There are three words that define Janesville Vet – advanced skills, kindness and compassion. Let me tell you my story.

When the landscaper weed whacked the bushes wearing their big headphones Spirit must have frozen in fear and they weed whacked him. I did not know and they did not tell me. I looked for him for hours. When I found him he was covered in blood with a big hole in his belly and most of the skin ripped off his leg. Panicked, I called my vet. They callously said they were triple booked ($) and I could call around or drive to Madison in my old car that barely makes it to Woodman’s. This is after I paid them for 10 years.

I really feel the angels took over as I was so distraught. I suddenly remembered the little house of flowers, 6 blocks away on Milwaukee street that had a sign saying ‘Janesville Veterinary Clinic’. When I got there with Spirit I barged through the door crying, please. please, help me, my cat is dying. From the back room came Doctor Michael Hotchkiss, who seemed 7 feet tall, and with a worried face he took Spirit. All the vet techs, about 5 of them, went with him to the back room to examine Spirit. They never asked if I had money or they did not have time, they just focused on the cat and stabilized him. Gave him pain medication. Doctor Mike came out after a while and said this is very serious, he had removed maggots from Spirit’s belly and stitched it up and said there were circular wounds on the leg from a weed whacker and the leg might have to be amputated. He said he wanted to try to save the leg but could not promise. I said please try and he went back in to work on the leg. It was a miracle because I came on the one day Dr Mike was at the east side clinic instead of the west side and he knew what to do and decided he was going to do it.

And so it began’ When Spirit came out, leg heavily bandaged, belly oozing because Dr Mike wanted it to be open a little, he said: every day we will put on new wet bandages. The vet techs were kissing little Spirit and volunteering to wet wrap the bandages every day ON THEIR LUNCH HOURS. No one asked me for money and when we finally talked about it Dr Mike’s priority was the cat.

I learned to love those vet techs who fussed over Spirit and called him their good boy. I learned there were rescued kittens in the back. I learned every Wednesday they stopped booking clients for two hours while the entire staff had seminars at the clinic to improve their skills. Their skills are very advanced. All the techs taught me something. All of them have animals, horses, dogs, cats and children, delightful animal loving articulate children. We fought off infections to Spirit’s belly and the vet techs watched that carefully , sending pictures from the east side clinic to the west side clinic depending where the doctors were.There are five doctors. Then, after several weeks, they changed from wet bandages to dry bandages and they said we were certain the flesh was growing back healthy. Remember, staff were giving up their lunch hours every day to do this. Spirit was still heavily medicated. And of course the other two cats developed bladder infections from the stress and Dr Mike, Dr Jennifer, and Dr Victoria took care of that too.

One day the bandages were removed for good. Dr Mike said there might be a slight limp but Spirit’s belly was clear of any infection and Spirit was putting weight on the leg. We kept Spirit on pain med for several weeks more until he got used to walking but he was saved. Today he walks without a limp. I and the cats would never have made it without the little vet house on Milwaukee street. The skill, the kindness, the compassion are rare. Dr Mike took a picture with Spirit for the Janesville Veterinary Clinic’s facebook page. Miracles do happen. I found the East side Janesville vet clinic I will stay with forever and you should too. They will care for your animal with skill and kindness.