Vets Go Upscale to Care for Pets (and Their Owners)

Rebecca Hilton, 34, who lives in Santa Monica, Calif., joined Modern Animal after adopting two kittens, Pinot and Lula, last year and has made use of the company’s app to communicate with the office. She has talked to the doctor via video-chat and has used the app to ask questions and send photos.

“I may have called at 2 a.m. once when one of the cats was acting weird,” she said. “It’s helpful not to have to go in every time.”

The health system for pets is advancing in other ways that mirror human health care. Meridian Veterinary Real Estate, a developer founded in Dallas in 2016, builds animal hospitals of 10,000 to 25,000 square feet with departments for surgery, oncology, internal medicine and other specialties — often equipped with as much as $10 million in equipment for things like X-rays, CT scans and M.R.I.s.

Such developers work with architecture firms versed in vet design, including Rauhaus Freedenfeld Associates, which is fielding twice as many calls for new business as it did before the pandemic, said Warren Freedenfeld, a principal at the firm.

His business and others design interiors with materials that absorb noise — both high frequency (howling) and low frequency (barking) — and without free-standing columns or sharp corners that might invite a dog to lift a leg. Clinics are designed to be “fear free” with soothing colors and, often, separate zones for cats and dogs.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/business/vets-pet-care-pandemic.html