New vet joins Rehoboth Beach Animal Hospital

Forty-five years after it opened, the Rehoboth Beach Animal Hospital has grown. Owner and veterinarian Tim Dabkowski says the practice began in a 1,500-square-foot, broken down, rundown building in the Forgotten Mile, with two exam rooms and one and a half doctors working there.

Dabkowski bought the hospital in 2009 and moved it to its present location, a two-story building on Route 1, just north of Church Street. “I built the whole thing. Nothing was here,” Dr. Dabkowski said.

Since the expansion, the practice has added many new patients: in addition to dogs and cats, the practice now treats reptiles and pocket pets, such as rabbits, gerbils, chinchillas, hamsters and ferrets.

But the main event is the hiring of a new doctor, Dr. Natalie Brown.

Brown graduated from Ross University and has been practicing for three  years. She joined Rehoboth Beach Animal Hospital after moving north from Florida, and after seeing a growth of about 8,000 clients in five years, Dr. Brown will be a big help for the practice.

As of July 18, the practice will be open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Brown will be the attending veterinarian. “My very first practice we had a solo practitioner on the weekends too, so I’m excited for the challenge,” she said.

Her areas of interest include critical care medicine, ultrasonography and soft tissue surgery, she said. Brown will be assisting in the pocket pets care in addition to some reptiles, Dabkowski said. “I will see baby snakes, but I prefer not to,” said Brown, laughing. “I would pretty much see anything.”

With a small increase of clientele throughout the summer, office manager Jackie Hammond thinks that having the animal hospital on Saturdays will not only help business, but will help those who vacation in the area and bring their pets along with them. “We can provide a service to those who come for a week and are visiting. If their dog gets sick, I felt that not offering any weekend hours really put us behind,” she said.

Brown is the fourth doctor to join the staff at Rehoboth Beach Animal Hospital, working alongside Dabkowski, Dr. Sarah Curtis and Dr. Sarah Hirsch.

“We’ve definitely grown. We were a one and a quarter doctor practice, and now we’re three and a half,” Dabkowski said. “We will do emergencies if an emergency happens. We’ll take it right away,” added Hammond.

Rehoboth Beach Animal Hospital will be open on Saturdays as of July 18 and is still accepting new clients. For information, call302-227-2009 or go to www.rbah19971.com.