Dr. Angie (00:00)
Welcome back to Tails of Truth where we tell the truth about veterinary medicine. I'm Dr. Angie, and this is my co-host and wonderful veterinary nurse, JoJo And today we're talking about trusting your gut. But before we get started, I have some exciting news that Jojo already knows about, but yes, I have found a home. I've found a home to practice and I am signing on with a

JoJo (00:19)
Drum roll.

Dr. Angie (00:28)
in Boulder called Boulder's Natural Animal. And I'm really, really excited.

JoJo (00:34)
I'm really excited for you. It's a sweet little fit for you.

Dr. Angie (00:37)
It's going to be so good.

It is, and I definitely had to trust myself. So I've been doing relief, I don't know, not even for a full year, but I have been working at different clinics throughout the Denver Metro and the relief market is starting to just go away. So we, don't know, think there's so many veterinarians that want to be relief veterinarians, but I'm also starting to feel antsy for a home.

because I go to these clinics and I have great days with the reception staff and the nursing staff and the other doctors. And then I leave and it's so lonely. So I'm like, I had a great day with you. I might never see you again. So have a great life. And so I'm, I've been ready to find a community. And also we have all of our clients, Jojo, that we have not been serving.

for the last year and a half, and now we have a place to take them.

JoJo (01:34)
Yeah, I mean, we have been serving them just not in the same capacity as before. I mean, at some point, we had this giant, giant wait list that felt overwhelming. Is that a good word for it? It was like that we couldn't meet the needs of the community. And so I feel like what you're doing is stepping into a space where that community need can be met because

Dr. Angie (01:37)
Ahem.

crushing.

right.

JoJo (01:56)
There are not very many Dr. Angie Krause's who even in our very crunchy, Boulder area of the country, it's hard to find a holistic veterinarian. It is so weird. Yeah, I don't know.

Dr. Angie (02:07)
Isn't that weird? Where is everybody? Come to the party.

JoJo (02:15)
Yeah, and it can be lonely, I imagine for you. It's been sometimes lonely for me on the nursing end. So as a veterinarian, I've often thought, what a challenge when you have a challenging case and you don't have another practitioner.

Dr. Angie (02:20)
Yeah.

Right. There's a lot of texting and phone calls and emails, but man, when I get to just sit in an office with other doctors, it's so great. veterinarians for the most part are some of my favorite people. And so we all have our own quirks and ways of practicing and I've learned so much. so now I get to do it in a new place.

JoJo (02:43)
That's so fun.

Dr. Angie (02:52)
And, I think our clients are really going to like it here. And so I chose it because it was a really, and it is an accepting practice. So Dr. Brockman owns the practice and she bought it from Rob Silver. I don't know. It feels like maybe 15 years ago.

JoJo (03:11)
I didn't

know that piece of information. Okay.

Dr. Angie (03:13)
Yeah, so this was

Rob's practice and that's why it's Boulder's Natural Animal. So I, yeah, so probably in 2008, 2009, I walked into that practice with, think I was must of into, I was right out of school. So maybe it was even 2007 and

JoJo (03:17)
Bye.

Okay, that makes a lot of sense.

Dr. Angie (03:34)
Rob Silver was like, you don't have enough experience because I didn't have enough surgical experience. So he was not going to hire me, which was totally fine. I went and got experience other places. So I was last in that practice that many years ago and Stacey Adams and Liv Brockman bought it from him. And then Stacey has since moved on and, but they've really retained the client base.

JoJo (03:38)
Mmm.

Hmm.

Dr. Angie (04:00)
So it's Dr. Silver's client base. they're super interested in integrative medicine. And what I love about the way Dr. Brockman practices is that she doesn't have judgment. She likes to give everyone their options and doesn't have judgment if you're not going to do all the vaccines or if you don't want to do the heartworm prevention, but is really passionate about giving everyone the information, which is, I mean, kind of exactly how I practice. Yeah.

JoJo (04:15)
Hmm.

I know that sounds like you. That does sound like

you. That's exciting.

Dr. Angie (04:31)
And I felt like the first time she and I sat down to talk, felt like I've known her forever. It was the easiest conversation. And I really love that building because it has a ton of natural light.

JoJo (04:45)
I wondered if you were going to mention that. It's an important piece because currently where are you practicing? Where are we podcasting from? Our basement. Which is like the space that's left in our house for working from home. Yeah.

Dr. Angie (04:48)
Yes! It is.

My basement.

Yes, totally. And

she has plants, she has a green thumb and so there's lots of room for green things and her staff is so lovely. And I got, I was able to interact with two other doctors there and I really liked them. And so I'm, I'm really excited. I think it's going to be a good fit.

JoJo (05:20)
That is very exciting. Another piece

I saw that I was really excited about was their time allotment for appointments. They gave adequate amount of time for you to still practice medicine the way that you practice medicine.

Dr. Angie (05:27)
Yes.

Absolutely. Yeah. Compared to other clinics that I've been doing relief work for, they, they're not a high volume practice, which is great. They're not trying to get people in and out and see as many people throughout the day. It's privately owned, which is really hard to come by these days. And it still has kind of like that small town family feel, you know, relational. It's not corporate. There's no

JoJo (05:55)
relational.

