A Cat Lover Finds a Vet in Asheville, NC

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by Willetta Thomson
on Monday, March 30, 2009

Finding a vet in Asheville wasn't easy when I moved here four years ago. My three tabbies were stressed by our flight from the Rust Belt. They had lost the ten-acre farm that was their hunting ground in Northern Ohio, as well as the tender care of a gruff but well-trained farm vet, who had nurtured each of them from kitten hood into a full-fledged mouse-killing machine.

My cat Clifford had a dead leg from an injury and a not-very-well-remade paw (the original was lost to circulatory problems), as well as an immune disorder. Where to go for Clifford and his pride mates? I chose to go to a very stylish vetinary practice on the North side of Asheville, which was near to my work. Many hundreds of dollars later, as I stormed and cried in that clinic's chaotic waiting room, my Clifford traumatized by endless and unnecessary waits, I decided to try again. Clifford's paw was still unhealed, and his immune problem had worsened. The fashionable vet at the stylish clinic had spoken of amputation, with some indifference to the fact that Clifford, originally feral, lived only to hunt and kill. When shut indoors, he stopped eating from depression.

I made phone call after phone call, only to find that many overburdened vets had shut their practices! I felt abandoned and frightened that I would not find care for my cats. Finally, I followed my instincts; something had drawn me to Asheville. I trusted that spirit, chose a vet from the Yellow Pages, and called Haw Creek Animal Hospital. I was assured that Dr. Heather Sinclair would see Clifford and my other two cats.

And so began a beautiful relationship between Haw Creek and my cats. Dr. Sinclair biopsied Clifford's unhealing paw, correctly diagnosed the problem, twice reconstructed the pads (Clifford chewed out the first set of stitches), and, by reducing Clifford's chronic pain, helped his immune system heal. Clifford and my other cats now hunt and kill on a half-acre in Weaverville, happy, free and in charge of their individual cat destinies. And yes, the doctor and her staff saved the life of another of my cats, but that's another story. As is my adoption of Little Guy Fawkes, my black and white kitten, placed on my heart by a fostering Dr. Sinclair.

Here is the link should a reader be in quest of a vet in Asheville:
http://www.hawcreekanimalhospital.com/

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