Animal House: Deerfield Veterinary Hospital

Founded: 1992

Address: 2850 S. Ingram Mill Road, Springfield, MO 65804

Phone: (417) 889-2727

Fax: (417) 889-5456

Web site: www.deerfieldvet.com

Services: Full-service animal hospital providing medical and surgical care, boarding and grooming services

Employees: 12

Drs. Edward Caldwell and Denise Roche-Caldwell have reached a bittersweet anniversary with Deerfield Veterinary Hospital.

The hospital has now outlived many of the patients that “Dr. Ned” and “Dr. Denise” cared for when the clinic first opened in 1992.

“Unfortunately, some of the pets we’ve seen as puppies and kittens, we’re losing them now because we’ve been taking care of them for so long,” Roche-Caldwell says. “In some ways, it’s sad, but it’s also an honor that we’ve been able to take care of them for so long and improve not only the pet’s quality of life but the owner’s quality of life.”

Deerfield Hospital, which provides medical and surgical care for smaller animals as well as grooming and boarding services, has improved a lot of lives in 15 years – last year alone, the clinic saw more than 500 new patients. Ned Caldwell says about 85 percent of company revenue comes from medical and surgical services, with the rest coming from boarding and grooming.

The couple declined to disclose revenue totals.

Caldwell says about 70 percent of the company’s patients are dogs and about 30 percent are cats. But, he says, that wasn’t always the case.

“When we started, part of the strategy was to be as full-service as possible,” he said, “and Dr. Denise had a special interest in the exotic.”

How exotic? Caldwell says the biggest job the hospital ever performed was removing a small tumor from a 20-foot-long ball python.

“That’s definitely the strangest pet,” he said.

Starting small

Colleen Hargis, who has been bringing her family pets to the Caldwells for eight years, says she visited four different veterinarians before finding Deerfield.

“The whole team knows how important our pets are in our life, and they don’t discount our joys and sorrows with our pets,” says Hargis, a teacher at Springfield Catholic High School. “They treat our pets as importantly as our pediatrician treats our children.”

The loyal client base is a far cry from the hospital’s beginnings; the couple decided to build their own practice, from the ground up, just one year after graduating from veterinary school at University of Missouri-Columbia.

“When you’re 25, you think you can do anything,” Roche-Caldwell says.

After borrowing from a relative for a down payment and securing a U.S. Small Business Administration loan, the couple built their $350,000 facility at 2850 S. Ingram Mill Road, across the street from Ned Caldwell’s alma mater, Glendale High School.

“I don’t know if I’d recommend that route for everybody,” she says. “There were times when we said, ‘OK, do we eat this month?’ We weren’t typical, but we were fortunate.”

Two things haven’t changed for the couple, according to Caldwell – he says that both the business and their relationship have flourished, despite the fact that they are partners in business and in life.

“That was my biggest fear,” he says. “But I don’t feel any differently now than I did the day we started – which was that we were going to do great and it would work, and that we would find the advantages rather than the disadvantages.”

‘Trusted friends’

The hospital’s clients, including PC Net Account Manager Kathleen Williams, are glad the Caldwells’ business has thrived. Williams has taken her pets to Deerfield since the hospital first opened, and she says it’s the couple’s attention to detail that keeps her coming back, especially with her Chihuahua, Minnie, who tips the scale at 2 pounds.

“She has some special requirements, and they take all the special precautions for her because of her size,” Williams said. “I have all the confidence in the world that they’ll take good care of her, and they always have. They’re trusted friends.”

Roche-Caldwell says that, as the hospital celebrates its latest milestone, she doesn’t anticipate stopping any time soon.

“We’ve done better than we ever projected,” she says. “We’ve been very fortunate, blessed. We have wonderful clients, a great staff, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Furry Family Members

The Caldwell family includes six members and 16 legs.

In addition to Ned and Denise Caldwell and their two children – 6-year-old Margaret and 4-year-old Lily – the family includes 11-year-old Jack Russell terrier Chicory and a 15-year-old cat named Boo.

Ned Caldwell says the family probably won’t add any more pets for now, both because of the young children and because of the work involved.

“We care a great deal about our pets,” he says. “They’ve always been family members, so we feel like we need to be able to devote a great deal of time to them, which is tough when you have two-legged kids in the house.”