A new pet hospital in west Olympia is helping ease the crunch for vet care. Here’s how

Blue Pearl opened its pet hospital in west Olympia on Wednesday, turning a 16,000-square-foot office building on Heritage Court Southwest into a destination for pets with emergency medical needs. Heritage Court is near U.S. 101 and the Thurston County Courthouse.

The hospital, which came to South Sound as part of a merger with Olympia Veterinary Specialists, will operate 24/7, serving mostly small animals, cats and dogs, said medical director and neurologist Dan Hicks.

"Occasionally we have pocket pets (guinea pigs, hamsters, etc.) and exotic animals that are welcome to come for evaluation," he said. "And if we can't provide the services they need, we certainly can get them to where they need to be."

That might be at Blue Pearl's location in Lakewood, which is home to an avian and exotics veterinarian specialist, said Hicks, who was previously medical director there before coming to Olympia.

"Olympia is just an exciting opportunity for us," he said.

So what constitutes an emergency in the pet world? Hicks said that can include vomiting, diarrhea and acute trauma.

"The dog got into something or they've suddenly become ill from an infectious disease or something like that," he said. "Those cases often present to us after hours or on weekends when regular veterinarians are closed. So our emergency hospital is here for those very sick pets in the times that they need it, and our emergency veterinarians collaborate very closely with our specialists."

Blue Pearl has specialists in surgery, neurology, radiology and oncology, or treating cancer in pets.

"Those specialists are here to take on the more complex cases that may need their services," he said. "So that collaboration between ER and specialty is very vital in accomplishing our goal for medical quality and patient safety."

Blue Pearl also has what Hicks called, "multiple cross-sectional imaging modalities."

"In other words, we have MRI, we have CT, we have all the latest diagnostic capabilities here," he said.

The demand for emergent care

The Olympia area has other, smaller animal hospitals, but the demand for those services has been high, and pet owners in an emergency situation have encountered no openings or very long wait times.

That's why some area animal hospital operators are welcoming Blue Pearl's arrival.

Rindi McGrath is a veterinarian and area chief of staff for Banfield Pet Hospital, which has two locations in the Olympia area and third coming in April, she said.

Banfield is focused on preventative care for animals, but there are times when pets need those specialized services offered by Blue Pearl, she said.

"And for them to expand and be right down the road is great," McGrath said.

Banfield is a sister practice to Blue Pearl because both operate under a larger organization called Mars Inc.

McGrath thinks that pets are much more integral to families than ever before and so there has been an uptick in pet ownership and related services.

It's not just a need for more pet hospitals.

"We need more veterinarian professionals out there, and schools can only keep with the demand so much," she said.

Medical Director Hicks thinks Blue Pearl can play a role in addressing demand.

"We feel like we'll be able to help reduce that difficulty in getting seen in a prompt situation," he said.

He acknowledged, though, that wait times, similar to most hospitals, will vary, depending on the caseload.

"We triage pets in a way that those that are most critical, and most in need of services, will be seen first," he said. "So wait times could be very short, or they could be extended, and it depends on what's happening real time at that moment."

But Blue Pearl is here to help, he said.

"To that end, we have state of the art facilities and state of the art doctors and support staff to help us accomplish that," Hicks said.