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Dr. Leah Isaacson and her husband, Dr. Thomas Minturn, appear with their family dogs, Lou, left, Piper, on ground, and Cheese Sandwich. (photo courtesy of Dr. Leah Isaacson)\u00a0<\/p>\nA good veterinarian is like a good mechanic or hair stylist: Once you find someone you really have confidence in, you\u2019ll follow them anywhere.<\/p>\n
Dr. Leah Isaacson and her husband, Dr. Thomas Minturn, appear with their family dogs, Lou, left, Piper, on ground, and Cheese Sandwich. (photo courtesy of Dr. Leah Isaacson)\u00a0<\/p>\n
I ought to know: I\u2019ve been following Dr. Leah Isaacson all over the East Bay, even all the way out to Walnut Creek. My cats, Pepe and Sally, didn\u2019t enjoy the long schlep, to say the least, but I wanted someone I knew I could trust. The first time she met them she spotted something as soon as she walked in the door. She rushed over to Sally, peered into her mouth and discovered a resorbed tooth.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when gum tissue grows over a tooth and every bite of food becomes sheer agony. Unfortunately, cats are great at hiding pain, so I probably wouldn\u2019t have noticed anything for months, if ever. Dr. Isaacson fixed it, though, and I was so grateful.<\/p>\n
\u201cSally is my favorite,\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n
At that, she immediately moved over to Pepe, cupped her hands over Pepe\u2019s ears, and whispered, \u201cDon\u2019t listen!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she had completely won my heart. I\u2019m not the only one who has doggedly (sorry about that) followed her hither and yon.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrains and compassion are two of the most important characteristics of a good doctor, animal or human, and Leah has an abundance of both,\u201d says retired dog trainer Elen Weiss.<\/p>\n
Alas, that kind of care is rapidly becoming a relic of the past because so many veterinary hospitals have been taken over by corporations, and the pressure is on to rush the animals through their systems as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
Dr. Isaacson, or Leah, as she insists I call her, took a different tack. She and her husband, Dr. Thomas Minturn, another crackerjack veterinarian, have been saving up to achieve their lifelong dream: opening a veterinary hospital of their own where they only have to answer to themselves, and now they\u2019ve finally done it.<\/p>\n
On May 1, the Shattuck Animal Care Clinic opened its doors at 2573 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, just south of Dwight Way, where parking places are much easier to find.<\/p>\n
The influx of once and former clients who had been waiting eagerly for that day to happen has been so great that they\u2019ve already added another vet, Dr. Lydia Wood, who has special experience in animal dentistry, and an acupuncturist, Dr. Beth Schneider, with more additions expected as the client list grows, as it surely will. The most satisfying part is that they\u2019re finally able to give each animal the time and attention it deserves.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the hardest things is when you\u2019re having an end-of-life conversation with a pet owner and that backs up to a new puppy exam, and you have to switch gears,\u201d says Leah. \u201cI can\u2019t be bringing my baggage from one appointment to another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas adds that \u201cI think the big thing I enjoy with my day is how different every day is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor both of us, we love being that support for people,\u201d notes Leah. \u201cYour pets are your kids, and we want to be there for you. We don\u2019t even use exam tables; we both like to get down on the floor and be with the animals, rather than put them on this cold, uncomfortable table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Congratulations, Leah and Thomas. I can\u2019t wait for you to meet Betty.<\/p>\n
A convert\u2019s zeal: Speaking of animals, I\u2019ve been writing about my cats for so long that some people assume I\u2019ve always liked them. On the contrary, I grew up as a cat hater. After all, they\u2019re aloof and unfriendly, right? Wrong. That though is a sure sign of a person who\u2019s never met a cat.<\/p>\n
One day years ago, I began a romance with a woman who had a cat named KC (short for Kitty Cat). For the first six months we lived together I refused to let KC into our bedroom, but one day she had enough and decided to seduce me, which she did, in record time.<\/p>\n
By the time my girlfriend and I broke up, KC and I had gotten so tight that she offered to give her to me, but I declined. Two weeks after I moved into my new digs, there was a knock on my door, and there were three first-graders holding a tiny kitten.<\/p>\n
\u201cMister,\u201d they said, \u201cDid you lose this kitty?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said, \u201cbut I\u2019ll take her.\u201d<\/p>\n
I named her Eliza Doolittle, and though I\u2019ve had five more kitties since her and loved them all, she\u2019ll always be the gold standard.<\/p>\n
Moral: There\u2019s no zealot like a converted sinner.<\/p>\n