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Riva Wolkow, veterinarian and owner of Village Animal Hospital in Dunwoody, stands in the hospital’s lobby Dec. 29. Wolkowopened Village Animal Hospital in April. She also owns Belle Isle Animal Hospital in Sandy Springs, which she opened in 2011.

Village Animal Hospital’s banner covers an old sign from when the space was corporately owned. The vet clinic is in Dunwoody Plaza off Dunwoody Village Parkway.

Village Animal Hospital has three exam rooms, but owner Riva Wolkow plans to add more and make the existing ones larger.

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DUNWOODY, Ga. — In April, Riva Wolkow took ownership of the veterinarian clinic in Dunwoody Plaza off Dunwoody Village Parkway. The old sign from when the space was corporately owned still hangs on the brick front, and another hides beneath the new Village Animal Hospital name.

Riva Wolkow, veterinarian and owner of Village Animal Hospital in Dunwoody, stands in the hospital’s lobby Dec. 29. Wolkowopened Village Animal Hospital in April. She also owns Belle Isle Animal Hospital in Sandy Springs, which she opened in 2011.

The slightly wrinkled banner with large, purple bubbly letters is characteristic of the culture — down to earth and friendly — the kind of culture where humans can expect their beloved companion to be treated with compassion.

There’s a vast difference between corporate and independently owned vet practices, said Wolkow, wearing scrubs with a slicked back ponytail ready for the day ahead. Her focus is clients, patients and patient care.

“We can treat each client, each patient as individuals,” she said. “To me, I want them to be more like family as opposed to numbers.”

Wolkow splits her time between Village and Belle Isle Animal Hospital in Sandy Springs, which she opened in 2011, to make herself present and to ensure that the culture of each practice is consistent with her values. A Dunwoody resident, Wolkow’s dream was opening a clinic in her city.

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Owning a vet clinic means Wolkow can do what she thinks is best. She isn’t told how to practice medicine and what meds to use. Corporations have a bad habit of pushing products onto owners, she said.

“I’m only going to offer you what I would do for my own pet,” Wolkow said.

At its 8 a.m. opening, reception was already busy. Like a mother to her baby, a vet tech used high-pitched speech to coddle a frightened pup on its way to the scale. The office manager, Linda Israel, sought feedback from Wolkow on patients before she stepped into her personal office space, which had a blue, padded dog mat on the floor, hair still clinging to it.

On Thursday, Dec. 29 Wolkow’s dogs weren’t around but they usually are, along with those of fellow veterinarian Ashlyn Roberts. Melanie Lucero, who was absent that day, is Village’s third vet and Wolkow’s former classmate at the University of Georgia’s vet school. There’s also five vet techs on staff.

Village Animal Hospital’s banner covers an old sign from when the space was corporately owned. The vet clinic is in Dunwoody Plaza off Dunwoody Village Parkway.

“The staff here is awesome,” Wolkow said. “Every one of us has stayed late to do an emergency surgery.”

The lobby of Village Animal Hospital is spacious with deep purple walls. The contemporary color palette is incorporated through its three, small exam rooms, which are decorated with animal portraits. Wolkow described a renovation on the horizon — to take away from the oversized lobby and create three new exam rooms, while combining two of the existing rooms for extra space.

“I like to sit on the floor,” Wolkow said. “I like to be able to talk to the owners and have the space.”

Sometimes stuck up on the table, sitting on the floor is less scary for her patients. Wolkow also has treats — anything to make animals more comfortable.

No day looks the same at the Village Animal Hospital. That morning, Wolkow was surprised with a drop-off before her first scheduled appointment — a dog who had been vomiting the night before and had bloody diarrhea. Later in the day, she was to perform a biopsy of a mass in one dog’s mouth, “healthy” appointments in between.

“Sometimes you get a euthanasia thrown in,” Wolkow said.

A veterinarians’ days are an emotional rollercoaster. One moment, Wolkow could put a dog down for the deepest kind of sleep — something you do “for a pet” and not “to a pet” — and the next, she could be greeting a new puppy.

Every life stage is important, she said, and it’s important to be there for the clients and their pets.

Village Animal Hospital has three exam rooms, but owner Riva Wolkow plans to add more and make the existing ones larger.

“We don't build a wall around our heart, you know, and especially those clients that you've had for years and years that you've seen as babies, and then they're 16 years old,” Wolkow said. “I've been in long enough to kind of have that whole life stage at this point in my career.”

Growing up with animals, she decided to be a vet at 3 years old. Wolkow never wanted to do anything else.

“I grew up in a family of human doctors and had no desire to do that,” she said. “I’d tease my dad – ‘If I don't get into vet school, I’ll go to med school as my backup.’”

Now, she has two dogs — Gasper and Peter, who is on his way to be a guide dog. Gasper had the same training but is too terrified of stairs. Wolkow also has two snakes and two sugar gliders.

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“[Animals] love unconditionally,” she said. “I would be lost without having dogs.”

As a veterinarian, a major issue Wolkow comes across is the lack of preventative care, especially with cats. Cats are underrepresented, she said. Oftentimes, the beginning stages of sickness in cats are too subtle to be detected. Cats get heartworms just like dogs do, Wolkow said, but for them, there’s no treatment — they’ll just die.

Clients should seek annual, if not bi-annual, exams, she said.

“If people would come in more often for preventative care, we're going to catch things on bloodwork before they actually get sick,” Wolkow said.

Reach Amber Perry at 770-847-8334. Follow her on Twitter @ambermarieperry. 

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