Description

Independently owned since 1976, North King Animal Clinic is a small animal practice built on something simple: high standards, genuine care, and a team we're really proud of. Dr. Nancy Lewis Owen founded this place 50 years ago and still leads it today. She is, plainly put, an exceptional veterinarian — brilliant diagnostician, skilled surgeon, and someone who will tell you the truth and do the right thing every single time. If you want a brilliant, no-nonsense sounding board, the chance to keep growing your skills, and to practice the medicine you want to practice, you're in the right place!

We've never believed in production-based pay. You're here to practice medicine, not chase numbers. Our most important metric is a happy team, well-cared-for patients, and clients who feel supported. That's why our slogan is "the little red clinic with a big heart." 

We try to do right by our clients, our patients, and our staff. No yelling. Ever. No egos. We think that if you treat your staff well and train them and trust them, then they will want to do good work and show up for you. (But seriously, if you’re sick, please don’t show up.) 

Why we’re hiring:

Our current associate, Dr. Calvin Carrington, is leaving for personal reasons (we’re heartbroken), but not before leaving us with his kind words. Here's a little of what he wrote:

"North King Animal Clinic is a wonderful privately owned practice, with modern equipment, a skilled team and great atmosphere to allow for the highest quality medicine of your choice. Dr. Nancy Lewis Owen is a wonderful, kind mentor who is easy to approach to discuss cases without feeling judgment. The medical support staff are highly skilled veterinary technicians... They allow the doctor to focus on doctor things. Positive attitudes, and a team-work approach makes them a highly efficient, and fun team to work with. It has been a wonderful clinic to advance my skillset and practice high quality medicine my own way, with solid support and love." Read the full letter here.

What your day-to-day would look like:

We’re open Tuesday through Saturday (but only ‘til noon), so that's basically two and a half days off for us full-timers. We like to protect our sanity, so we block off a slot or two every day for last-minute appointments.

We are blessed to have several wonderful emergency and referral hospitals in the region to take on the truly urgent and complex cases. But hey, if you’re a go-getter and want to do that torn nail repair at close on a Friday, let us know if that's your jam!

You'll be doing mostly general practice, wellness, sick visits, dentals, routine surgery like: spays/neuters, mass removals, enucleations, minor amputations. You'll have support from our incredible team of two techs, an assistant, a practice manager, and two CSRs, plus Dr. Owen! Appointments range from 20 to 30 minutes. If you have interest in growing your surgical skills or diving deeper into certain cases, we love curiosity and will be happy to support you.

You're a great fit if:

• You love general practice and actually enjoy getting to know your clients (ours are pretty amazing)
• You appreciate skilled techs who will set you up for success (and occasionally sing for you)
• You want mentorship (or just a judgment-free sounding board)
• You're super smart, kind, curious, and easy-going
• You value low-stress handling and fear-free techniques. We're not certified (the cost feels prohibitive), but we've integrated a lot of the principles because they work, lots of gentle care, pheromones, treats, and patience. 

Though our building itself isn’t a flashy, brand-new million dollar facility (a girl can dream), it’s got good bones and great, modern equipment. We’re fully kitted out with in-house IDEXX equipment, including a Catalyst One, ProCyte Dx, SediVue Dx and an InVue Dx Cellular Analyzer, as well as a Class IV therapeutic laser. Last year, we added a butterfly hand-held ultrasound and upgraded to direct digital radiography plus a shiny new Midmark multi-parameter anesthetic monitor. We use Cornerstone for our EMR, and are paper-lite bordering on paperless. We use Talkatoo voice-to-text and AI SOAP notes to ease the dreaded medical record process. We strive to stay fluid and adaptable, always looking for the best, most efficient way to do things.

The Goodies:

• Base Salary of $130,000 to $145,000
• CE and licensing allowance: $1000
• Full-timers get 3 weeks paid time off, part-timers get 1 week, and everyone gets 1 week of paid sick leave.
• Generous employee pet discounts
• IRA
• Great medical and dental insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO Blue New England
• Aflac supplemental insurance (dental, vision, accidents, cancer and more)
• Super comfy clinic scrubs (and a white coat if you want to rock one!)
• Dedicated mentorship from Dr. Owen (50+ years of experience, zero judgment)
• Need help relocating to join us? Let’s talk!
• Something you want that's not listed here? Tell us!

Let’s talk schedule: 

This position is ideally part-time to start (2-3 days/week), with the goal of growing into full-time as we build. But if full-time from day one is what you need, let's talk! We're flexible for the right person.

Living in Northampton, the “Paradise City” 

If you’re from the region, you probably know how wonderful Northampton is, but if you’re looking at this from further out, let us tell you about living here.

Nestled in the Pioneer Valley, Northampton is the kind of place where you can hike or bike the rail trails in the morning, grab a bite at one of the many incredible restaurants downtown, catch live music or an art opening at night, and feel like you belong everywhere in between. Add in the energy of the Five College consortium (Smith, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, and Umass) bringing world-class learning, art and culture, and you've got a community that's beautiful, vibrant, deeply progressive (rainbow crosswalks and all), and just the right amount of quirky.

Interested? We'd love to meet you. 

Reach out through the platform and tell us something about yourself! We genuinely want to know who you are. And we want you to feel like you know us, too. The right fit goes both ways.

Is practice ownership in your future?

Dr. Owen has been at this for nearly 50 years. Someday (not tomorrow, not next year) she'll be ready to retire. When that day comes, she would love to keep this practice privately owned and independent. If owning your own practice has ever crossed your mind, let's talk!

Requirements

Needs:

DVM or VMD degree from an accredited institution
Current Massachusetts veterinary license (or eligibility to obtain)

Wants:

Value low-stress handling techniques
Proficiency with a hand-held ultrasound unit for FAST abnormal scans, cystos, etc.
Familiarity with taking and reviewing dental radiographs