Columbia to get new emergency vet clinic

Construction is underway on CVETS (Columbia Veterinary Emergency Trauma and Specialty) on Oakcrest Drive, just off the Trehnolm Road extension in Northeast Richland. CVETS will be Columbia’s third 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital. The others are SC Veterinary Specialists and Emergency Care on Fernandina Road in the St. Andrews area, and Palmetto Regional Emergency Hospital for Animals on Two Notch Road in Northeast Richland.

It was a dream of veterinarian team Michael and Tracy Schlicksup to one day return to Columbia and open an emergency animal hospital and now this husband and wife is soon to become a reality.

“We’re looking at opening in March 2018,” said Michael Schlicksup, “but everything depends on the construction schedule.”

“Tracy was born in Columbia and it’s always been a goal to return,” says Michael. “We saw a need in the Northeast area” so that is where the couple is building their practice.

The plan is to open CVETS in early 2018 with 6 to 8 veterinarians on staff and 15 technicians. Long range, the Schlicksups’ plan is to eventually have about a dozen doctors and a total staff of 30. The practice will have regular office hours for veterinarian services — dogs and cats and some exotics — and continue with a staffed 24-hour emergency service.

The Schlickups graduated from Ross University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2007 — Michael followed up with an intership and surgical residency at the University of Pennsylvania. The couple are currently on staff at practices in Charleston — Tracy is Director of Patient Care at Park West Veterinary Associates and specializes in emergency medicine; Michael is on staff at Veterinary Specialty Care Charleston as a surgical specialist in wound therapy, minimally invasive surgery and fracture repair.

This story was originally published October 24, 2017 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Columbia to get new emergency vet clinic."