White Fence Living

Paws, Claws, and Flying Birds: When Vet Work Goes Hilariously Wrong

• Justin Rush • Season 1 • Episode 3

Share episode

Send us a text

Amy Wagner and Jessica, the dynamic duo behind Animals Are Special veterinary practice, bring warmth, humor, and professional insight to this engaging conversation about caring for New Albany's beloved pets since 2011.

Their journey parallels New Albany's remarkable growth—from when a Giant Eagle was the commercial highlight to today's bustling landscape with "two Chipotles." As the community expanded around them, their practice evolved from well water to city utilities, symbolizing how seamlessly they've integrated into the fabric of New Albany life.

The veterinary team shares hilarious mishaps (like birds escaping during COVID lockdown) and touching stories that reveal the heart behind their practice. While they primarily treat cats and dogs, their occasional adventures with "pocket pets," chickens, and even a turkey named Bentley Snook demonstrate their flexibility and dedication to all animals—though they're quick to joke about their comfort zones!

Beyond medical care, Amy and Jessica emphasize their deep community connections. As avid runners participating in local 5Ks and supporters of community initiatives, they've created relationships that extend far beyond the examination room. They offer valuable advice for New Albany pet owners about preventative care, noting the unique challenges created by the community's beautiful preservation of wildlife and green spaces.

Jessica's passion for canine massage therapy highlights the practice's specialized offerings. This therapeutic approach provides significant benefits for working dogs, show competitors, and pets with orthopedic issues—though some energetic pups struggle to remain still long enough to receive the full benefits!

Whether you're a longtime New Albany resident or new to the area, Animals Are Special welcomes you with their self-described "organized chaos" of good music, staff pets, and genuine care for both animals and their humans. Ready to experience veterinary care that truly makes you feel part of the community? Your pet's health adventure awaits!

Support the show

Justin:

All right, we're ready to go. So welcome to White Fence Living Podcast. I have Jessica and Amy Dr Wagner right. Yep, do you have a preference?

Amy:

Amy is completely fine. Okay, perfect, thank you.

Justin:

So welcome to the show.

Amy:

Thank you, thanks for having us.

Justin:

Yeah, no problem, let's just start with introduction, right, Amy? If you want to start, just tell us a little bit about you. Your career path, your role at Animals Are Special.

Amy:

Okay, my name is Amy Wagner. I am the owner and the primary veterinarian at Animals Are Special. My husband and I moved here in 2011 and purchased the practice in 2011. So it makes me feel super old, but we have been a part of community for that time. We have two girls and second and fourth grade and, yeah, just really watching the community grow has been relatively insane. In fairness, like we had a giant eagle when I moved here and now we have two Chipolites, so yeah, but that's, that's pretty much me.

Amy:

I graduated from Ohio State years and years ago from vet school, and my husband is also a teacher here. Oh, wow. Yeah, so we have been here for it seems like forever now. You always joke, you'll do something else. Yeah, yeah.

Jess:

But you've always wanted to be a veterinarian, yeah we're like the teacher and the veterinarian, so it works out really well.

Justin:

Yeah, thank you. What does he teach he? He teach, he teaches eighth grade math.

Amy:

Nice, yeah, so my oldest is in sixth. Okay, he'll be in seventh next year. Yeah, yeah, he'll be going to the junior high, then yeah, moving out of the intermediate, yep talk about feeling old.

Justin:

I know, I know I used to be like the young vet.

Amy:

And now I'm like, oh yeah, not so much anymore and I've got a second grader, so we've I'm sure we've crossed paths yeah, don't ask me, teachers, I can't. I know I can, I can't. It is Mr Vonties. Give you a shout out, babe.

Justin:

Perfect, perfect, awesome, jess, go ahead.

Jess:

My name is Jessica. I have been with the practice since a little after you purchased it. I'm a registered veterinary technician. I always joke. We both joke. We have days where like we should probably do something else. There's always hilarious things, but I've never thought about doing anything else. I love what I do, so I've been doing it for a long time.

Justin:

Yeah.

Jess:

Yeah, but in the community that long and, like you said, everything's always changing, but for the better. I think it's super fun to watch it grow, and the practice has grown so much since I started. It's crazy Just when you think you've got it all figured out, then something else wild happens and it's been fun.

