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We have a modest status update of some progress to report. While there are still steps to take before we are ready to welcome everyone and invite you to our open house, beginning today our reception staff is answering calls in real time, and we will conduct most scheduled appointments on site at 2707 El Camino Real in Redwood City.

For the time being, surgical and anesthetic procedures will still be conducted at the specialty surgical center in San Mateo, and our evening hours are still slightly limited. All of our X-ray machines and lab equipment are up and running, and have been calibrated by the experts. So, we can take care of most needs in the Redwood City location.

By way of a headsup, a street project in the works since January, requiring cooperation between ourselves, the County Public Works and even CalTrans, finally had the pieces fall into place now (of course). It’s a yin-and-yang situation. On one hand, the location of the torn up section of sidewalk could be better; but on the other hand we really need this project done. If you encounter it over the next few days, a traffic management representative will be happy to escort you across to our front door. The project should be completed over the next few days. This will enable us to perform some sidewalk upgrades, which is a bonus.

This progress represents a few non-trivial steps forward. We appreciate your continued patience during the transition, and will keep you posted as the news develops.

Over the weekend, we began the transition to the new location. At this point we are all moved out, but still moving in. Scheduled appointments for this week were contacted in advance, and they are being conducted as house calls.

Which brings up phone calls: we had some hickups with the phone system transition, have been deeply concerned about it, and are doing everything in our power to troubleshoot and resolve the problem. We have the technical talent on site now. A voicemail system can currently accept messages and is being monitored during business hours.

Nonetheless, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Most people contact us to: schedule an appointment or to get a prescription refilled. If possible, please use the RxRefill and Request Appointment webforms on the midpen.com website if you have either of these needs. If you need an urgent appointment, on the “Request Appointment” form, choose “Special Reason” then “other” and describe your urgent need. These forms are being monitored every hour, during business hours. Our phone message system is also being checked regularly, though the webforms are preferred and may be more expedient for you.

From a service perspective we’re going mobile. At this point, we are conducting veterinary technician appointments by housecall (at no additional cost), and offering complimentary pet taxi for procedures. Our procedures are still being performed in a specialty surgical center in San Mateo, as they have been the last several months.

Again, we apologize for the inconvenience during this unique time. Once we are ready to welcome visitors, we will invite you to an open house. Meanwhile, you can contact us via webform or leave a voicemail, and we will do our best to accommodate what you need.

Thank you for your patience!

All the new plumbing and drainage and sprinklers that are inside goes with some big iron plumbing outside!

This particular chunk is most impressive and has to do with the new sprinkler system, specifically preventing backflow. Yes, you read that right. All that big iron just on the sprinkler system. There’s even more big iron underground, for plumbing, drainage, sewer, etc. Long story short: we are definitely equipped with plenty of plumbing and drainage, and ready to do some big-time animal grooming.

It’s not just our grooming area that requires so much good plumbing. Plumbing and drainage exist throughout the facility.

This means we had to dig out the trenches first, and lay down the proper pipes. Then, pour the cement perfect enough that nobody can tell anything was dug out in the first place.

If you’ve ever heard the term shear wall, you may know that it’s done with ply instead of sheetrock.  But did you know that it’s the nails that act like little shock absorbers to help dissipate the force from an earthquake?

Shear walls are a type of structural system that provides lateral resistance to a building or structure. A structural engineer establishes the thickness of the plywood, the specific nails to be used and the “nailing schedule.” The term “nailing schedule” sounds like something to do with time, but it’s the distance or spacing between the nails. The engineer specifies the location of the nails in the middle of the panel (AKA diaphram), and along the edges. Together, the ply and the proper nails with the proper nailing schedule work together to provide resistence to the earthquake’s lateral forces.

Unless you’re familiar with construction, you may now know that framing out walls doesn’t begin with the wood — it begins with paper plans. Which is why, if you recall, right after demolition, we set up a working office space.

It’s not good enough to read the plans. Our carpentry foreman had to really study them, because any mistakes made at this stage of the game would have ramifications down the line and could prove extremely costly. Electrical and plumbing, wiring and HVAC, even toilet placement, all depend on the framing. It had to be right.

Lucky for us, our carpentry foreman is really organized, unbelievably efficient and proved to be a champion. He’s remarkably professional. With sufficient studying, walking the space and clearing up any questions with the architect, our heroic carpentry foreman marked it out, and he and his team got to framing out the walls.

Sometimes construction sites look more chaotic than they really are. On delivery days, in come piles of wall sheathing and studs.

All of the wood gets placed indoors, if possible, out of the elements, and up off of the floor to prevent moisture damage. Some pieces get delivered and stacked by size. Others get pre-cut and organized by size to make it quicker to grab what you need and keep moving.

Undoubtedly the pieces are measured twice, and cut once.

We interrupt this stream of construction dispatches to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving weekend plus offer a way to help those animals affected in Butte County by the fires.

Typically, we jump in to help with a Stand By You project, which involves a direct action with industry colleagues we already know and trust. We also sign up to send veterinary staff and supplies. This fire happened too far away to be called into service. But the need is great, reliable help is on the way, and you can get involved!

The SF SPCA has an anonymous donor who is putting up a million dollar matching fund (hello!) for animals affected by the Butte County fires. The Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital™ Stand By You fund will send the first $2000, which the SF SPCA fund may match and turn into $4000!  Won’t you join us by contributing as well?  To do so, visit: https://www.sfspca.org.

Or you can go directly to the donation page at: https://www.sfspca.org/give-917.

Any funds raised in excess of what’s needed by the Camp Fire effort, or don’t get matched, will go directly into the SF SPCA Disaster Fund, a prudent move which enables an immediate response to the next disaster. As we give Thanks for all that we have this weekend, have a double portion of pumpkin pie, while you help to the animals affected by the fire.

Happy Thanksgiving!

After making a Big Mess the next step is to set up an office! No office would be complete without a kitchen, bottled water, fridge and lots of conference tables.

To be fair the point of making a Big Mess is cleaning up what was demolished. The office area was created while clean up took place.

Over time, the office area, and particularly the kitchen area, got cleaner and cleaner, and more functional. One thing it never got was fancy.

We are building a new hospital. It’s not far, but it’s far better. Plus indoor parking.

We’re extremely excited about the bigger, state-of-the-art animal hospital we are building. We designed it ourselves and made sure it has everything we want. The design is logical and beautiful. There’s plenty of bandwidth throughout, upgraded equipment and more space.

New hospital. New equipment. Same great Veterinarians, RVTs and staff. Same helpful concierge services. Indoor parking. Pretty good, right?

An ideal facility has been the topic of discussion for years. We finally had the opportunity to pursue it when developers approached us with a strong offer that would allow us to finally build the Animal Hospital we’ve always wanted.

As with most things involving construction, our timeline is estimated. For now, many procedures requiring anesthesia are being conducted a specialty surgical center in San Mateo. For your convenience, clients can drop procedure patients off here at Merrill St. and we will transport them to and from the interim surgical center in San Mateo. Everything else will stay at Merrill Street until the new building is ready. We will keep you posted on the progress of construction meanwhile. Right now construction is progressing very well.

We are extremely excited about the hospital we’re building. We’re combining three buildings into one really nice sized facility. Currently, we use 6000 square feet and the new building will be 10,000 square feet, including the indoor parking. It’s got the latest technology, wiring throughout, better energy efficiency, beautiful and logical design, reclaimed Bay Area redwood (did we mention indoor parking for appointments?), and even a little coffee cafe area. We can’t wait to throw a party and show you.