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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Great Slave Animal Hospital welcomed Dr. Michelle Dmytriw last week to join its team caring for Yellowknife's pets.

Dr. Michelle Dmytriw is the newest addition to the Great Slave Animal Hospital team. Also along for the ride are her two dogs Tango, left, and Kato. - Sara Wilson/NNSL photo

This is a return move to the North for the new veterinarian, who lived and worked in Yellowknife as a travel consultant from 1991 to 2004.

She found her calling to care for animals on her 31st birthday while on vacation in Africa.

"I was sitting in Tanzania and remember thinking, 'I'm going to go home and try it out and see what happens,'" she said.

Changing her career was a long road and required upgrading and many years of education, but one that was worth the hard work.

After earning her doctorate of veterinary medicine from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in 2007, she moved to the Calgary area and began practising.

From there, she branched out on her own and opened her own locum business, filling in on maternity leave for veterinarians from clinics around southern Alberta.

While the job is fulfilling, it also comes with it's set of hardships, according to Dmytriw.

"Sometimes it can be very difficult, especially when you have to deliver bad news about their animal," she said. "Their pet is part of their family, and in a lot of cases it's their child."

Dmytriw prides herself on her attention to detail and ensuring that owners are fully aware of what is happening with their pets.

"I work a little bit differently. I like to give them all of that 15 minutes, and I'd prefer to have a 20-minute or half-hour appointment so that I can really go through stuff with people and explain to them how things are working and why we're doing this, not just, 'This is what we're doing,'" she said.

"More informed people make better decisions."

Dmytriw didn't make the move alone. Tango, her yellow Labrador and Kato, her chocolate lab, moved as well. Both are rescue dogs.

"A year and a half ago, I had a Rottweiler cross come in ... from an area where he was neglected and abused a little bit," she said. "It didn't have any hair left on him, he couldn't see out of his eyes, so I started to treat him ... Just before I came up here, his new owner brought him in and he's a new dog again. So you get to have that, which is fantastic and why we get into it."

Dmytriw, one of two vets at the animal hospital, including clinic owner Dr. Tom Pisz, is currently accepting appointments at her new position in the capital.

"It's amazing when you realize your passion in life and then you get the opportunity to do it - it's amazing being able to fulfil that," she said.

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