When Deer-Grove Veterinary Clinic opened its practice in Deerfield, Wisconsin in 1968, it primarily served the many dairy farms that dotted the landscape between Madison and Deerfield at the time.

Since then most of the barns have either been torn down to make way for new housing or have fallen into disrepair - dilapidated reminders of the area's agrarian heritage.

"If you drive out Highway BB from Madison to Highway 73, which goes through Deerfield, there are three active dairy farms remaining," says Deer-Grove Veterinary Clinic owner and Veterinarian Steve Frame. "It used to be about every mile there was a barn with 30 cows."

Veterinarian Steve Frame examines Coco, a Wire-haired Pointing Griffon. Frame owns Deer-Grove Veterinary Clinic, with locations in Cottage Grove and Deerfield.

Deer-Grove's expanded over time, opening a second office in Cottage Grove. The practice has changed with the landscape through the years. As farms disappeared and suburbs developed, the clinic shifted focus from large livestock to small animal work.

"When I came here in 1985 the practice was in Deerfield only and it was about 85 percent large animal work. Dane County morphed to the point where we were nearly no revenue on the large animal side. Therefore the small animal work continued to grow until about six years ago we quit doing large animal work altogether."

In 1987, about two years after Frame started working at Deer-Grove, he bought into the clinic as a partner with Deer-Grove founder and Veterinarian Byron Buchli. That same year they opened the Cottage Grove practice.

"This was about the time that the (University of Wisconsin) vet school was to graduate their first class and we had a large portion of our small animal practice centered between Deerfield and Madison. There was nobody in Cottage Grove. We felt to maintain the client base we had we needed to fill that void before someone else filled it for us."

The move was a good one for the clinic and in 2003 when Buchli retired, Frame took sole ownership of the practice. Currently, the two clinics employ 16 people, including three veterinarians and a staff of certified veterinary technicians, technician assistants, receptionists and a practice manager. "We have such an educated, devoted staff that is so very caring of the animals we have in our charge," said Frame.

Veterinary medicine has seen many advances in the quality of care through preventive medicine, procedures and education. Better educated pet owners who are more in tune with pet needs have been a product of that change.

"Pets are becoming more and more as family members," says Frame. "Because of this shift, caring for pet medical and other needs is becoming a growing priority for owners."

Frame says that depending on the types of cases they are seeing, both clinics care for between 30 and 50 patients a day.

"They (pet owners) are more willing to work with health issues as they arise." That comes to treating cats for diabetes or doing more extensive surgeries on small animals than may have been allowed in the past. One thing that Frame says has really helped is having referral clinics in the area.

"It used to be we were the only thing. If it didn't get fixed here it was going to Minnesota and Illinois to the vet schools. That's changed a lot and people appreciate having those services."

With availability of 24-hour emergency care facilities where pets are constantly monitored, Frame says the quality of pet care has significantly improved. But all of this costs money and some of the surgical procedures can reach into the thousands of dollars. There is pet health insurance, but very few pet owners carry it. "The American Pet Products Manufacturers Associations reported in 2005 that three percent of dogs and one percent of cats in the United States were covered by health insurance. For the majority of pet owners, vet visits, medications and any procedures are paid out of pocket.

Frame recalled a recent case with a small mixed-breed dog brought in with a broken pelvis and torn knee. The surgery to repair the injuries, he said, would probably cost $4,000 to $5,000. A more affordable option would be amputating the leg. While this might sound cruel, Frame said that dogs can get around quite easily on three legs.

Certified Veterinary Technician Alisa Hornung inspects Gizmo, a Brussels Griffon.

"That's a hard decision to maybe amputate your dog's leg but that's a lot better than putting it to sleep or letting it live in pain. And for some people, $4,000 plus just isn't going to be an option to put that kind of money into their pet.

"I think that's where you have to have some empathy for the individual and hope that they have a level of trust and understanding with you that you're giving them reasonable advice."

The advice that Frame says he offers people is always given with the pet's quality of life in mind. "In the process of offering someone two, three or four options you tell them what to expect and what the animal will expect going through this."

While sometimes there are tough decisions to be made, Frame says that many of the problems he sees are easily treated with basic procedures and affordable drugs. Medications that he says can effectively control many different chronic situations.

But with all these new treatments and technologies come new challenges. Frame says overall they have a good amount of success, but as animals live longer and health issues become more complex it's more challenging to get a completely satisfactory end result.

One of the biggest health issues he sees with pets is obesity. "Just as it is with humans, obesity is leading to a lot of other issues that really detract from the quality of an animal's life. You love them and they wag their tail when you give them a treat so you give them another treat and you give them another treat and they're always happy to take another treat. Pretty soon it just gets out of hand." Frame says monitoring food intake along with exercise are the best ways to keep them at a healthy weight.

A common occurrence that Frame says he sees as spring arrives are pets hit by cars. He says animals become more active as the weather warms, so it's important to keep them within fenced areas or on a leash when outside.

Other important springtime reminders are updating regular vaccinations and heartworm testing. "Reminding pet owners to get started on heartworm prevention in the spring is important, if they haven't been going with the prevention on a year-round basis."