Hello, and welcome to the Pawsome Vet Care!

Pawsome Vet Care is a team of four veterinarians—Marie Bates, Sara Dupré, Courtney Snyder, and Alexis Soutter—and a Certified Veterinary Technician, Erika Collier, opening a small animal practice in Enfield, CT. We all met while working at Manchester Veterinary Clinic, and when that clinic changed ownership, we decided to build a practice for ourselves in one of the most under-served areas in Connecticut.

We want to be real with you. Veterinary care is one of the most rewarding professions in the world, but it also can be stressful. Our patients don’t always understand what’s happening, and they get scared. Sometimes, they bite or scratch, and we can get injured. Their humans—our clients—love their pets, and so emotions often run high, especially when dealing with a very sick patient. Where there is life, there is also loss, and grief is hard for everyone. Veterinary care costs money, sometimes a lot of it, because we have advances now that weren’t even dreamed of 20 or 30 years ago. And the teams who take care of the patients, who love them and baby talk them, who celebrate when they get better and grieve with you when they don’t, are all too often overworked and underpaid. All of this takes a toll on mental health; you may have seen this in the news, or the hashtag #NotOneMoreVet.

Our goal is to provide veterinary care that feels better—to the patients, the clients, and the care team. We’ve designed our practice carefully to help reduce environmental stressors to our patients, with everything from the floor type to the color palette to the holding kennels carefully selected to be less scary. We are all Fear FreeTM Certified, and experienced in low-stress handling, and we want to work with our clients from day one to help make vet visits more pleasant for each of our patients.

For our clients, our goal is to be fully transparent. We want you to understand what is happening with your pet, what we recommend and why, and how much that costs. Each patient is unique and each situation is different, and we want to provide the best possible care within your means. Communication is critical to this, and we emphasize client education: if you know what the problem is, it makes it easier to follow through with treatment, and recognize if the plan isn’t working as desired. If we’re not able to provide the care that your pet needs, we will help to refer them to a facility who can. And while we can’t make our patients live forever, we have both indoor and outdoor spaces designed to make saying goodbye more peaceful.

A veterinary clinic is nothing without their care team. As a private clinic, we are not beholden to shareholders; we can prioritize the welfare of the people who help us take outstanding care of our patients and their humans day in and day out. In a profession where support staff often have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, we pledge to pay our team a true living wage, and not push them to the point of burnout. Our practice manager Erika is certified in aiding with Compassion Fatigue (CCFP), and addressing the inherent stressors of the field is a priority from day one.

This page will be devoted to helping teach people about animals. We’ll answer common questions, tell some stories, and educate about how to make visiting the vet easier for your pets. You can visit our Facebook page if you want to ask questions, share any of our posts, or get to know us better. Even if you don’t live near Enfield, CT, we hope you’ll enjoy spending some virtual time with us!