Sunday, July 11, 2010

Veterinarian Lisa Bump has spent the last eight years traveling all over the southern U.S. and Caribbean as a relief vet, filling in for other doctors when needed.

Her business, which she described as a substitute teacher for vets, took her from small, rural towns to upscale communities and everywhere in between. She's treated animals with fur, wings and scales. She's seen the good, the bad and the ugly as far as animal injuries go.

Now she's ready to put some roots down in Key West. Putting her relief business aside, Bump opened a new veterinary clinic in Key West last month, Bumps & Bruises Veterinary Hospital.

"I like Key West. I've been down here working for other veterinarians for several years," she said. "It's a new facility, but I'm not new to the Keys."

Bump's United Street clinic will perform routine exams and vaccinations as well as handle emergency cases and surgeries. Bump can be reached 24 hours a day, and animals do not already have to be a patient to receive emergency services.

Rusty Rhodes of Key West first met Bump several months ago when she was doing volunteer work for Stand Up For Animals, an animal welfare nonprofit that operates two shelters, in Marathon and Big Pine Key. Bump performed a surgery on Rhodes' bulldog, Roxanne.

She came to the rescue again a short time later when Roxanne cut the cornea of her eye one weekend.

"I called Dr. Bump and she was here within a half an hour," Rhodes said. "She got Roxanne through that and saved the eye, so I have a great deal of respect for her."

Since then, Rhodes, who works as a bartender, has been passing out Bump's cards to his customers at the bar.

"About eight or 10 people have used her and have come back and thanked me," he said. "She's a lovely woman and she's great with animals, and very dedicated to her work."

In her 10 years as a vet, Bump has seen about every kind of emergency, from animals with breathing problems or hurt limbs to critters who ate something they shouldn't have. She's also seen owner-inflicted injuries, such as people who tried to crop their own animals' tales or ears, and the person who put automobile oil on their animal to try to treat its fleas and mange.

"I've seen some shocking things," she reiterated.

Although Bump has experience with snakes, reptiles and birds, she said her clinic will service "primarily cats and dogs, but we will work on other things."

The building that houses her veterinary hospital, on United Street behind First State Bank, was once a doctor's office, so the building was already laid out for exam and X-ray rooms. Bump added some walls to create additional exam rooms for large-breed dogs such as mastiffs and Great Danes. Those rooms are outfitted with a special lift table for weighing and examining the dogs.

The facility will not offer boarding or grooming services.

Bump's own dog, Kitt, a friendly little "mutt" she adopted in St. Croix, spends most of its days at the clinic relaxing in Bump's office. She also has two cats at home, adopted from the island of St. Kitts.

Because Bump has worked in so many of the veterinary clinics in the Keys, she said the area already feels like home.

"I really like all the vets here in the community and want to work with them," she said. "I'm excited to get up and running."

amswary@keysnews.com