Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Wickenheiser.
Hi Christine, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Dr. Christine Wickenheiser. I have worked as a veterinarian in the Duluth/Cloquet area for over 21 yrs. Pet ownership has continued to change since I first started practicing, but it really changed during the pandemic. COVID changed vet med in many ways. Suddenly pet owners were working from home and observing their pets much closer, watching their actions and behaviors and findings concerns that they would have missed had they been working away from home.
Pets took on a more “therapeutic” role for pet owners. The pandemic brought a lot of scary uncertainty and pet owners found profound solace in being with their pets (they became furred therapists). And, it seemed as though EVERYONE used this time at home to bring in more pets….so many households added to their pet numbers or purchased/adopted a pet for the first time during the pandemic. The need for pet care exploded. Suddenly, veterinary clinics were inundated with new pet owners, concerned pet owners, and aware/observant pet owners. The need to seek out confirmation that certain behaviors their pets were doing were normal, the need for puppy and kitten vaccinations, and the need for pet illness “workups’ skyrocketed.
But the number of veterinary care providers did not expand. If anything, they reduced. Veterinary care professionals were becoming burnt out, overwhelmed with work and patients, and not enough help and resources. I saw my colleagues drowning at work. The emergency pet clinics were begging the Veterinary day clinics to not send anything that was not a true emergency as they were consistently 6+ hours behind on seeing patients because of the increased numbers of concerned pet owners. I started Ask Vet Christine, as a way to help pet owners with their pet care concerns and to help my veterinary peers out by helping reduce the number of unnecessary emergency visits and pet care visits that can be handled with some simple online consultation and education.
Ask Vet Christine is an after-hours, weekend, and holiday, online pet care consultation service. Pet owners can go online to my website, subscribe to my online service and ask pet care questions, send videos or photos, and I can help answer the care questions and alleviate any concerns, help avoid unnecessary emergency visits and aid in providing improved quality of life care for pets.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I am a veterinarian and not a trained/experienced business owner! I do not know how to get the word out on my services. I am not savvy in advertising or really any way to promote my business. That has been the toughest part for me.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Ask Vet Christine is an after-hours pet care consultation service. It is not telemedicine, and it does not take the place of regular veterinary care visits with your regular DVM. Ask Vet Christine can help problem solve what pet food to purchase, why a skin infection continues to return, and what OTC products are safe and not safe to administer to your pet. Ask Vet Christine can review a video of your pet coughing or breathing and let you know if that is an emergency or if it can wait until the next day when your regular veterinary clinic is open.
Ask Vet Christine can help with many different species. I have years of experience with veterinary care for dogs and cats, but also nontraditional pets such as all different types of lizards, small mammals such as rabbits, chinchillas and guinea pigs, amphibians, and birds. I can also provide online consultation care for llamas, pot belly pigs, and pet goats.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I absolutely love practicing vet med in the Duluth-Cloquet region. Pet owners here absolutely love their pets and expect a high level of pet care to be provided to their pets. I love always striving to meet that high level of expected care.
It is also very interesting as a veterinarian to work here because there is a high amount of interesting dog and cat diseases that we see in this area of the state from wildlife. If you are not bringing your pet to their vet for preventative care, your vet will still be seeing your pet for the diseases that could have been prevented!
Pricing:
- $25.99 for one month of Ask Vet Christine
- $19.99/month if you sign off for an annual membership
Contact Info:
- Website: https://askvetchristine.com/
- Instagram: @askvetchristine
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askvetchristine
- Youtube: @askvetchristine2034
