Q&A with Yellowknife’s new Aurora Veterinary Hospital

The Yellowknife veterinarian whose team lost access to Great Slave Animal Hospital on Friday wants pet owners to know: “We have a plan.”

Dr Katie Denroche spoke to Cabin Radio on Saturday as she and her team regroup ahead of setting up a clinic in a new location, which has been acquired but requires renovation before it can open.

In the meantime, Dr Denroche will be able to perform some surgeries at the NWT SPCA’s facilities and will start seeing some pets through a mobile clinic, heading to people’s homes where appropriate.

“The only thing I’m waiting on right now is my business licence. I’ve spoken to them, they are expediting it, they understand the urgency,” she said.

Once that licence arrives, Denroche’s new Aurora Veterinary Hospital will start formally taking on clients. Deliveries of specialist food and medication are being arranged.

Great Slave Animal Hospital closed its doors suddenly on Friday following a months-long deterioration in relations involving the building’s owner and the clinic staff. That closure appeared to be almost as surprising to the staff as it was to the hundreds of people who relied on the clinic for pet care.

Denroche said the “very sudden and very difficult” closure came after she had given her notice at Great Slave Animal Hospital, effective for the end of March.

“We had been willing to stay until the end of March but due to obviously the situation, as I say, being very difficult, it did not work out that way,” she said. “It’s not what we wanted, but it is what it is.”

She thanked the community for what she called an “outpouring of support” during a traumatic 48 hours.

“People have been so, so incredible and we really appreciate all of the offers of support we’ve gotten,” she said.

“The staff have been amazing. When everything happened yesterday, they rallied. They got started right away … They were just there because they care so much.”

Here are some answers to questions pet owners might have about the care available right now and into the future. You can also read a Q&A prepared by the staff on the Aurora Veterinary Hospital Facebook page. (Residents of the city also have access to the Yellowknife Veterinary Clinic.)

Will there be a new bricks-and-mortar clinic?

Yes. Work is under way to prepare the new Yellowknife location for Aurora Veterinary Hospital. Renovations are still expected to take several months.

A mobile clinic approach will be developed in the interim, alongside some reliance on NWT SPCA facilities.

“Within a month to a month and a half, we should have our diagnostic setup ready,” said Denroche. “Blood work, X-rays – we should be back to that within, I’d say, six weeks.”

I had an appointment booked.

“Anybody who had pre-booked appointments or surgeries with Great Slave Animal Hospital, please email us and we will get people reorganized,” said Denroche.

“We want to prioritize urgent surgeries, emergencies and medicine refills at this point, but we will get to everybody in as timely a manner as possible.

“We will be reaching out to our more urgent surgeries. Spays and neuters may have to wait a little bit, but we will figure it out.”

How will surgeries be carried out without a clinic?

The NWT SPCA is making its own surgical facilities available.

“We have arranged with the SPCA to give us housing for emergent or urgent surgeries like lump removals, anything that we need to get done before our space is ready,” said Denroche.

If I send an email or message, how long is the wait for a response?

“We’re going as fast as we can, but I have 445 emails, so there’s a lot to catch up on,” said Denroche just after 1pm on Saturday, February 15.

She asked for people to be patient as a team of three goes through all of the messages and responds.

More: The new clinic on Facebook

“This was very sudden so we just need a little bit of time to get ourselves sorted,” she said, “but we are triaging. We are paying attention to our Facebook. We are paying attention to our email. We just need a little bit of time to finish getting things sorted.”

What about my pet’s records?

Denroche said she and her team are locked out of the Great Slave Animal Hospital system and have no access to records but are “working on that.”

Don’t be too concerned if you weren’t able to get copies of your pet’s records, she added.

“There are backups. We’re not exactly sure when or how long it’s going to take for us to be able to get those records, but backups do exist. The records are safe. For the time being, we are working on a plan to get those records out to the people that they belong to.”

What about food and medication?

An ordering system is in place, accounts are set up and orders of food and medication should start arriving “within a couple of weeks,” Denroche said.

Specialty food will be prioritized and if your pet needs specialist food, you should contact the Aurora clinic to be put on the list for priority ordering.

“I fully expect that within a couple of weeks, we should at least be able to get people their food, get people their drugs,” said Denroche.

My pet’s remains were at Great Slave Animal Hospital.

Anyone who had their pet recently cremated at Great Slave Animal Hospital and had yet to collect the ashes will be looked after, Denroche said.

“We have arranged for them to be held in a safe location,” she said of ashes awaiting collection.

“We will be reaching out to people with the location to pick them up probably within the next couple of weeks. But they are all safe and we have access to them. Nobody’s pet is locked in the clinic.”

How do I help?

“What we need primarily is people’s patience, people’s willingness to work with us in our more limited capacity, and just the understanding and the love and support they’ve already given us has been incredible,” said Denroche.

She encouraged anyone offering financial support to direct it toward the NWT SPCA, which “will be giving us a lot of help during this time and who are always there for animals in need.”

What is the longer-term plan?

Denroche confirmed her intention is to run the Aurora clinic as a Yellowknife home for pet care for many years into the future.

Noting the ongoing nationwide shortage of veterinarians, she added: “We have business for at least two or three veterinarians in this city, probably more than that.”

The new clinic will aim to bring up locums and students.

“Maybe some of them will stay, because that’s how you do it, right? You bring them up here and they fall in love,” she said.