonly know about. Of course, heartwom disease. Heartworm is

(16:13):
really a worm that lives in the dog's heart. Not
commonly seen in Wisconsin. It's more common in the dogs
that come from the South. So a lot of the
rescue dogs that come up from the southern tier of
States are positive for heartworm. That again can be treated
if we get it diagnosed and taken care of early enough.
So important that you're doing that test every year. People
want to push back and say, well, do I have
to really do it? I'm giving my heart room preventive,

(16:34):
And the answer is heartworm preventive. Sometimes fail your dog
spits it up behind the couch, they vomit it up,
you forget a lot of things happen, So it is
recommended that that test is done annually. Now, a lot
of dogs as long as we're drawing that blood, we
will run a summer wellness on them. So it does
a CBC and a chemistry panel. A CBC is exactly
what it is in humans. It checks three different kinds

(16:54):
of blood counts. It checks the red blood cell count,
which measures for anemia, It checks a white bla's SO
count that checks for infection, and it checks a platelet
count that checks for blood clotting. And Erlikia is one
of the tick boorn diseases that can make the platelet
count drop and cause the dog to have hemorrhage, sometimes
under the skin, sometimes overtly, so again that's important that

(17:15):
we're monitoring that. And then the chemistry panel checks liver function,
kidney function, checks for diabetes, checks electrolytes, so it checks
for an array of different organ functions, metabolic diseases that
we see in pets, young pets, and old pets. It
doesn't have to be just an older pet that can
have those problems. And it's very similar to the blood
panel that your physician would order for you on an

(17:37):
annual basis when you go in for health care. Sometimes
we'll also check for thyghrid disease, so it just depends
you know, if your pet's over age seven, we're probably
going to be checking for that. So it depends on
the age of the pet, it depends on what we're
seeing on physical exam or your history of what kind
of changes you're seeing. So those are all really commonly
done tests. We're happy to share those test results with people.

(17:58):
The problem is sometimes you look at those numbers and
if you see something that looks a little bit off,
you don't know if that's something to be a little
concerned about, or not concerned at all, or a lot
concerned about. You know, if the glucose is high, I'm
going to get a lot more concerned than if one
of the deliver and simes is high. And in a
fourteen year old dog, many dogs that are in the
fourteen year old category will have an elevated alcfoss because
it goes up with arthritis. So you know, those are

(18:19):
things that as a veterinarian, I'm going to shrug my
shoulder and say I'm not too worried about it. But
you may look at that number and not really know
how to interpret it. It's sort of like on EPIC
when you go to your physician and they give you
your results on epic through my chart. You look at
it and you're, you know, like, oh, like your hair
catches on fire. Kids, I go, is this bad?

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Like is this serious? To get to it? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
So you want to make sure that your veterinarian or
your veterinary technician is helping you with the interpretation. Don't
go off the rails and start googling everything because you'll
make yourself crazy doing that.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Let's all I want to ask you that about pet
owner vet relationships is obviously we focus a lot on
pets and their experience. Having that good relationship and that
ability to communicate well with your vet's that's a big priority,
is it.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Oh yeah, we are part of the family when it
comes to medical care. So I you know, people will
call us say my vet, well, you know a lot
of people's vets. But yeah, I'm glad to think of
me that way. But it's really important that you do
have that good relationship that and you need to be
kind and polite to everyone on the veterinary team. Call
and be nice to the receptionist, be nice to the technician.

(19:25):
You know, don't be that person that calls up and
is difficult to manage and then think that when you
get in front of the doctor that you can make
all that up by being nicely nice, because you know what,
we all know what's going on. Yeah, and if you
have something that your veterinary staff member especially went out
of their way for, thank them for it. Take them
up plate of cookies. It doesn't have to be anything
fancy or expensive. Take them up plate of cookies. Buy

(19:47):
a pizza for lunch someday. Many days they don't get
a break for lunch. They don't get out on time
at the end of the day to get home and
get their kids to soccer practice. They don't get their
errands run. You know, don't and don't tackle them at
the grocery store. If you see them, they're like like space, yeah, exactly,
like oh, just say hi to them, but don't corner
them and say, hey, I have just a good question,
which turns into twenty five minutes later, it's not such

(20:09):
a quick question. But be really kind to everyone at
the veterinary clinic. They all have your pet's best interest
in mind, and if you are kind to them, they
will help you out when you need something managed, because
at some point your pet is going to have some
kind of a crisis, and I never want to see
that that happens, but at some point, and I'll tell
you that the most heartfelt thank yous that we ever
get from a client is after a euthanasia. And to me,

(20:33):
that's really touching because we know how important that if
it goes well, that is how important that is to
a pet owner to see that end of life care
being done well for their pet. So you know, please
please just be aware of that. And speaking of that,
we do have a new book in our practices called

(20:54):
Promises to My Pet, so we carry that at the practice.
If you do need some help with making some of
those decisions, you can buy it online at Amazon. But
please realize that your veterinary clinic is there to help
with those kinds of decisions and their veterinary team is
there to support you when you're making decisions. So if
you have a quality of life decision, bring it up
and talk about it. Your VET wants to help you.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Really good day to start that relationship, start that conversation.
Of course, you can learn more about checkout VET online,
checkout vets dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Telphy
number six so eight three one eight sixty seven hundred.
That's three one eight sixty seven hundred, Doctor Greer, it's
always great talking with you. You enjoyed this fantastic day.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
News comes your way next right here at thirteen ten
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