TOPSHAM

Transparent pet care. What is that?

Dr. Amy Ruksznis (pronounced Ruckshin knees), who opened Topsham Veterinary Wellness Center this past December, refers to it as her practice’s philosophy and procedure — the clinic is open for pets and owners to walk around, sniff, look, explore and ask questions.

“There is no ‘back room,’ all the treatment is done in front of the owner or right here in this room,” said Ruksznis, as she pointed around the treatment area located directly behind the check-in counter.

The idea is that no pet has to go into the “dreaded back room” and no owner has to sit in an exam room on pins and needles while the pet is taken away. Everything is out in the open.

“This is helpful to both the pets and the owners. It’s less like an exam, more like a ‘get-to-know-you-session’ and it puts everyone more at ease. We’re very laid back here,” Ruksznis said, who spends more than one hour with each new patient at the first visit, in order to get to know both the humans and animals thoroughly.

“It’s important to me that I establish a relationship with everyone involved, the pet and the owner,” she said. “I want to listen to the owner and let them know their concerns about their pet are being heard. So having a lengthy first visit helps me get to know the animal. That way if the owner has to call me with a question I can recall the pet’s history from that first visit.”

Her main focus is to empower pet owners to care for their pets.

“I want to offer every pet an opportunity for complete wellness and the owners an education on how to care for their animals properly,” Ruksznis said.

She offers a unique program in pet wellness and basic health care, where the owner can purchase through a low monthly fee a one-year package that includes all vaccines, seven office visits for medical problems or annual checkups, lab work fees for heartworm, lyme disease and anaplasma tests, as well as services like nail trimming, anal gland expressions, and weight management counseling and more. There are discounts on flea and tick control, as well as spaying, neutering or dental cleaning.

“It is a really good deal. The pet owner saves basically half of what these services would cost on an a la carte basis. It’s through this company called Partners in Wellness (www.partners-n-wellness.com), which stresses the importance of preventive health care for pets,” said Ruksznis, who often brings her own pets to work.

For people who are not interested in these wellness plans, there is still the traditional pay-as-you-go treatment options as well.

Ruksznis is a native Mainer, growing up in Kittery and then attending college at University of Maine at Orono. For graduate school she made the trek across the border to Canada and attended Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, where in addition to getting her degree she played rugby, learned to curl and endure blistering cold winters.

For the past seven years she has been working in Portland at the North Deering Veterinary Hospital, until opening her new practice in Topsham. She is joined by two staff members, Katie Whelan and Alan Nahrstadt Jr., who perform technical laboratory and nursing duties as well as client care and general upkeep of the practice.

Although perhaps it may be seen as “a small clinic,” it has some of the latest technology in pet care equipment. Their state-of-the-art digital X-ray machine yields some of the clearest, highdefinition pictures on the market.

“Coastal Humane Society utilizes us to take X-rays of their rescued pets if they require diagnostic imaging. It is a very good machine. It uses high-resolution digital radiography, which provides a very clear and crisp image, available immediately on any computer here in the clinic,” said Ruksznis.

Every pet owner who has an X-ray taken of their dog or cat goes home with a CD of the images. “Some people like taking home pictures of the inside of their dog or cat. But having a copy also helps the owners if they need to go see a specialist or if I have referred them to another clinic,” she said.

After taking a course in pet dentistry in San Diego, Ruksznis has made dental care somewhat of a passion.

“After taking that course, I became so much more proficient and faster at cleaning or extracting diseased teeth, with the right tools of course. Extractions in particular can be quite challenging,” she said.

Topsham Veterinary Wellness Center is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon; they are closed on Sunday and Wednesday. The clinic is happily accepting new customers of the twoand four-legged variety. The center is located at 10 Monument Place, directly behind Town Hall.

Ruksznis prefers companion animals and does not treat exotics or pocket animals. Call 207-406-4468 or visit their website at www.topshamvet.com for more information.

When, where & how

¦ TOPSHAM VETERINARY Wellness Center is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon; they are closed on Sunday and Wednesday. The center is located at 10 Monument Place, directly behind Town Hall.

¦ CALL 207-406-4468 or visit their website at www.topshamvet.com for more information.

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