As many of you may or may not know, Parkview Pet Clinic has been in existence for over 30 years. Dr. Martin owned and ran the clinic for the past 28 years. If your pet is not a patient, I am sure that you have driven by it hundreds of times. Parkview is located in the heart of the “Woodlands,” off of Canada Blvd. and across from McDonalds. Over a year ago, Dr. Martin retired as a veterinarian and sold his practice. Since that time, there have been many exciting changes going on within the clinic.
I recently caught up with Dr. Lauren Tang, VMD, MS, who was hired by Parkview a year ago. Dr. Tang grew up in Southern California but completed her education in Pennsylvania. She received a degree in biochemistry, a Masters in Chemistry and then her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. After completing her education she returned to California and completed additional training in intensive Small Animal Medicine and a Surgery Internship at VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital. Dr. Tang is a part of a team of veterinarians at Parkview, including Dr. Kristi Nichlaus, Dr. Paul Schneider and Dr. Paul Jansak
“Dr. Tang is known for compassion for her patients and clients, and her thoroughness in providing excellent patient care. She treats a wide variety of emergency and non-emergency cases with a keen interest in soft tissue surgery,” www.parkviewpetclinic.com.
I asked Dr. Tang what brought her to Parkview and she reported, “I joined this practice because I could practice affordable, high quality medicine. The modern equipment is just one of the tools that I can use to best serve my clients and patients. The prices are low but this doesn’t mean that the quality is bad. When an owner comes to me with a problem, and I make a recommendation, if they can afford those recommendations and I can diagnose and treat the problem, everyone wins”. She was impressed with the modern equipment of the clinic and the dedicated staff. She explained the importance of having state-of-the-art clinic equipment in order to make accurate and timely diagnoses for the animals. Despite the quaint exterior appearance of the clinic, it has a variety of very modern diagnostic equipment. Dr. Tang also spoke about the high level of staff dedication at Parkview. One of the technicians, Rene, has been at the clinic for over 20 years.
Dr. Martin ran a thriving clinic and now the new team of veterinarians are excited to make some modern changes. They have revamped the clinic website, www.parkviewpetclinic.com, which I recently reviewed and was impressed. You can make appointments on the website, e-mail your vet, review your pet’s vaccination history, request refills of prescriptions, create a “pet portal”, and there is a “care guide” section which lists 50 pages of canine care articles that have been screened and approved by the vet. staff. The articles cover everything from dangerous household plants to ways to help your arthritic dog. They also include the contact information for the local emergency clinic for after-hours care. Dr. Tang reported that the website is still “under construction” with more improvements coming. In the future they will create a way for pet owners to purchase specialty products (foods) online, to be delivered to the owners home.
The clinic offers many, many services for pet owners. They offer dental care, puppy and kitten care, radiology, senior care, surgery, vaccinations and wellness exams. Parkview also continues to offer kennel services for when owners go on vacation. They have a team of dedicated staff that care for your pet while you are out of town. They walk your pet three times a day. This is a great option for pets with health conditions that require medication (just a $5 fee to administer medications during their stay). The costs is $20 for dogs under 20 lbs., $27 for dogs 21-44 lbs. and $30 for dogs over 45 lbs. You can board your cat for $22 a day. I did not know that they also have day boarding as an option. The cost is $15 for the day and the staff will walk your dog a minimum of 2 times but often 3 times during the day. The day boarding hours are from 8 a.m. with 5:30 p.m. pickup time. You do not have to be a client of Parkview to reserve a spot within the kennel. The clinic also offers specialty pet foods, treats and flea treatments for sale.
I was excited to learn that this week Parkview will launch a new program to reward their clients. They will be starting a referral program. How it works is that if a client refers a friend to the clinic, that friend will receive a free consultation and examination. Then the client who referred the friend will receive a $20 credit. Dr. Tang explained that they receive most of their new clients through personal referrals and word of mouth. I know that I learned about Parkview over 5 years ago through friends in our neighborhood. Dr. Tang said that they have been talking about starting this program for a while and they feel strongly about thanking their loyal clients and rewarding them for referring others to the practice.
One of the very positive changes that I noticed was the change in office hours. The clinic is now open 7 days a week from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. This is a huge bonus for working pet owners and also for illnesses and emergencies that occur on the weekends. Dr. Tang reported that she works on Sunday and that this is one of the busiest days of the week. After-hours emergencies are still referred to the local Eagle Rock Emergency Clinic (323-254-7382).
Personally I feel most at home at a pet clinic where I feel that the doctors and staff care about me and my pet. I got this overwhelming sense of caring when speaking to Dr. Tang about her work and Parkview. Our family switched from a clinic in Pasadena due to their lack of caring and sensitivity. I look forward to continuing to bring my dogs to Parkview in the future as I know they will be well taken care of.
Maggie Mason, M.S.W.
Mother of two humans and two canines. Author and therapist in “pre-mom life”.
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