BY JILL NAGY
North Country Veterinary Referral in
Queensbury is a new medical specialist
group for animals. In the first three months
the practice has been operating, they have
received referrals for internal medicine,
surgery, cardiology, oncology, orthopedics
and dermatology.
“If there is an ology, we have a specialist
for it,” said Dr. Matt Brunke, director of the
new clinic. They also provide hospice care
and physical therapy.
Previously, people in the Queensbury area
had to take their animals to Tufts Veterinary
School in Boston, to the Cornell University
Veterinary College in Ithaca, or to Montreal
for specialized care. Now, they have a facility
close to home, Brunke said.
Husband and wife veterinarian team Dr.
James Keller and Dr. Andrea Kitson Keller
own the new facility. They continue to operate
their own veterinary practice, Countryside
Veterinary Hospital, just up the road.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Keller said.
“People keep telling me that they are going
to miss me, but while I will be CEO of the
new clinic, I will keep doing what I am doing
at Countryside.”
Brunke is responsible for the day-to-day
operation of the referral clinic. There is a
staff of eight veterinary specialists, some full
time and others, working there part time.
Generally, they work as a team. “Folks are
looking for options,” Brunke said, “and we do
some things regular vets don’t do.”
The new clinic does not provide primary
care.
The owners “had the foresight to see
that the area needed a specialty veterinary
practice,” Brunke said, and they asked him
to oversee that practice. Before coming to
Queensbury, he had a similar practice in
Albany for 15 or 20 years.
Patients are referred to the facility by
other veterinarians. On some days, Brunke
said, they see 10 or 12 patients; on other days,
even more. The clinic is open six days a week.
The most common issues, so far, have been cancer, torn ACLs and “a lot of eye issues,”
including cataracts and injuries, he reported.
Referrals have come from Plattsburgh,
Lake Placid, up and down the Northway as
far south as Catskill and into Vermont, as well
as from the Queensbury area, Brunke said.
Like all medical care these days, the
services of a veterinary specialist can be
costly. Nationally, only about 2 percent of
people carry medical insurance for their
pets, Brunke said. “We try to be practical
about fees,” he said, offering “care credit,”
deferred interest, and special credit cards
for pet care.
The new clinic is in the former ASPCA
building at 454 Queensbury Ave. The telephone
number is 480-4250. Its website is
www.northcountryvets.com.