Aroostook Veterinary Services offers care for pet and farm animals

    Aroostook Veterinary Services on the Access Road, behind York’s of Houlton, offers a full range of services to pet and farm animals.
    “We are a full veterinary hospital service,” explained Dr. Patrick Coville. “We are a general service field practice, not a referral center or specialty practice.”
    Though it is hard to pinpoint the boundaries of AVS, Dr. Coville and his associates take on a general spectrum of animal medicine.
    “Services range from everything from the basic animal examinination, routine vaccinations to flea treatment and parasite control through to relatively extensive orthopedic surgery, bone repair, amputation or organ removal, if and when needed,” he said.
    Farm services include surgery on horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and the like, to basic care of livestock such as vaccinations, de-horning and parasite control.
    “We do moderately exotic field surgeries,” Dr. Coville added.
    AVS is what Dr. Coville refers to as “effectively a full pharmacy.”
    If AVS does not have a particular drug for the animal, the veterinarians can provide written prescriptions for their clients to take advantage of better pricing on the Internet or in catalogs.
    “The scripts usually address the purchase of an exotic drug that is needed for a unique problem in a pet,” Dr. Coville said.
    For an example, he said that epileptic animals do not always control well with a standard medicine. Instead, they need an exotic drug that AVS scripts out.
    AVS houses its own diagnostic lab for blood work, as well.
    “We can run blood work on every species we see from organ functions to evaluating anemia and infection,” said Dr. Coville. “AVS is a veterinary hospital package.”
    AVS is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the first hour dedicated to check-in and arrangements, with appointments being held starting at 9 a.m. During the open appointment hours and on weekends, AVS is also providing farm checks. For those who work a full week and cannot squeeze out some personal time, AVS is open the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon for appointments.
    “That time is for those people who need weekend accommodations for their personal work schedules,” said Dr. Coville.
     AVS opened its doors in Houlton in July of 1983.
    It was through recruitment efforts by local individuals who brought AVS, or Dr. Coville, to the area to set up his practice.
    “In 1982, Mike Carpenter was a senator and he sent me a letter paired with two other letters, one from the local humane society and the other from the Aroostook County 4-H group leaders,” recalled Dr. Coville. “Those three letters were a barrage of come visit with us and think about Houlton. They were good salesmen.”
    At the same time, Francis Pierce was a significant individual getting Dr. Coville to the area as was Jim Baressi of NMDC, who “packaged our financial ability to open the practice,” added Dr. Coville.
    Besides, Dr. Coville, AVS has now added two more veterinarians — Dr. Emily Beard and Dr. Amber Cull-Fournier — along with Candy Stairs, office manager and technicians, Phyllis Clement, Liz Neal and Becky Perry.
    “That’s what it takes to meet the needs of the community right now,” smiled Dr. Coville.
    Each of the veterinarians are considered “generalists.” Each veterinarian can have an exclusive field such as small animal, farm, equine or mixed.
    “We are all general practitioners,” said Dr. Coville. “In the industry, it’s called mixed practice because we do both farm and small animal [field of] medicine. In the practice to cater to client needs and make the practice work well, we all have our focal area.”
    Dr. Emily’s primary focus is farm animals for the production of food fiber, eggs, meat, poultry and such, while Dr. Amber is primarily small animal.
    “We are all interchangeable and we can cover for each other if need be,” Dr. Coville said. “Our primary duties fall to those areas mentioned.”
    Dr. Coville also works part-time for the USDA
     “But, related to the USDA in our office, we provide international health certificates for animals traveling abroad, along with their preparatory blood work. It is very common to send animals back and forth across the border to Canada under health certificates which fall under USDA and foreign government regulations. In the industry it’s called regulatory medicine, it’s not clinical,” he said.
    Dr. Coville added that his work at the USDA is a way to help prevent the movement and spread of diseases to other countries and states benefit, too.
    Nearly 30 years later, Dr. Coville enjoys his practice in the Shiretown.
    “This is a good community,” he said. “That is why I am still here and that is why AVS has added two more veterinarians. They also think it’s worth putting down an effort here, as well.”
    To reach AVS call 532-4081.