The news is not good in Exam Room 2 at Dr. Ken Abrams’ veterinary practice.
Abrams approaches Cindy Govoni’s dog, Hudson, with a device that looks like a handheld microscope and peers into the animal’s right eye. He doesn’t like what he sees.
The dog – a good-natured, 8-year-old mutt – is in pain, the result of growing pressure in his eye from glaucoma. An infection has formed, and the dog hasn’t been eating.
Govoni has already made several three-hour round trips between her home in Connecticut and Abrams’ Warwick office to treat and monitor the glaucoma. “We’re trying to do what we can to keep him from losing his eye,” Abrams explains. “But …”
Following the exam, Abrams tells Govoni that the disease will only get worse and infections will reoccur. Hudson is already blind in the diseased eye, and the dog will feel much better if the eye is removed, Abrams concludes. Govoni accepts the diagnosis.
After all, eyes are Abrams’ specialty. He’s one of only two veterinary ophthalmologists – in other words, a pet eye doctor – in Rhode Island and one of about 250 who are board-certified worldwide.
From cataracts to detached retinas, Abrams deals solely with the eyes of pets and the occasional zoo animal. And in an age when pets more often are considered a part of the family and some people are willingly to go to great lengths to maintain their pets’ health, business is booming at Veterinary Ophthalmology Services Inc.
Abrams spent a recent weekday afternoon moving briskly from one examination to another before he made his way to the surgical area to perform back-to-back procedures, repairing corneal ulcers in the eyes of a bulldog and a boxer. That morning, he had already removed cataracts in a cat and removed the eye of a poodle.
In a typical week, Veterinary Ophthalmology Services – Abrams is the sole veterinarian in the practice with four technicians – books 60 to 75 office visits and another 10 to 12 eye surgeries. Abrams declined to give annual revenue, but he said business has slowed only slightly since an eye specialist was hired at a nearby East Greenwich animal hospital about three years ago.
Because the work is so specialized, it’s not unusual for people to travel for hours to see Abrams. He draws clients from all over New England, usually through referrals from general-practice veterinarians. He’s even had pet owners arrive from Bermuda, where he does eye clinics twice a year.
Abrams said specialties such as his are becoming more common in pet medicine: Now there are radiologists, surgeons and even dermatologists just for animals. General practitioners are becoming “gatekeepers,” referring a growing number of clients to those specialists, Abrams said.
Abrams opened Veterinary Ophthalmology Services in 1992 after obtaining his board certification while a staff ophthalmologist at the Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine and Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston. It was the culmination of years of schooling that included a one-year internship and three years of residency in ophthalmology at the University of Tennessee.
Any worry about there being enough business in Rhode Island to keep the practice afloat faded quickly on the first day the office opened. Abrams had seven office visits that day, and the clients haven’t stopped coming.
Most other pet ophthalmologists are members of larger practices that feature numerous specialists, and Abrams said that’s why many of his clients turn to Veterinary Ophthalmology Services instead of the bigger practices in Boston. “They don’t get lost in the shuffle,” Abrams said. “They’re dealing directly with us.”
While cats, dogs, rabbits and birds are part of Abrams’ usual caseload, his patient list has also included animals that are not so domesticated. In the past, Abrams has been called upon to examine a gibbon at Roger William Park Zoo and a penguin at Mystic Aquarium.
Why did Abrams decide to make the eye, uh, his focus?
After studying to be a veterinarian, he said, his type-A personality drove him to become a specialist and the eye drew his interest. “It’s the only organ you can see blood vessels and nerves directly,” he explained. “You can get the big picture through the eyes; see signs of systemic diseases like cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure before there are signs elsewhere.”
“There’s lots of stuff in that one little organ,” Abrams said. •
Company Profile:
VETERINARY OPHTHALMOLOGY SERVICES
OWNER: Kenneth Abrams
TYPE OF BUSINESS: animal eye specialist
LOCATION: 42 Benefit St., Warwick
EMPLOYEES: 5
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1992
ANNUAL SALES: WND