Dr. Angie (05:58)
corporate sales machine feeling, you know, everyone can come in and have individualized care.

JoJo (06:05)
Well, I can see I know not everybody can see this episode I have been seeing can see on you just the like the sigh of that like you know that like settling in of your body of like this is this is the right next step.

Dr. Angie (06:19)
is the right next step. And I can be really honest with Dr. Brockman. I was like, listen, I'm looking for a home. Here's what I'm looking for. Here's the client base I have. Here's what they need. And it just all really lined up so effortlessly. I ended up cold calling her practice and it just turns out that she, two of her associates were leaving for different reasons, none of them bad. And, um,

I don't know. It just felt like everything lined up and I'm going to start next week. I know.

JoJo (06:54)
That's so fun. And so the I have watched this journey over the I mean, I've watched your journey for many years and the the pivots within the practice. But in this particular journey, you know, you've had offers along the way. And always it's just been like, do I do this? not quite right. And so see when you're not questioning that in any shape or form.

Dr. Angie (06:55)
Yeah.

story.

Yes.

JoJo (07:19)
It makes my heart happy for you.

Dr. Angie (07:22)
Yes. I know there've been some clinics where it's been like, you know, 90 % fit and then the 10 % that didn't fit felt maybe like a big deal. And I really questioned myself and I remember like windows. Yeah.

JoJo (07:35)
Like windows. Yeah, I

mean, that was a real concern for you.

Dr. Angie (07:42)
Yeah, well, I'm so neurodivergent. I really need natural light. I have some stuff going on with my vision. And the thought of being in fluorescent lights, even just the sound of them, it's really bothersome for me. And I just tend to do better in natural light. I imagine we all are, but I tell myself the story that because I'm neurodivergent, it's more important for me. yeah. And I kept asking myself with these other clinics,

JoJo (07:54)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Angie (08:08)
Well, like, you know, should that be a deal breaker? Should I just go along with it? Or do I go with vibes? I remember asking my aunties in a group Marco Polo, like, are we going off vibes ladies? Like what, what am I doing? And what was great about a Boulder's natural animal is that there was at no point did I feel like, this might not be right.

JoJo (08:32)
Well, nor are you having to compromise any piece of your integrity or compromise a piece of the way that you choose to practice. Like it's there's something different and being welcomed for who you are, and accepted for who you are. Like there's a there's a difference in my opinion to be fully welcome, that you're bringing something to the situation that has value versus yeah, we'll tolerate that part of you.

Dr. Angie (08:38)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

JoJo (08:59)
or we'll adjust that for you rather than, oh yeah, that's totally welcome. And I think that's part of what I'm hearing is that you are getting the feeling of belonging.

Dr. Angie (08:59)
Right.

Yes. And I haven't been part of a practice like a brick and mortar practice since 2012. So it's been a really long time. And so we've had, you and I have had this practice and then, you know, there've been some other nurses, but it's not the same as a brick and mortar because so much of our interactions are, you know, remote. We're not coming in and gathering in

JoJo (09:33)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Angie (09:37)
place every day. I mean, you and I would go and gather and go see patients all day. But when that stopped, that was really hard for me. That's... yeah, it's been really hard.

JoJo (09:42)
Yeah.

It was hard for me too. Yeah, there's an

isolation to it. And like I so appreciate when I had back and forth with clients, just because it's engagement. But it's not the same as sitting on someone's living room floor or, you know, eight hours in a car during COVID of whatever we're doing like that. There is community in that.

So I'm really happy for you that you're gonna have that again.

Dr. Angie (10:11)
remember this is a tangent, but remember when we would wear N95s in the car with each other and we would test every day before work.

JoJo (10:22)
⁓ was so, do you remember if we're going on the tangent? So we would go into a home and we still were seeing the same number of patients. Like, so we would have to put on our shoe covers. We had surgical caps and 95s, which those hurt. My nose would be so bruised.

Dr. Angie (10:27)
Let's do it.

Yes. Yes.

Mm-hmm.

JoJo (10:42)
at the end of the day. Like we were, I mean, I know they weren't counting us as like frontline workers, but my goodness. So we would go into homes and then we would come out and it would be the dead of winter. Cause March in Colorado, this area of Colorado is pretty brutal. And then we'd have to change our clothes in the car. So we had like six sets of scrubs.

Dr. Angie (10:42)
We would have the imprints right here.

Thanks

Yes.

my god.

JoJo (11:05)
And we

would just change in this like freezing cold car the two of us in the front seat as fast as we could to get to our next one so we wouldn't transfer anything because we knew so little

Dr. Angie (11:13)
I know.

When we were so concerned about our clients and that we were going to be so horrified if we were responsible for bringing COVID-19 to an elderly client. ⁓ yeah. I remember that was, we did it. We did it. It took a toll, but we did

JoJo (11:18)
Mm-hmm.

ones with newborns like yeah.

Yeah, and we did it successfully. Yeah, I don't think, I

think that's part of where things started to just, I mean, it was exhausting.

Dr. Angie (11:42)
It was so exhausting. that has to contribute to some of the burnout for sure.

JoJo (11:44)
Yeah.

Yeah. So

back to intuition, that was our intuition at that time was how do we keep going when so many clinics were not like medicine changed a lot during that time in veterinary medicine as well. was those curbside drop offs. So that's when our wait list started getting so long. Yeah. It was 250 people in the Boulder area that wanted a house call that

Dr. Angie (11:57)
We're yeah, doing curbside medicine.

I know. Wasn't it like 250 people at one point?

Yeah.

Yeah, I know. We just couldn't get to them all.

JoJo (12:17)
No, not in a way that would allow us to care for their pets the way that we do. Yeah. So back to the present day, because that's not happening now. Thank goodness. Yeah. I think I don't know about you, but I went there just now. like, man, that was hard. That was really hard. Couldn't always get our supplies. ⁓ it was hard.

Dr. Angie (12:21)
Right.

that we wanted to. Yes.

Now I know, okay, come back out of COVID.

Yeah, that was hard and dark.

yeah, I remember everything was on backorder. Yes. But now we're here in 2025 and we're descending into fascism. So we just have traded into...

JoJo (12:48)
Yeah. We were having to get really creative.

But you're employable and you're going to go get a job.

Dr. Angie (13:03)
Yes, I have a job, a part-time job. So I'll still be doing phone consultations. So you can still find me at boulderholisticvet.com. You don't have to be in Colorado. I will help you wherever you are. I will help you even internationally, although sometimes it's hard to line up the time zones. There. I'll try though.

JoJo (13:10)
Mm-hmm.

You do not need to be in Colorado to do that.

Yeah.

We're pretty good about, hey, if you don't see something on Dr. Angie's schedule that works for you, we will find the time. Oh, wow.

Dr. Angie (13:31)
Yeah. Please reach

out. Yeah. If you go to book a phone consultation with me and either this is Jojo's big complaint about me, either I haven't opened up enough times or you don't see a time that works, please reach out. We're going to get you taken care of. Definitely. We're going to get you. You taking care of. So I'm still going to be doing that. We're still going to be doing fun online courses and, still be around. But if you're in the Boulder area,

JoJo (13:40)
You

Definitely, that will happen.

Dr. Angie (13:57)
and you want me to be your vet, come to Boulder's Natural Animal.

JoJo (14:00)
starting next week, which for reference, what is the date today? It's April 2nd.

Dr. Angie (14:06)
It's April 2nd. Yeah, let's see. Yeah. So next week, I'm pretty sure I'm starting next week. if not the week after, but yes, like by the time this is posted, I will be there regularly on Wednesdays and Thursdays. And then whenever Dr. Brockman might need some help, she's so great because I can work in the middle of the day so I can drop my kids off at school, get some work done, and then pick them up.

JoJo (14:29)
And can we speak about that too? Female veterinarians and female practice owners, it's been a long time since I've worked for male practice owners. So I'm sure they exist too. I don't want to exclude them. But the level of care for moms, there are so many of us that are moms that have, you know, we just seem to really work around that.

And not work around it, but actually again that embracing feeling like you've got kids you have places to be we totally get it. Yeah.

Dr. Angie (14:51)
Yes.

Right.

Support the priorities. Absolutely. Yeah. So I'm excited about that. And it feels like a good next chapter for us and our clients.

JoJo (15:09)
I am very excited to announce that to our clients.

Dr. Angie (15:12)
Yes. Okay.

Well, if you want a phone consultation with me, you can go to boulderholisticvet.com. Is it forward slash consultations? Actually don't even know what the URL is. my gosh. Cause of course we weren't, I wasn't.

JoJo (15:21)
I'm going to Google that while you keep talking. It's

boulderholisticvet.com forward slash video dash consultations dash with dash doctor dash Angie. Put it in the show notes.

Dr. Angie (15:41)
⁓ no.

Amanda!

We need to fix that. So we'll put it.

JoJo (15:51)
can fix that

actually because I actually know how to do that now.

Dr. Angie (15:54)
because you know how to do a redirect. What is it, a 301? 403? It's a 304 redirect.

JoJo (15:58)
Don't ask me the numbers, just I can do this. 304.

Yeah.

Dr. Angie (16:03)
my gosh, Jojo and I are also webmasters, so, but don't reach out for help. We're not gonna help you.

JoJo (16:07)
S...

We're Google Masters, SEO Masters, figuring it out.

Dr. Angie (16:13)
Yeah.

So you can find us there So if you're in Boulder, I can be your vet at Boulder Natural Animal.

We would also love to hear from you. You can leave a comment, a message, wherever you're watching this, Spotify, Apple, leave us a review. Even if you don't like us, you can leave us a bad review, but just leave us a review. We want to hear from you, but we hope you do like us. We really want you to, and we'll see you next time. Is there anything else JoJo?

JoJo (16:44)
No, I'm just so happy for you. Let's just leave it at that.

Dr. Angie (16:46)
Yay. Okay. Sounds good. We'll see you next

time. Bye.