LAKE COUNTY — Jeff Smith, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Middletown Animal Hospital, is launching a “Pet Talk” column at the Record-Bee next month that will address a wide variety of pet ownership questions. Smith is a veterinarian with 21 years experience in the field, and two years hosting a call-in TV program addressing pet questions in Santa Rosa.
The program featured Dr. Smith along with other professionals in law and medicine fielding questions on-the-spot. Smith said his five-minute Thursday night segment usually received the highest number of calls. “For the most part, people are pretty interested in animals,” Smith said.
Smith received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 1986. He owns the Middletown Animal Hospital and All Valley Equine, where he has practiced small animal and equine medicine for 17 years. He was installed as president of the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) in June. The CVMA is a membership organization that represents more than 5,600 veterinary professionals in California.
Smith will answer topics that have meaning to readers in Lake County. He will share his by-line with Dr. Brie Taylor, an equine and small animal veterinarian at Middletown Animal Hospital. A recent transplant from Oregon, Taylor is looking forward to her second year working around Clear Lake, Smith said.
“Dr. Taylor is a new graduate, out half-a-year now, so she has the latest and greatest information. Two opinions are better than one,” Smith said.
Smith said for the purposes of the column, he and Taylor will pick timely topics. “In the summer we might address problems such as leaving your dog in the car, heart worm and fox tails. Right now with the snow, there are issues pet owners need to watch out for. We might pick a topic of interest related to what is happening in the news, in the county or with the weather,” Smith said.
He added that the nature of how pets are viewed in society has changed in the past 40 years. “There”s the saying that pets have moved from the backyard to the porch to the bedroom. People are living longer, and their pets are more important to them. They are integrated into society differently even than when I was a child,” Smith said.
Smith”s wife Shari Smith said for an area as horse-friendly as Lake County, it will be useful not only to have Taylor fill a much-needed role as an equine practitioner, but also to address concerns facing horse owners in a column. One-third of the Middletown Animal Hospital”s business is equine. “We are short-handed with equine practitioners in Lake County. A lot of people are stranded when they need horse care,” Shari Smith said.
“We will cover them all?if someone has a question about goats, birds or iguanas, we can certainly speak to that as well,” Smith said.
Shari Smith said the idea for the column stemmed from Smith”s prior experience hosting a Sonoma County pet advice TV show, and the Smith”s saw a need in area media to address topics specific to Lake County residents, rather than national or internet columns.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