Justin:

That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, the growth is good right.

Amy:

It's good for business More homes, more pets. Yeah, that's. True, absolutely so uh yeah, I've.

Justin:

I've been here, I don't know, maybe, maybe almost 15 years.

Amy:

Yeah, um so, yeah, it's crazy how much it's grown.

Justin:

It's been awesome, definitely sweet. So tell me about the practice, right? So animals are special. The name kind of implies what you do, so tell me maybe there's like some specifics, right, is there, is there a specialty that you have at your office or is it just like so?

Amy:

so yeah, tell me about animals are special we were thinking about that on the way in because we didn't want to like overstep what we really did. But we primarily do just domestic animals. Cats and dogs is like our primary thing. But occasionally people will like to bring their pocket pets and birds and things into us which uh, throws us for a loop. So we don't like to overstep on that. But yeah, we primarily just do cats and dogs. I would say, just very basic stuff really. Yeah, oh, you come on, you don't give yourself enough credit, so say so Just very basic stuff really.

Jess:

Yeah, oh you come on. You don't give yourself enough credit. We do more than the basic stuff. You do lots of stuff Fair.

Justin:

Yeah, I was reading some bios. We'll get into some of that. There's some interesting things going on there.

Jess:

Yeah, it's super fun, I mean I guess the other thing is this community has evolved and when we started there wasn't emergency vet. You just kind of had two major players in the game and now we have so many amazing emergency facilities just in this location, and so what's really cool is we are able to refer to experts that have niche things, which is super helpful for us because we get to focus on things that you know are kind of in our wheelhouse and you don't feel like, you know, we have experts out there doing a good job and other things. So that's super helpful for us Awesome.

Justin:

So in the human world, you're just like, you're like yeah, okay, perfect yeah.

Amy:

Like your family doctor, yeah something like that.

Justin:

That's awesome. All right, so I have just a quick exercise that I think could be fun just to get to know you guys, and that is so. If you were a pet and you were hanging out in New Albany, what kind of pet would you be and where would you go?

Amy:

That is so easy for me, that's easy. I would be a golden retriever and I would go to BrewDog hands down, yes.

Justin:

That's a great idea.

Jess:

German Shepherd and I'd be hanging out at either Rose Run or the new Taylor Farms Park because I want to hike and do all the things.

Amy:

In fairness, she also does that and she's a human. That is fairness, but with your dog right yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, and I also do that as a human I hang out with my dog, I love that.

Justin:

I mean, I would totally come get some drinks with you after. But yeah, Taylor.

Jess:

Farm I love. Oh, it's fabulous over there, right yeah. It's a great place.

Justin:

The kids just run wild there.

Jess:

Yeah, I'm not so sure how I'm going to feel it in the summer as a runner, like like as a runner? There's not a lot of shade going on over there, but as a park.

Amy:

Fix that for us.

Justin:

The runners would be appreciative yeah, I know some people at the city but they put those shady parts.

Amy:

We need some more trees out there but it's going to be beautiful.

Jess:

Honestly, in those little picnic areas they have, I could see a lot of our clients hanging out having a picnic with their dog. Yeah, and if they're not, that's a great idea.

Justin:

They should probably start doing that for sure, I take my dog there. So I've got a gsp lab mix um german short hair pointer and he is a uh professionally trained bird dog wow, that's exciting a nut. So he's.

Jess:

He's two years old, he's taylor farms is where you need to be then there's lots of birds there oh, it's terrible's terrible.

Justin:

He just runs and he just winds.

Amy:

That's awesome. He winds and points rowdy. Oh, that's cute. Of course, it is Perfect. That's a good name, that's unique. Yes, that's good.

Justin:

It fits.

Amy:

That's awesome. He's a mess, love it.

Justin:

Yeah, so all know your, your, your social presence, right so in in. You both live in new Albany, is that?

Jess:

I do, I do not. I live outside of the community, Um, but I get the most of both worlds. I live on some country land so, but I get the really nice city. I love being welcomed here. It's been nice.

Justin:

Yeah, awesome, so yeah, so tell me about the practice or you guys as individuals, like your connection to the community.

