New Berlin-area animals and their owners have something to celebrate.
After years of planning and construction, Leatherstocking Veterinary Group’s New Berlin facility will open its new clinic Saturday, April 26.
According to a media release, ground was broken for the clinic in August 2023.
“Our original clinic is right next door to this new building, that will be converted to our businesses offices to house more of our employees,” the release stated, noting New Berlin is one of the company’s four sites, along with Heritage Vet in Cooperstown, Marcy Vet in Marcy and Leatherstocking Veterinary Services in Edmeston.
Owner and veterinarian Dr. Bill Johnson, who shares the New Berlin practice with doctors Kathy Mahon and Rachel Fraser, said the new clinic is much needed.
“As all good building projects go, it took longer than expected, but the original clinic building was built in the mid-‘60s, and it was primarily a large-animal clinic at the time, with three doctors,” he said. “They built the building in 1965 or ’66, so we’d been operating out of a 60-year-old building since we purchased it in 2011, and the small-animal portion (of the practice) has just grown beyond our imaginings and we were out of room.
“We’ve renovated over and over — added an exam room and added a surgery — and it was just an old building, beyond being able to be renovated for a clinic anymore,” Johnson continued. “We wanted to build something that will be here for the next 60 years.”
Johnson said the clinic will cater to that growing small-animal population.
“It’s small animals in Chenango, Otsego and Madison counties,” he said. “That’s dogs, cats, pocket pets — guinea pigs, hamsters — and chickens. Anything people can carry or walk through the door. We own the large-animal clinic eight miles up the road, and that has a haul-in facility and horse-breeding facility, so we still do large animal, but out of (that site), and that has been for the last 20 years.”
Johnson, who said “the next closest clinics are Norwich and Oneonta,” said clients are enthusiastic about the expansion.
“Everybody’s excited, because they know we got traffic jams in the old clinic,” he said. “If you had more than two people in the waiting room, it’s crowded; there’s no room for our staff and no place for them to eat their lunch or take a break. Somedays, there’s not enough exam rooms for clients coming in the door. We just needed more space.”
Johnson attributed the growing clientele to continued quality care.
“We’ve always offered really good service,” he said. “We treat our clients like family and try to treat people like we’d like to be treated. I think it’s a service mentality of the clinic that draws people to us.
“It’s always been family focused,” Johnson continued. “We’ll adapt to people’s needs and, in the new clinic, we can service the basic needs of people on up to the higher ends of needs. We’ve outfitted it with digital X-ray, ultrasound and lab equipment, so we can pretty much do what any big city clinic does.”
Johnson said he hopes to keep growing the practice and its reputation.
“(I want to) continue offering great service to the community,” he said. “And we’re going to keep looking for new veterinarians. There’s a huge shortage, so future plans will be to add vets. I’m looking to retire in the next three to five years. There’s four vets out of that clinic and, overall, come June, we’ll have 12 in our organization across all our clinics.”
Johnson said the new clinic at 4094 state Highway 8 in New Berlin is accepting new patients.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 607-847-6118 or visit leatherstockingvetgroup.com.