Business: Homeward Bound Animal Hospital
Address: 7521 Indiana St., Arvada
Hours: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday
Founded: 2002 as a mobile business, 2015 under current ownership at current location
Contact: 303-981-4663,
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Interview with Dr. Jeff Gerlesits, co-owner and doctor of veterinary medicine
Q: How did you get involved in this business?
:Helping animals and people has been my mission ever since I was a kid.
Q: What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?
:What differentiates us from other veterinary hospitals is our progressive, quality medicine in an old-fashioned setup. We work out of a really cool, old farmhouse that allows people to feel at home in our clinic. We try to keep our medicine and quality of patient care to the highest standards, but in a calm, welcoming, home environment. For nervous or stressed patients, we offer exams in our outdoor yard or do mobile, home visits to try to help alleviate the fear of being in a hospital (hence our name). And lastly, we strive really hard to treat our clients and patients with utmost respect so they feel positive about our true intentions — helping them help their animals.
Q: What do you like best about your line of work?
:I love being a vet. Some vets love the profession solely because of their passion for animals. I love animals AND their people. We have so much fun at Homeward Bound with our amazing owners and all the crazy stories and things we get to see, hear and do. My favorite part of our work is helping out our local rescues. We do a lot of work with some amazing rescues — Soul Dog Rescue, Rocky Mountain Cocker Rescue, Great Dane Rescue and Hog Haven Farm. And recently, we have been partnering with Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in their treatment and re-homing of 120 lions, tigers, bears and mountain lions from here in Colorado. Last month, we had a 400-pound tiger on our radiology table to help diagnose a herniated disc. This allowed us to help stabilize her before she received neurology specialist help and made it to her permanent home in Texas.
Q: What is your business’ biggest challenge?
:Dr. Chughtai and myself are new business owners, new dads and full-time veterinarians. So our challenge has been learning how to balance all the aspects of a business — accounting, inventory, computers, schedules, HR, etc. — with the veterinary medicine while still helping out at home.
Q: Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:
:We treat an amazing amount of pigs. There is a big movement of micro pigs here in Denver and we are fortunate to get to aid in their care. It is a pretty normal day at Homeward Bound to have pigs walking through our lobby.