WILLIAMS, Ariz. — There’s a new vet in town and he’s welcoming all creatures — small and exotic as they might be, to visit his clinic for their wellness needs.
Doctor Patrick Ryan is a licensed veterinarian who is now offering a small animal practice at Williams Veterinary Wellness.
Currently, Ryan is not offering large animal services, however, he said he plans to work with community members to bring in equine veterinarian services to help with those needs.
“We don’t have the facilities for large animals,” he said. “We would like to work with the community and help them organize times where I can get equine vets that I know to come here – that’s something we’ll be doing in the future.”
Ryan said he is excited to offer his veterinarian services in Williams — he said this opportunity moves him closer to his home in Chino Valley, where he lives with his wife and kids.
It also allowed him to open his own practice.
Ryan acquired the clinic after Dr. Daniel Jacoby relocated. Ryan knew Jacoby from his time working at Aspen Clinic, where he would refer clients for advanced diagnostics when necessary. After Jacoby announced he was leaving his Williams practice, Ryan decided it would be a good location to open his own practice.
“We were one of his first choices when it came to who he wanted to hand over the practice to,” Ryan said. “We are a completely new business —not an extension of his business. We just wanted to still provide the services he did in this community.”
Ryan said at Williams Veterinary Wellness their goal is to provide good, quality medicine and help everyone have a good, healthy relationship with their pets.
Ryan provides preventive medicine including shots, examinations, x-rays and surgeries, among other options.
“We have all the diagnostics needed to manage most types of medical cases in house,” he said.
He will also be seeing exotic animals.
“I did extra classes with exotics, so I can do little exotic pocket pets and such… lizards, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, hedgehogs, pretty much everything,” he said.
Ryan said he also has a special place in his heart for behavioral issues and hopes to teach humans to understand their pet better.
“One of my favorite things to do is to help people understand their pet better so they can have that relationship they are looking for,” he said. “My neuro-science background helps with that — understanding the brain of animals and humans.”
Ryan is from a small town in Illinois. A town he claims is smaller than Williams. However, he spent time in large cities as well, having lived in Chicago, where he completed his under graduate studies in neuro-science.
Before pursing a veterinarian degree, Ryan served in the U.S. Army from 1998-2005, first as a Calvary Scout doing reconnaissance and later as a military police officer. He also deployed to Iraq.
Ryan said his time in the military helped to solidify his call to veterinarian medicine.
“Even in a war zone I had pets,” he said. “I had a little kitten that I took care of, I had a chicken and a dog. I just realized, ‘yeah, this is what I want.’”
After his time in the service was complete, Ryan moved to Colorado where he attended Colorado State University. He graduated in 2013 with a doctorate in veterinarian medicine.
His first job as a veterinarian was in Prescott Valley, Arizona, however, a good friend and former classmate asked if he would help out at Aspen Clinic in Flagstaff.
Ryan worked with his Practice Manager Katherine Ruffenach for five years at Aspen Clinic prior to opening the Williams clinic.
Ruffenach manages all day to day aspects of Williams Veterinary Wellness, including business operations and scheduling as well as doing all technician services.
“Anything he’s not doing, I’m doing,” she said.
“She goes above and beyond, I don’t think I could do it without her,” Ryan said.
As a new business, Ryan said one thing he and Ruffenach are reminding clients is that they will need to establish care as a new client which means they need to schedule an intake exam for their pets.
“In order to provide care we have to establish a doctor, patient, client relationship in the form of an exam. That’s where we start with our care and after that we’re happy to provide prescriptions and re-fills and recommendations,” Ruffenach said.
Williams Veterinarian Wellness is located at 122 S. 3rd St.. They are open Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. They are closed from noon-1:30 p.m. for lunch.
More information is available by calling the clinic at (928) 635-5392 or at [email protected].
Based on an article that first appeared at: