Veterinary clinic to open this year in city

Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital renovating building on Alpha Drive for second location

Cleveland area pet owners will soon have another option in health care for their four-legged friends.

Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital is preparing to open its second location, a 30,000-square-foot facility located at 734 Alpha Drive in Highland Heights by summertime.

The original Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital, located in Copley, was established in 1968 and has grown to have over 200 team members.

According to hospital Marketing and Communications

Supervisor Jeni Smith, many of their clients drive down from the Cuyahoga County area to bring their pets to the clinic for care.

Smith said they chose to create a second location in Highland Heights not only to expand the clinic’s reach, but also to better serve their clients in the area who may not be comfortable driving to the Copley location during an emergency situation.

“If your dog or cat is having an emergency, driving 45 minutes with them can be really scary,” Smith said.

Smith said the veterinary hospital is never closed, it is open for emergency services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — and the Highland Heights location will follow this model as well.

Along with emergency care, the new Highland Heights facility will offer other advanced and specialty care options such as soft tissue and orthopedic surgery, internal medicine, and services for birds and other exotic pets.

Smith said the veterinary hospital is essentially modeled after most human hospitals — they allow affiliated local veterinarians to refer patients there and utilize the hospital’s advanced facility, technology and specialists as an extension of their local practice.

They are also a teaching hospital, offering clinical internships tailored to the individual’s field of interest.

“We operate just like a regular hospital, the only difference is the patients,” Smith said.

Smith added they have just begun the process of renovating their Highland Heights building, which was purchased in October, to transform it into another state-of-the-art facility by late spring or early summer.

She said that some of its current staff will be migrating to the new hospital, but that they will also be looking to hire new team members, with the eventual goal to employ over 100 people at the second location.

COURTESY OF JENI SMITH This rendering shows Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital’s location in Highland Heights. It is slated to open in late spring or early summer.