Dr. Pol loves fans, won’t be their vet
“I want to help animals and keep pet ownership affordable.” —Dr. Pol
Early on in the new season of Nat Geo Wild’s veterinary show “The Incredible Dr. Pol,” a call comes in from a client worried that his dog had just snatched four strips of raw bacon and might become ill. It turns out, these types of calls are common and an usually high amount are from TV viewers across the country looking for a consult.
Based in the rural farming town of Weidman, Mich., and serving five surrounding counties, the clinic — run by Dr. Jan Pol and his wife, Diane — may be small, but it does bustling business. He’s the high-energy problemsolver, she’s the quiet ballast.
The show is Nat Geo Wild’s No. 1 series and airs Saturday evenings.
The following is an edited transcript.
Q: Has your practice grown because of the show?
Dr. Pol: No. Well, yes and no. There are people who call: “Hey, I live in Indiana, we’re only four hours away, can we bring the dog in?” No, you cannot. Go see a local veterinarian. Because we don’t have time to see every Tom, Dick and Harry from all over the place. But they call because they see on TV that we care about animals.
Q: Do fans call the clinic?
Dr. Pol: Yeah. One time, the producers didn’t blur out the phone number on the sign in the front of the building and by that Monday morning we had 70 phone messages from fans.
Q: You said you anticipated that people would have opinions and critiques about how you do your job. Has it been comfortable living in that space?
Dr. Pol: I don’t do Facebook.
Diane: And we don’t need fans to say “Dr. Pol’s wonderful,” either, because we’re just human beings. We’re down to earth.
Dr. Pol: I’m a veterinarian first and I want to help animals and keep pet ownership affordable.
Diane: And people who are critiquing what we do? We don’t care about that either.
Dr. Pol: Everybody has their own opinion! (laughs) I’ve done this for 50 years and after all these years I’ve learned to do it my way. When new veterinarians are coming in, they can watch, me but I definitely don’t say, “You have to do it my way.” They’ve just come out of school, they do it differently.
Q: What happens to your practice if you’re no longer around?
Dr. Pol: I don’t know. Maybe they’ll keep running it for a while . ... So I don’t know what will happen . ... We’re not a superpractice, but people come to us because of the care they’re getting. We care about animals.
Q: You’re 75 now. My impression is that you’ll work until your last day.
Dr. Pol: Maybe.