Amy:

I mean for me like, this is where I've had both kids, my kids, this is where we're raising our family. We're super connected, obviously, to the schools through not just our kids, through my husband. My kids are very involved in sports. You talked about coaching you sports, so I also have had my fair share of coaching youth sports whether I wanted to or not, I've learned a lot about soccer.

Amy:

So, yeah, I think then, having the practice too, we've been able to contribute to various things, whether we are physically there or, you know, financially supporting some of these initiatives. Our practice too, like we are, jess and I both are avid runners, so we participate a lot in the 5Ks. We participate in the turkey trot run by Casey and his family, so I think it just you know, there's just.

Jess:

We try to do as much as we can. I mean, that's how I'm connected, right Like I love working here. The community and the work community and the entrepreneurs that are here are amazing. I love learning, like our clients, especially like it's so everyone's so connected and you get to understand what they're doing in the community and support their business. And so, even though I don't immediately live in New Albany, it's so nice because I still come here and bring my family here and like check out new businesses and parks and do all the events that are around. That's something very important to me.

Justin:

Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. I mean new businesses, it's getting crazy right. Central College like.

Jess:

I drove by there.

Justin:

I was like where am I?

Amy:

Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, I could see forever.

Justin:

Yeah and then some new development going in, like behind Eagles Pizza, yep.

Jess:

I saw the plans for that pretty cool yep, how like looking at our windows and seeing all the way almost to the freeway is wild, yeah, so wild oh yeah, good, I mean good's going to be good. I like being connected. Something important is like when we step out to get a breath of fresh air and we walk out and you can just be within walking distance of all these businesses and cool places to hang out. It's really nice.

Justin:

Yeah, so how is it so? So is, uh, I'm assuming, like this development that's coming around your building is is is going to be super beneficial, right.

Amy:

I think so.

Amy:

yeah, and just how, even for us, like I don't know, I'd have to ask Mike Barker again what the date was but you know, he was able to help us to more assimilate into the community with having a road going by us and the landscaping and helping us maintain that and, truthfully, before he reached out to us, we were on well water and so he helped our practice to be able to be assimilated into the 21st century and be on city water. So I really appreciated how they you know who would- involve us in that.

Jess:

Yeah, I would say, and at one point it was like market square was market square, but it seems like it's all trickling over and we've got that whole line of really nice businesses that are like developed around us all of a sudden and it feels good to like we're starting to be integrated and know each other. The new coffee place across the street can't wait to check that out.

Justin:

So yeah, jake, right, jake's doing that. When's that gonna?

Amy:

open? I don't know, don't, don't get going on that instagram I'm excited. I know you keep saying it's coming, it's coming. We don't want to add stress to jake's life.

Justin:

I'm gonna have to get jake on, yeah, yeah we need to know, and then we can drill them yeah, we need to know what's going on over there. It's beautiful, though it is literally so beautiful. It does look great.

Amy:

That's a cool building it is a cool building.

Justin:

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome um all right, let's, let's get into some, some pet stories oh good, we figured you're gonna ask us.

Amy:

We knew we had to like censor our stories.

Justin:

Yeah, we can leave pets and owners anonymous.

Amy:

Yeah, we'll try not to be too gross yeah, like do you have a specific question or what do you want us to say?

Justin:

No, no. So if there's anything that stands out, that is just like a wild story, like something crazy that's happened at the office.

Jess:

I think the time the birds got loose in the clinic was bad, yeah we used to like help people trim their um. Birds feathers their flying feathers, their wings, what are?

Amy:

they called. This is why we stick to cats and dogs, so we both have experience doing pocket pets and things.

Jess:

Obviously we as part of our teaching, but it's not always something that we are like yes, let's do, it're so excited. But we had two little birds and a cat carrier come in and we thought we had a plan and it was a all right, I'm going to open it and you swoop them up. But uh, the you swoop it up, part didn't quite, it didn't quite hit, and so off went the birds and they were in the exam room. But we have these beautiful barn door sliders and it slipped behind and out it went. Thank god it was during covid, so nobody was in our building, so we were on lockdown. Anyway, but it was a little bit of a situation we had to that was the last time we did bird correct wings, bird wings wings apparently, yeah, yeah so we ran around the hospital with little towels and blankets trying to collect said birds.

