Veterinarian gets to make his passion his work: Pets

“I love people and I love pets,” says Dr. Clark Fobian.

With a passion for both, the veterinarian has built a successful business with the Thompson Hills Animal Clinic.
The clinic opened Dec. 3, 1981, celebrating its 30th year of business last month.

“I had practiced for a year in Nevada, Mo., and in Marshall, and my wife, Rita, and I decided we would best serve our clients” to open the clinic here.

“We wanted a nice community in order to raise our family. We settled on Sedalia.”

He grew up in suburban St. Louis, and said, “The urban environment is not conducive to raising a family.”

His two children are now grown, but the Sedalia resident has remained.

He remembered the work he did before establishing his clinic: “There were three other clinics at the time, and two were mixed-animal practices,” referring to those that also treated farm animals. “You’d come in with your overalls on. It’s a different mindset.”

He said at Thompson Hills, “We generally treat animals that our companions.”

Fobian stressed how the clinic emphasizes diagnostics, working to find the root of problems, with thorough exams and laboratory work.

“At some clinics, they just listen to the symptoms and send for meds,” he said.

Fobian also set up the clinic to do more thorough work, outfitting the building with an operating room, a lab, a dispensary and three examination rooms, as well as offices and a waiting room. There’s also isolation space for ill animals.

“We wanted to bring a clinic to Sedalia that would compare with the nicest ones in Columbia or Jefferson City,” he said.

There are three other veterinarians on staff, Dr. Jennifer Boatright, Dr. Jessica Giffen and Dr. Chad McNeal, and Fobian is proud that he employs state-licensed technicians. The clinic has 12 employees.

As for the patients, Fobian said, “Ninety-eight percent of what we do is mammals,” though he says, “I will treat a pet turkey or a pet chicken,” and admitted: “I have treated birds and ferrets and rabbits.”

He might draw the line, though, at pot-bellied pigs: “I was sitting on the fence if we would treat those,” he said, remembering when people were adopting them for pets.

“Probably the most of our work is canine,” he said, adding that “People do not give cats the same consideration.”

Does he have a theory on why?

“Cats don’t show their illnesses well,” he said, saying that often cats are further along in their illnesses before an owner notices.

Fobian earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Missouri in 1972 and his doctorate degree in veterinary medicine in 1977.

In September, he was named Alumnus of the Year during the College of Veterinary Medicine 2011 Alumni Reunion Weekend.

He is on the executive board of the American Veterinary Medical Association and is chairman of the board of directors of the American Veterinary Medical Foundation, a charity.

Fobian also is president and board chairman of the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association.

While customers have kept the clinic in business for 30 years, Fobian said, “This economy’s rough on everybody. Going to school, the idea was that you provided preventive care — nutrition consultation, spaying and neutering, vaccinations: You provided behavioral guidance.”

Now, “We’re being compelled to be an urgent-care clinic,” he said, handing emergency cases, which he said now is about one-fourth of his business.

And while he may love people and animals, he revealed what he dislikes most about his business: The financial aspects.”

He discussed how people have become so accustomed to socialized medicine, they seem to think it applies to their pets, too, but that’s not so, adding: “Every client has to pay.”