By Alicia Doyle
Canyon Country Staff Writer
Santa Clarita Animal Urgent Care is scheduled to open the first week in March and will be open seven days a week from 4 to 11 p.m.
“Our main goal is to provide an urgent care in the Santa Clarita area during evening hours as most of other veterinary hospitals are not open seven days and as late as midnight — this would accommodate a schedule for after-hours working clients,” explained Dr. Musa Alshehabat, Ph.D., a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Santa Clarita Animal Urgent Care.
The urgent care will provide variety of services, including
• emergency and urgent care
• orthopedic surgery
• rehabilitation (underwater treadmill and laser therapy)
• endoscopy
• ultrasonography and x-rays
• soft tissue surgery (elective and urgent)
• dental care and x-rays
• vaccinations
• parasite prevention and control
• spay/neuter and micro-chipping
• on-site pharmacy,
• in-house laboratory diagnostics and
• end-of-life care.
“The ultimate goal is to have this new facility as one stop visit to provide not just urgent care help but also other services including scheduled elective procedures,” Dr. Alshehabat said.
Dr. Alshehabat grew up in Jordan and received his bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery from Jordan University of Science and Technology in 2003. After graduating, he received a fellowship to attend Purdue University and Michigan State University, where he finished three years clinical training in medicine and surgery and finishing a Ph.D. in veterinary clinical sciences.
After finishing the Ph.D., he worked in the academia for about five years in Jordan before coming back to California to work as a veterinarian.
“Since moving to California, I have attended multiple clinical continuing education programs in soft tissue and orthopedic surgery, endoscopy, rehabilitation, surgical oncology and many more to further my skills,” Dr. Alshehabat said.
The idea for a new urgent care in Canyon Country was inspired three years ago, when Dr. Alshehabat met his associate colleague, Dr. Rupinder Garha, a native of India who grew up happily surrounded by animals. From an early age, Dr. Garha was fascinated by the stories shared by his uncle, who was a veterinarian.
This inspired him to pursue a career devoted to helping animals, and he earned his degree from D.A.V. College Jalandhar and his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from The College of Veterinary Sciences at Punjab Agricultural University. “Both of us had the same idea of establishing an urgent pet care facility Santa Clarita Valley area,” Dr. Alshehabat said. “This was the beginning of this project where Santa Clarita Urgent Care was born.”
Santa Clarita Animal Urgent Care is located at 18597 Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country. For more information, call (661) 888-8838 or visit their website at scanimalurgentcare.com, which will launch shortly.