Jess:

It took a hot second but we did good. We got around the hospital with little towels and blankets trying to collect said birds. It took a hot second but we did good.

Justin:

The birds were unscathed.

Jess:

Yeah, the birds were great. They did get their wings trimmed, so they could not do that anymore.

Amy:

And then we told the parent that that's the last time we'll be seeing them. No more birds, no more birds, no more feathers. Yep, yeah.

Justin:

So what is a pocket? A pocket pet is like? Is that like any small?

Amy:

Yeah, like a guinea pig. Turtles, no, those are reptiles.

Jess:

Oh, fun fact, she doesn't like snakes.

Amy:

I do not like snakes so I prefer not to have those kind of things into our office, but I will do snakes yeah.

Justin:

Yeah.

Jess:

We one time sent you a picture on vacation.

Justin:

We had a snake come in and we we were like we can take care of this.

Amy:

And we sent her a little pic and she was like is that in my office right now?

Justin:

I'm like nope, I'm not crazy about snakes either I can do.

Amy:

They creep me out my kids will just pick them up.

Justin:

Oh god, no, absolutely not. Like you have no idea what. I guess most snakes around here are safe, but still I mean, what else we had?

Amy:

we've had, uh, some chickens, we've had a couple turkey yeah, jared from play all day would bring us his turkey.

Justin:

Thank you, jared, for that is it a uh, is it a white turkey or is it like I don't?

Jess:

know, like is it like a farm, a big turkey?

Justin:

yes, so funny story. I had turkeys, uh, so we have. I have chickens. So my wife, natalie's like she wants to live on a farm and we only have a few acres so we can't have it Like she would have a cow If you got it yeah. And so she wanted turkeys. So we got turkeys. We got two turkeys. Bad idea, I mean. They just made a mess everywhere.

Jess:

They're a little scary. They are, and I didn't realize how large they are. I mean, it walked, that's a wild story.

Amy:

Yeah, they're huge.

Jess:

They're tall yeah.

Justin:

But they were really nice.

Jess:

It was a nice little turkey. It was great.

Justin:

I think turkeys are good for helping defend the flock right. I feel like if you have chickens, the turkeys will help out. Sure, but they would roost on my deck. They would roost everywhere. They're a mess, so we gave them away.

Amy:

You didn't eat them for Thanksgiving. Huh, no, you're a pacifist.

Justin:

I like that Once you name them, you can't eat them, and I wish I could remember their names, that's sad. I'm sure they were awesome. So a chicken. What goes wrong with a chicken?

Jess:

Eggbound.

Justin:

We've seen them be eggbound. These are things we don't really want to advertise. That we do. That's all right. It's fine. It's like a side note. You're going to have a line of people with chickens, I will die.

Amy:

I don't actually remember I think it was eggbound.

Jess:

We've seen a few ducks that were eggbound.

Amy:

Yeah, like they break their little legs or whatever.

Jess:

Or they get attacked sometimes, Fortunately. Unfortunately, this community is filled with of wildlife. They've done a great job preserving that and keeping it as intact as possible as they develop things. But it poses a little problem with our community animals because occasionally you get coyotes will attack the flock, things like that. So those are unfortunate things that we see, but we do our best to intervene and help. How is best fit for that animal?

Justin:

Yeah All right, let's stick to cats and dogs.

Jess:

Cats and dogs. Cats and dogs.

Amy:

So if you have a tip for New Albany residents for their cats or dogs, like just something that maybe they don't think of, something to be like cautious of or proactive things, I think that we think that we are very suburban, so like disease and things like that don't happen to us, but really that's the total opposite because, to her point, the community has preserved the wildlife and we are surrounded by these beautiful Metro parks. So I think, just being aware of what your pet could potentially be exposed to and maybe taking preventative measures if you feel that that's best for your pet. So we, you know we're strong advocates for vaccinations, parasite prevention and those kind of things, because there are a lot of things that also can be passed to people, and so Well, and same in our community too.

Amy:

Yeah.

