Fluffed up after her bath and blow-dry session, the 4-month old Samoyed pup looked more like a Q-tip than a canine. I wondered for a moment how the veterinarian was going to find any flesh under Sapphire’s fur to actually insert the vaccine. 

“This shouldn’t hurt her,” said Maj. Patricia Rasmussan, an Army veterinarian charged with administering May’s pet clinic at the Totem Recreation Center, “Watch how I simply pinch her skin a little, numbing the tissue just enough to slide the needle in gently.”

It must have worked, since Sapphire didn’t even flinch. In a moment, she was dishing out sloppy, puppy-breath kisses to both Rasmussan and the veterinarian tech assisting her.

Every first and third Wednesday of the month, NAVSTA Everett’s Community Services offers a veterinarian clinic at the Smokey Point Totem Recreation Center in north Marysville. Open from 2 to 7 p.m., the vet clinics offer a very convenient, affordable service for active-duty and retired military pet owners.

“We see a number of deployed families moving into a new area, needing to find new veterinarian services,” Rasmussan said. “While human care is readily available through Branch Medical, it’s often a bit more complicated for pet owners to hit the ground at a new deployment, and to find a dependable veterinarian. For basic pet services, we fill that gap.”

Pet clinics administered throughout Navy Region Northwest are delivered by Doctors of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from the Army’s Veterinarian Service. A relatively lesser-known branch of the service, the U.S. Army initially contracted veterinarians in 1898, during the Spanish-American war, to oversee the safety of food supplies for troops in battle.

In 1917, the Army chartered the in-house US Army Veterinarian Corps to conduct food safety and quality assurance inspections of all private food vendors working for the military, conduct research and development, and provide care for military working animals.

That primary operation mandate still exists today, and it is estimated that today’s military veterinarian force, renamed the DoD Veterinary Service Activity (DODVSA), includes 404 veterinarians, 60 warrant officers, and 1,327 enlisted soldiers, 400 civilians and 170 reserve veterinarians. Today, these certified professionals provide regional pet clinics for companion animals as a secondary, but important role, at military bases throughout the world.

“We certainly do provide care for the region’s working dogs who do important work, like searching for illegal substances or weapons,” said Rasmussen, “But we also enjoy looking after the basic welfare of companion animals owned by military retirees and dependents.”

Almost as if responding with a ìsee-you-later - I’m outta here! Sapphire, the four-month old Samoyed puppy, gives Rasmussan a coy, tilt-headed look before scampering out of the examination room.

Commonly, the basic health services provided may include routine vaccinations, nail trimmings, check-ups for internal and external parasites, flea control products, heartworm testing and preventative, health certificates, and treatment of diseases that may be transmitted from animals to humans.

DVMs commonly inoculate dogs against canine distemper, rabies, parvovirus, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parainfluenza, and kennel cough. Cats are given care that includes vaccinations against feline viral rhinotracheitis and leukemia, calicivirus, panleukopenia and rabies. 

On the companion animal side, military veterinarians do not perform spays, neuters, de-clawing surgeries, and do not board animals, or treat medical conditions that are not considered to be communicable to humans.

“We’ve offered them for many years, and our clinics here at Everett are still very popular,” said Rasmussen. “And since the scheduled dates are constant, we encourage anyone with pet care needs to call us well in advance to book their visit.”

NAVSTA Everett’s Pet Clinic will still be offered at the Smokey Point Support Complex, in the Totem Recreation Center, on a bi-monthly basis. 

For more information about rates, pet care products sold, or whether your pet’s conditions fall in the scope of services provided, please contact (425) 304-3911, or visit http://www.navylifepnw.com{{PERIOD}}