New leash on life for Old Yeller

While most people are aware that humans are living longer than ever before, the same can also be said of dogs and cats.
Much of that can be attributed to pet owners being willing to spend more money on medical care, and the emergence in the last 20 years of advanced-care, specialized centers, such as BrightHeart Veterinary Centers.
BrightHeart was formed earlier this year by Unified Growth Partners, a private equity firm in Greenwich. It acquired the Katonah-Bedford (N.Y.) Veterinary Center in May, which became the flagship BrightHeart center.
If all goes to plan, there will eventually be BrightHeart Veterinary Centers across the U.S., said Robert Miner, a co-founder of Unified Growth Partners.
“We will eventually have a network across the country,” he said.
When Unified Growth Partners was researching business investment opportunities in 2005 and 2006, it looked at about 40 to 50 industries, and was drawn to the veterinary industry, Miner said.
“That really resonated with us,” he said. “The specialty side of the vet industry is something no one had looked at in the past. It”™s the fastest-growing sector of the industry.”
Miner met Dr. Alan Green, the director of the Katonah-Bedford Veterinary Center, on Super Bowl Sunday of 2006. Green soon realized a partnership with Unified Growth Partners could be beneficial due to the opportunities it could provide.
“The demand for specialty care (for pets) is higher now than it”™s ever been,” he said.
Green started in the industry 20 years ago and had a general vet practice before opening the Katonah-Bedford Veterinary Center in 2001. The center also offers general practitioner pet services in addition to specialized care, including surgical procedures, ultrasound and ophthalmology services.
Green said there are several reasons why specialty vet services have grown in the last 20 years, one reason being the growth of the “baby boomer” generation into middle age during that time.
“That generation grew up with pets that were treated like family members; the pet has now become part of the family,” he said. “This generation also has the financial means to take good care of their animals.”
Although Unified Growth Partners is headquartered in nearby Greenwich, BrightHeart will be based in Armonk, N.Y.
Miner said he envisions BrightHeart building a national network, with databases and communications to share and compare best practices between each center across the country.
“This will improve the overall quality of medicine,” he said. “We can compare best practices in an efficient, electronic way. When you pool your resources from a group of smart, dedicated people you get a good result.”

There are also plans to develop a residency program at the BrightHeart centers for aspiring vets.
The role of developing that program will fall to Philip Bergman, the chief medical officer of BrightHeart.
Miner said Bergman is one of the leading veterinary oncologists in the nation, and the only person to receive an approval for a cancer vaccine, in this case for canine cancer, from the federal government.
While the Katonah facility is the only current one under the BrightHeart umbrella, there are plans to acquire two or three more centers by the end of the year, said Miner.
He said the group would definitely consider expanding in the area, since it currently sees patients from throughout the Hudson Valley, and as far away as Binghamton and Hartford.
“We draw from a very extensive geographic area,” said Green.
Green believes that”™s because of the high standard of care offered at the Katonah-Bedford Veterinary Center, with its staff of 20 doctors and 100 employees.
“We demand a university-level standard here,” he said. “We have created and maintained that standard.”
The facility is open 24 hours per day and seven days a week, said Green, who said it functions because of a “total team effort.”
For more information, visit  HYPERLINK “http://www.brightheartvet.com” www.brightheartvet.com or  HYPERLINK “http://www.kbvetcenter.com” www.kbvetcenter.com.