Jess:

Everybody's always mingling. It's so wonderful to see people out like we see clients, and we're like, oh my gosh, you guys know each other, whatever, and they're all co-mingling and hanging out in social spaces and if we all just do one little thing to prevent the spread of illness, then we can all continue to enjoy that space yeah whether that's just some vaccines, flea tick prevention, cleaning up of the cleaning up, and if your pet is feeling unwell.

Jess:

Sometimes we forget, you know, if our pets are just feeling a little under the weather. Try not to go in community spaces like staying in your home space, to try to not spread that throughout the community. Yeah, it's really helpful.

Justin:

I noticed Rocky Fork at some point got rid of their shareable dog bowls. Yeah, yeah, I love Rocky Fork, I do too.

Amy:

It's awesome, I do too.

Justin:

And I love Rocky Fork. I do too. It's awesome. I do too, and that place gets crazy, like I'm sure you.

Amy:

There's so many dogs Sunday afternoon at the dog park is like a party. It is which is great, which is great for the dogs.

Jess:

Maybe they should have a little cabinet situation Little drinks, margaritas, hang out.

Amy:

At the dog park. Yeah, I'm not sure that that would Justin.

Justin:

There should be pet cocktails, can you?

Jess:

imagine you can hang out, take your dog to the dog park, mingle with your neighbors and your friends. Hang out, watch your dog play. I think it's a great idea.

Justin:

Like you can get a pup cut at Starbucks.

Jess:

Yeah, a happy hour pup cut.

Justin:

You could have a little pup marg.

Amy:

Yeah.

Justin:

You guys were looking for another job after this.

Jess:

Right, because we don't have enough stuff.

Justin:

Yeah, we're having a lot of spare time, thank you. Um what else? Any other? Any other like quirky, fun pets, or? Or tell me about a favorite pet that comes in now we can't say favorite I'm sorry.

Amy:

I'm sorry maybe just one that comes to mind like a, like a dog that I love, that I'm obsessed with, that comes into my practice you don't have have one of those, do you?

Justin:

I do she has.

Jess:

Oh, that's not fair. You have more than one, you have a lot.

Amy:

Really we're so lucky, I think, that most of our pets that are coming in are just very lovely and well-behaved, but you certainly have some that just really melt your heart or speak to your soul, yeah, so there's some of those out. I can't say names.

Justin:

Okay, all right, all right.

Amy:

Bentley Snook, if you're listening, no.

Jess:

Any of the German Shepherds that come in. They're all my favorites. They always tease me. I'm like, oh my gosh, my favorite one is here. German Shepherds are awesome and they're like Jess that one.

Amy:

they're all your favorite. I'm like I know yeah.

Justin:

Everyone has their favorite little thing.

Jess:

I was really hoping we could bring yours Recon, recon and he actually came from New Albany Pet Rescue, so fun fact we actually do have a pet rescue here in New Albany.

Justin:

Really.

Jess:

Yeah, and they're amazing. They do amazing work in the community. They are really they're doing good. They're doing good stuff out there.

Justin:

Nice.

Jess:

And I know they have some German Shepherd puppies, so if anybody's looking, that's true, they actually do.

Amy:

Hey.

Jess:

I'm just saying.

Justin:

We'll have to show some pictures.

Jess:

They're very, very, very cute and they're all in foster.

Justin:

Nice. Are they local community members fostering?

Jess:

I believe so. Yes, most of them. They're all immersed in this community somehow. Yeah, Nice.

Justin:

We just saw them this morning. Do they have a physical location?

Amy:

They do not, it's just all volunteers, and then they have foster families. For most of them that rescue probably started 12 years ago. They do a great job.

Justin:

Now we know.

Amy:

Now you know.

Jess:

Tell me about canine massage that's just that would be me. So I got my certification in canine massage many moons ago when I was fresh out of school. Um, it's something I'm really passionate about. Always thought maybe I would be a massage therapist. I'm like, oh you know, but I found a need for it in the animal world. It's not something that we I don't advertise it a lot, I don't know why. It's really fun. It's really hard to do in a clinical setting. Most dogs can't relax enough to get the benefit. But it is something that I love to do for my own pets and we occasionally will somebody that serves their needs, but yeah it's my favorite, so so so what does it look like?

