All Animals Welcomed at New Vet Clinic

Horses are her specialty, but there's virtually no animal Dr. Sylvia Minnis won't work on.

Minnis brings her wide range of expertise to Caledonia Veterinary Clinic, which opened in January at 4338 Highway 38.

The services run the gamut from wellness visits, preventative care, surgeries and more. So, too, do the animals brought into the clinic.

"I can tackle about anything," Minnis said. "I've seen hedgehogs, I've seen sugar gliders, I've seen really exotic stuff.

"I've taken growths off a mouse. I've done surgeries on rats, I've done surgeries on bunnies. You name it."

Animals have always been a part of Minnis' life. She grew up helping her dad around the family's farm in central Illinois. After completing undergraduate work at the University of Illinois, she eventually went to graduate school at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia, getting her degree in 2004.

"The University of Sydney has the best reputation internationally," she said.

Her first love was tending for horses, but she went on to work for an all-animals practice. She then moved to a clinic that focused only on small animals before making the jump back into the wide-ranging work she does today.

Minnis worked at Franksville Veterinary Clinic for three years before deciding to open up her own practice in Caledonia.

"I was at a point where I was ready to call some of the shots, and felt comfortable with my level of knowledge, that ownership seemed like a good idea," she said.

To do so, she transformed a barn into a vet clinic. It's still a bit of a work in progress—the second floor will eventually include spaces for surgery, a grooming area and more.

The back of the first floor contains stables, with two pastures behind the clinic giving horses a place to roam. Minnis and her staff also make house calls for larger animals.

Since opening earlier this year, the variety of animals have often made the work unpredictable, Minnis said.

But that's also what she and her staff like about it.

"Nothing ever presents the same way twice," Minnis said. "It's a new thing every day, which is the good thing about it. We love what we do. We love seeing the clients. We love the animals."