A little history for you...

I never tire of relating the legacy of our clinic on West Alabama - its one of a pioneering spirit. That's how I see it, considering that when it opened in 1973, it was the first cat only veterinary facility in Texas, and the second to open in the United States. It was founded by Dr. Billy Pennings, and there's a good story behind it. There is a nice article on the clinic to the right of our front desk - hopefully one day we'll get around to putting it on our web-page.

One could use a lot of different words to describe Dr. Pennings, but brave is the one that sticks out in my mind the most...

Why "brave" you ask? Well, this last weekend I bravely attended my 10 year high school reunion, and a large part of the event involved wide eyed response from my classmates when I told them that I only worked on cats. Only one person really got it (thanks Velissa!) - the rest acted like I told them that I just came back from another planet. I also got much of the same reaction from many of my vet school classmates prior to my graduation. Now, if you are reading this, then most likely you are a client, prospective client looking for a cat only facility, or a close friend, and to you a cat only facility seems like a pretty nice deal. BUT, as my class reunion reminded me, there are still plenty of people who hold you suspect for seeing cats in such light.

When Dr. Pennings opened the Cat Veterinary Clinic, there were far fewer like-minded individuals, and to me, it had to take a lot of courage to follow thru with her vision. But follow thru she did, and her actions played a part in the advancement of feline medicine. At this time, there are at least 6 cat only vet clinics in Houston alone. How things have changed!