Longtime Newport veterinarian to close shop, open mobile vet service

• Newport vet

Dr. Chuck Kratt of the Newport Pet Clinic treats Lenny, a boxer, for a leg joint injury using a veterinary orthopedic manipulation device along the dog’s spine. The procedure is painless. Bulletin photo by Scott Wente

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After 40 years at his Newport Pet Clinic, Dr. Chuck Kratt is hitting the road.

Kratt is transitioning from running a veterinary clinic along Hastings Avenue in Newport to offering similar veterinary care through a mobile service.

Within a few weeks Kratt will close the doors of his veterinary office at 1750 Hastings Avenue and start meeting clients — and their small animals — at their home. He’ll equip his Chevy Equinox with portable veterinary equipment and start making house calls as East Metro Mobile Veterinary Services.

“Whatever we do in this room basically we can do at their house,” Kratt said recently while treating Lenny, a purebred boxer, in one of two exam rooms at the Newport Pet Clinic. Kratt will perform minor surgeries out of his home in Oakdale. He mostly treats dogs, cats and rabbits, but has also treated turtles and guinea pigs.

Suburban Rental, which is Newport Pet Clinic’s neighbor to the south, is purchasing Kratt’s building for a possible expansion.

“It’s something I was thinking about over the last year or two,” Kratt said of selling the building and going mobile.

Kratt opened his veterinary office in February 1972, rebuilding the interior of the converted home in 1975. He’s been there ever since.

As with other medical professions, technology has changed veterinary services, particularly in the last two decades or so, Kratt said. He started practicing acupuncture in the 1980s and got interested in alternative therapies that can be used in conjunction with traditional medical treatments. He and other veterinarians now use laser therapies.

Pet ownership has changed, too. For example, Kratt said, if a veterinarian 20 years ago suggested an animal be seen for a back adjustment, the owner probably wouldn’t even consider that treatment. Now Kratt treats many animals for that reason.

Also, Kratt said, people consult the Internet for medical information about their pets just as they do for themselves.

“When they’ve talked to us, they’ve already looked it up,” he said.

Kratt said he is sending information about the business change to the roughly 1,000 clients he has seen in the past three years. Most of his clients are in Newport, Woodbury, St. Paul Park and Cottage Grove, which makes up 65 percent of his client base.

Most clients he has talked with in recent weeks were receptive to the change to a mobile service, Kratt said.

“Hopefully things continue to work out,” he said.

For more information, contact Dr. Chuck Kratt at the Newport Pet Clinic at 651-459-2152. The telephone number will remain the same when he transfers the business to East Metro Mobile Veterinary Services.

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