Hometown Animal Care • Pflugerville

Hometown Animal Care • Pflugerville

Written by Jessica Sinn Thursday, 03 April 2008

When pet owners step into Hometown Animal Care’s waiting rooms, they may be surprised to see their dogs’ tails wagging rather than tucked between their trembling legs. From its expansive wrap-around porch to its Victorian style furnishings, the animal hospital takes on the appearance of a family home.

Rather than waiting in plastic chairs underneath intimidating posters of diseases, clients can make themselves comfortable on a cozy couch or an armchair and pass the time admiring the eclectic cat- and dog-themed décor.

The two-story clinic, complete with a sprawling back yard and white picket fence, has separate entrances for cats and dogs. Dr. Tom Sutton, co-owner and veterinarian, said he had the clinic designed specifically to relieve the animals’ anxiety.

After touring the scenic residential streets in the Northeast, Sutton said the picturesque historic buildings inspired him to design a home-style animal hospital.

“I actually got the idea for building this clinic when I saw old Cape Cod houses that were turned into vet clinics,” Sutton said. “To me they just didn’t look so clinical, and that’s the feeling we’re trying to create. Here at our clinic, the animals and the owners feel more comfortable.”

In 2006, Sutton sold the clinic that was located in the Lakeline area and built a new one in Pflugerville because of rapid growth and a higher demand for veterinarians. Aside from the new location and lower fees, he said Hometown Animal Care is identical to his previous business.

“Other hospitals in this area drive our fees, so our prices are not drawn out of thin air,” Sutton said. “Our fees are probably 25 percent less than what they were in Lakeline, in the exact same building and with the exact same staff, because people charge less here in this side of town.”

In addition to advanced medical care, Sutton said the clinic also provides full-service boarding facilities with all the comforts of home. In the upstairs boarding kennel, called the Cat Palace, cats lounge in individual rooms furnished with cat-sized couches and beds, where they have a bird’s eye view of either the waiting room or the backyard obstacle course.

At the clinic’s Dog Holliday, boarded dogs can move freely in large kennels and indoor runs. Sutton said construction is expected to begin this summer for small dog boarding kennels.

Not only will clients feel at home the moment they step up to the front desk, they will also feel as though they are among friends and family, Sutton said.

“Medical care is not one-size-fits-all,” he said. “When it comes to taking care of our patients, there are several types of circumstances to take into consideration. So we try to tailor advice to each individual owner and their ability to provide care.”

In the back office, Sutton keeps tokens of gratitude from his clients in a large shoebox, bursting at the seams with cards and pictures of animals.

“I save every one of these cards. I would never throw any of them away,” Sutton said. “The longer I’ve been in practice, I’ve learned that I can measure myself and my success by cards and cookies.”

Tator, a fluffy gray cat who is quite a couch potato, joined the Hometown Animal Care team the first day they opened. Sutton said a customer came in and asked the staff to give the cat a good home, just moments after they discussed the idea of adopting a clinic cat. They decided it was meant to be and took in the stray, who now has full reign over the clinic.

Hometown Animal Care, 1001 FM 685, 251-2242, www.hometownanimalcare.com