Thank you Shoutout LA for the shout out for my veterinary practice and PURE.
Here’s the interview in full as featured on Shoutout LA as Meet Patrick Mahaney: Chief Veterinary Officer of California Pet Acupuncture & Wellness (CPAW), Inc. and PURE (dog food)
Hi Patrick, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Up to 2008 I had only worked on an in-facility basis at veterinary hospitals since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. After I moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and completed my veterinary acupuncture certification I sought to implement my acupuncture and Chinese medicine training into a practice setting in West Hollywood where I was working on a full-time basis, but the hospital environment didn’t favor dogs or cats by permitting a calm place that promotes optimal treatment outcome.
I had an aha moment while driving my now-deceased dog, Cardiff, around Los Angeles to dog parks and hiking trails. On such excursions I would see vehicles belonging to mobile veterinarians, groomers, and dog walkers. I realized I needed to start my own house called-based veterinary practice, as the home is generally a calmer and more-suitable place to perform acupuncture treatments on pets.
My boss at the veterinary hospital was a lawyer, so he helped with the incorporation documents and California Pet Acupuncture and Wellness (CPAW), Inc. was born. Over the years, my practice and services have evolved to the point that I am hired to be the concierge-style, house-call veterinarian for many prominent Los Angeles individuals and families, which certainly makes my day-to-day life both challenging and interesting.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
California Pet Acupuncture and Wellness (CPAW), Inc. is concierge-style, house-call veterinary practice providing a holistic perspective on pet health.
As a concierge veterinarian, I am readily available to help my clients either through communication (text, email, or phone) or at the time of in-person appointments in the comfort of their homes.
Although every day is a workday in some capacity, I find my work both personally and professionally rewarding and enjoy the opportunity to have long-standing relationships with my clients and patients.
As I often find myself in the company of some of the most influential and famous people in the world, I am grateful to earn their trust and become part of what often is a team of caretakers managing their households and lives. In starting out in veterinary practice in 1999, I never thought I would get to know some of the clients I have over the years since founding California Pet Acupuncture and Wellness (CPAW), Inc. in 2008.
Getting to where I am now took years of consistent work, my strong desire to provide a high level of customer service to my clients and the best medical care (within my capacity) to my patients, and a top-tier client referral network.
I also had the incredible opportunity in 2020 to become chief veterinary officer of PURE (hellopure.com), a Los Angeles company making human-grade, whole-food, cooked, veterinary-nutritionist formulated meals for dogs (and hopefully soon for cats). PURE also has a line of healthy, whole-food treats with more selections on the horizon. As I am a firm believer in the power of whole food nutrition for myself, I relish the opportunity to share that perspective for my canine patients in my role with PURE.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When friends and family come to Los Angeles to visit me (and my husband/business partner Phil), I always want to show them my Los Angeles world which otherwise may not be accessible to them as tourists. I often take them with me on my house calls so that they can experience some of the incredible homes and neighborhoods in which I see patients and meet some of my more celebrated clientele.
As I am very much into health and wellness in my day-to-day life, during pre-COVID times I would include my visitors in such practices, such as taking them on hikes to the Hollywood Sign, to yoga with Andrea Marcum at Yoga Works (West Hollywood), to Tread N’ Shred classes with Andrew or Joey at Crunch (Sunset location), for festive meals at Le Petit Four on Sunset Blvd or The Garland Hotel in North Hollywood, or for walks on the beach near The Colony in Malibu.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have to thank my former boss from TLC Pet Medical Center (West Hollywood), Matt Krieger, for helping me to complete the incorporation documents required to found California Pet Acupuncture and Wellness (CPAW), Inc. Without his guidance I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to take the leap into being the business owner I have always wanted to be.
I also have to thank the Los Angeles-area specialty and general practice veterinarians with whom I share cases so that we can work as a team to provide the best level of service for my clients and patients. A special shout out goes to Adam Eatroff, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), a veterinary internal medicine specialist at Advanced Critical Care Emergency Specialty Services (ACCESS) in Culver City, who has been an invaluable collaborator in meeting many of my patients’ advanced medical needs.
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Copyright of this article (2021) is owned by Dr. Patrick Mahaney, Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, and Certified Veterinary Journalist.
Republishing any portion of this article must first be authorized by Dr. Patrick Mahaney. Requests for republishing must be approved by Dr. Patrick Mahaney and received in written format.