Justin:

Like? What like? It looks like a human massage.

Jess:

Yeah, so I have a big orthopedic bed and you know you have to earn a little bit of trust. Some, some of the patients that I see, are like super into it and they'll fall asleep snoring the whole nine, so relaxed. Oh yeah, and some of them are really uncomfortable because we see a lot of orthopedic problems, you know, and sometimes you have to. You know they're pain, pain management, for sure.

Justin:

So how do you know if you have a dog that would benefit from canine massage?

Jess:

I usually say all of them benefit right In different ways. Just how if you or I were to go get a massage for your things. But I do a lot more athlete stuff. So, working dogs, things like that Nice, they're my go-to usually.

Justin:

You're going to have to, I'm going to have to bring Rowdy.

Jess:

I was going to be knocking down the door.

Amy:

I was going to say your dog would be a prime candidate for massage, because I'm sure there's some muscle soreness after hunting.

Jess:

Yep, and sometimes I used to it for dogs that were competing in show or doing like fly ball and things, to get the muscles warmed up and ready to go, to try to help prevent injury. Just like you or I would get a sports massage before a long run, or what have you yeah, interesting it's fun.

Justin:

I don't know if you could get him to sit down long enough, that's usually.

Jess:

The problem is sometimes they're a little too bananas and it makes it a challenge yeah but it's fun.

Amy:

He would need sedated, for sure I don't know that, that's I don't think that's how it works, wait.

Justin:

So you gotta meet rowdy. You'll understand he needs sedated. He has this thing at night where he he just goes in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, and he will. He will sit and whine at the door and I'll let him out. He'll be gone for two seconds and he will come back and he will whine to come in. Yeah, I let him in and then he whines to go out.

Amy:

That's how it goes, wrapped around your finger there. Yeah, it's nuts.

Justin:

Nice little game I'm pretty sure he's just chasing his shadow, though there's a like a street lamp and it's crazy, yeah it casts a shadow in the garage and yeah, he'll just like point, and then he'll sneak up on it and then bark and then just run.

Amy:

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome.

Justin:

It's getting annoying. Awesome, I mean anything else about the practice you want to talk about, anything that you want listeners to know if they want to bring a pet to you.

Amy:

Yeah, I mean first I would just thank the community for all their support, because when I first started here it was, you know, very different. So for me, I would just personally thank all the community members who have trusted us with their pets. We are always happy to help, whether it's just you need a question answered or an appointment. We do the best we can to help everybody. So, yeah, we're happy to meet you or your pets and we do the best we can to help everybody. So, yeah, we're happy to meet you and your pets and, if not, we'll see you out and about in the community yeah, awesome.

Jess:

I second that. All the things you just said. Yeah, thanks to the community. They've been great to us and it's been great to have relationships with each and every pet owner. We do the best we can to get to know more than just your pet and just you. We want to know about your family and what you're doing in the community and it's nice to see people out and about.

Justin:

for sure, yeah, awesome, and thanks for having us?

Amy:

Yeah, no, hey, anytime. It is fun. I mean, I love podcasts. Maybe not anytime, yeah, maybe not anytime, maybe one time today.

Jess:

We got to get some pets, so yeah, well you can come down to the clinic and you can create a little chaos down there. It'll be fine I just didn't think that would be a good idea for today.

Justin:

So tell me about on that, what's it like in the office?

Jess:

What's the vibe?

Justin:

I'm just picturing now. I'm picturing birds flying around. Yeah, that was bad. We shouldn't have said that it's organized chaos for sure.

Jess:

Yeah, organized chaos. I mean, there's how many? Six of us? Yeah, we have a small group. There's usually good music playing. It rotates on the daily, so it might be some old school, 90s, 2000s rap. Sometimes it's country.

Amy:

We prefer country, yeah organized chaos, but we do.

Justin:

And so do you bring your pets.

Jess:

Oh yeah, they're all there today.

Amy:

They're all there today. They're all there today, yeah it depends.

Justin:

I think we have four of them there today.

Amy:

So who? So you guys are here, what's?

Justin:

happening at the office? Who knows honestly?

Amy:

hopefully still standing awesome well thanks again, I appreciate it.