The Belize Animal Center first caught our attention back in 2004 – when we hard about their service of pet grooming. Well, tonight the news is that they have moved on up – to a new location with a new range of services. It's an interesting business model because the expanded facility is owned and operated by two women.
We visited their new digs at #1 Mike DeShield Street in Belama Phase two:
Monica Bodden Reporting
Jane Crawford and Miriam Deshield are pioneers. As the owners of the newly opened Animal Medical Center they are businesswomen – who've gone out on a limb to set up what is basically Belize's first hospital for pets:
Miriam Deshield - Administrator
"I think it's a great thing, two women who are running a business. I think it - I don't know if it exists anywhere else. We aren't related, so there is no family thing going on here. So, I would like to know if there is anywhere else in Belize like this. So, I think it's a great thing; it's wonderful."
And it's a wonderful experience for the dogs who visit – like Pizza the Labdrador. He came in looking sick, but after a consult in one of three vet offices, he seemed quite upbeat:
Monique Hulse - Pizza's Owner
"She is not well because she had breathnig issues. She likes to play with the water that is full of mosquitoes and she needs some medication for this."
The medication comes from this pharmacy – inside the clinic.
The standard dog grooming.
There's also a surgical theatre, A pre-op area, And a ward, yes, a ward – where this dog, like anyone else in a hospital seemed just to want to get out:
Miriam Deshield
"If a dog is ill and needs hospitalization, needs to be check on overnight, or needs something dealt with, that's like a hospital ward for us, so that the patient can stay in overnight or as long as he needs to."
And they don't only treat dogs:
Jane Crawford - Veterinary Surgeon
"We do a little bit of everything. When you look at a veterinary profession, you have wide range of animals. You can specialize in a particular area, but here in Belize, people have everything as pets. So, we would get an occasional bird, turtle, pet snakes, and we get in a lot of exotics, and we also do a lot of work with the zoo."
For the Animal Medical Center which was on Lancaster street for over a decade, the new facility is a giant step forward:
Miriam Deshield
"Well, we're taking a risk. I guess any business owner takes a risk, but we started almost 16 years ago, and we started with only 3 employees. We've built to 9, and our business is expanded. So we're just hoping that as we provide a better service, we can support the new equipment we hope to buy, and the building that we've invested in. We're taking a risk, but we're hoping that we can do a good service, and do well for Belize."
They moved into their new digs in September. And yes, the street is named after the founder of the Animal Center, the now deceased Mike DeShield.
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