Focused Care

Focused Care

Q&A with House Of Paws Veterinary Clinic

Words by Lifestyle Staff | Photos by Topograph

Owners Tracy and Kim’s love for animals began with personal rescue and rehabilitation efforts and grew into a full-time mission to help as many animals as possible. Together with Veterinarian Dr. Adams, their passion led them to opening a mobile clinic during Covid, and most recently, a brick-and-mortar location in downtown Visalia. The clinic layout is intentionally designed around the needs of clients and their pet(s) in order to offer the best care possible. Their welcoming exam rooms include amenities like cat scratching posts or a comfort room with a cozy couch and blankets where you can spend as much time as you need when it’s time to say goodbye to your furry loved one. Also onsite: a spacious room where stray kittens and cats are cared for—in partnership with local rescue organizations—while they await their new homes. The team at House of Paws has created a veterinary experience with design-forward amenities, techenabled tools, and most importantly, an experience where a pet’s well being comes first.

Lifestyle: Hi Dr. Adams. How long have you been a veterinarian? Have you always known that’s what you wanted to do?

Dr. Adams: I’ve been a veterinarian for 31 years. I knew since I was a young child that it was what I wanted to do. I grew up with all sorts of pets and did 4H. When I finished vet school, I worked with large animals for the first 15 years of my career, mostly cows. It was a lot of hard work being up in the middle of the night and getting kicked at times. The type of work I’m doing now is also hard, but on an emotional level. It’s a lot harder when our patients are sick and pass away, and it’s harder on our clients, as well.

houseofpawsvet.com

(559) 608-1584

435 N. Burke, Visalia Mon-Fri 8am-5pm

houseofpawsvet.com

@houseofpawsvet

Lifestyle: Can you share about House of Paws and the team that is behind the clinic?

Dr. Adams: We all truly love animals and helping as many as we can. We are focused on the quality of care we are giving over the quantity coming in, and we empathize with other pet owners, having had sick pets or pets that have passed away ourselves. We also try to keep it calm and low-key here. Some pets are like kids, and get scared when they are somewhere unfamiliar. For those ones, we take time to help the animal understand we're not gonna hurt it instead of just muzzling him or her—which we rarely have to do. Treats can help them feel calm, too. We foster a fear-free environment for the animals to help them as best we can.

Lifestyle: What types of health problems do you see the most in our area?

Dr. Adams: We see a lot of dogs with allergies. Allergies need to be controlled before it causes other issues, like spreading into their ears. Symptoms include excessively scratching their ears or licking their feet. They may also develop a respiratory problem or lose all of their hair. When typical treatment doesn’t help, we recommend an allergy test so we can treat them more effectively with injections. There's a whole spectrum of common allergies here in the Valley and we can help keep them from suffering. In the summer, many pets come in with foxtails seeds embedded. These can cause abscesses; a lot of cats get them in their eyes and up the nose.

Lifestyle: What should someone do if they come across a stray or dumped animal? How can they help?

Dr. Adams: If they can keep it safe until they can get it scanned for a chip, that would be the best first step. There are rescue organizations that will help however they can, including providing food and care while the animal is being fostered. Gabby’s Animal Rescue and Central Valley Rescue Railroad are really good. Valley Oak SPCA has a clinic too. If you find a purebred dog, I recommend contacting a breed rescue. If you can’t physically help, but still want to support the rescues, financial support is always helpful. There aren’t enough rescues to care for the amount of strays we have in our area, so that helps to keep the organization going. We try to support them as much as we can through spay and neutering and even fostering animals until they are adopted out. Transporting animals to out-of-town shelters is also another way to get involved.

If you’d like to be a part of the House of Paws family, the quickest way to get registered is by texting (559) 608-1584. Alternatively, you can fill out the new patient form on their website or call the office—especially for pet emergencies.