A message from Dr. Kamran Khan, Owner of the Animal Hospital of Chetek.

As many of you know on December 28^th, 2010 I took over the reins of the Animal Hospital of Chetek from Dr. Carlson.  My freshman year in Chetek seemed like a whirlwind (see last year's letter), but it was nothing compared to 2012.

First of all the world did not end. Yeah! So it looks like all that long term planning we have been up to just might pan out; at least for the next baktun or so. Some of you may have noticed some of the long term planning already. We upgraded our conventional ultrasound to a 3D unit which is providing us with fantastic image quality. We have added a dedicated groomer, (sorry about some of the delays before that) and she is doing awesome. And we are in the early stages of becoming an official AAFP Cat Friendly Practice. This will make us the only cat friendly practice in the area, on top of being the only AAHA accredited Animal Hospital within 50 miles.  So yes the future looks bright, but as I said before 2012 was a special year, and it would be wrong not to reflect on it.

The year was filled with change. We saw Amy Snapp move on after 15 years of dedicated service.  I'm sure many of you noticed some of the ensuing organizational issues that arose during the summer months. It didn't help that Tishara and Karen were both on maternity leave at the time, but we are happy to report both their children are doing well. We also had an unprecedented 4 veterinary technician externs come through the hospital.  We love to teach, but we also understand that training them sometimes makes our appointments take a little longer - so I thank you all for being patient. And I am happy to say that we are back to normal. We wish Amy the best on her new career path, and we know all of our externs the best of luck.

Sadly still, we lost many friends and family this year, both pets and people. Some to ease their pain as they grew old and others were taken from us far too soon. By the very nature of this field, and the finite lives of our pets, I know every year a handful of long term companions will leave us. But this year we lost some of the best. And so to all of those in our families, who left us this year, know that we will never forget you, nor will we forget the joy that you brought into our lives.

On a brighter, after learning the ins and outs of the hospital in 2011, I had a little free time in 2012. I used this free time to help out Chetek and City of Barron Police dogs (if any other city in the area would like me to care for their police dog, just let me know - these guys put their lives on the line for us, and I am happy to help them whenever I can).  I also had time to perform dozens of spays and neuters for the Humane Society of Barron County - they are great organization, and they need donations, remember donating to the national humane society does not help out the local humane society at all. Keep donations local whenever possible. And of course, my cat survived ingesting a small plastic star, though it took 3 surgeries and 6 weeks of tube feeding to get her to pull through. I am happy to report she is back to her normal fat self - yes my pets are fat too.

 2012 had great meaning for me personally as well.  I became a youtube star! The anesthesia video I made has over 11,000 views. Just a few more zeroes at the end of that and I will be right up their Justin Bieber and PSY (for those of you who don't know who those people are, don't worry, I only learned about them a few months ago).

More importantly my wife and kids continued to make our home in Chetek. We are thoroughly enjoying story time at the library. For those of you that have young kids (newborn-kindergarten) this is a great free program put on by the Chetek Library every Wednesday at 10:30 am. My kids love it. Really, they seem to love everything about Chetek, which is great, because in 2013 we hope to finally become home owners, and Chetek is where we plan on staying for a very long time.

So once again I want to thank all of you for giving me the honor of caring for your pets, and thank you for making Chetek, and all of Barron County, such a wonderful place to live. I couldn't imagine raising my kids anywhere else.

And of Course,

Mike, Amber, Tishara, Amy, Mari-Lyn, Kaylin, Hillary, Liz, Karen, and Shannon

Thank you for all your hard work. I really couldn't run this place without you (seriously, I just learned how to check our voicemail a week ago :).

Sincerely,

Kamran Khan, DVM

12-31-12