Morgan owns Georgetown Veterinary Hospital, where he has been practicing veterinary medicine for 12 years.
The American Veterinary Medical Association released a study on pet ownership last month that found that D.C. has a lower rate of pet ownership than any U.S. state, at 21.9 percent of households. Why do you think that might be? I wonder if that’s really true of certain areas. In Georgetown, there seems to be a pretty large population of people who have pets. … However, to answer your question … I would venture to think that it has a lot to do with the type of housing. The houses tend to be small — you don’t usually have a large backyard like you would have in, say, suburbia or something like that. I think the other thing is that we do have a rather transient population.
What are some of the common pets that you see in your practice? We see such a range, from small dogs all the way up to large dogs. I would say probably the most popular animals I see are golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers — two rather sizable dogs, which is counterintuitive if you consider the space we have. … And of course, we have a lot of cats, too.
Do you deal with exotic animals, too? I don’t. … We’ve certainly seen them on occasion — in fact, a few years ago, I was the veterinarian for the National Geographic Society when they had their frogs exhibit, so I was a frog vet for a little bit. It was great — it was very interesting.
Do you have pets yourself? I’ve got a couple. I’ve got Buddy the dog — he’s my office dog — he’s here right now, listening to us. He’s a Rottweiler-Lab mix. … And I have a kitty cat here, who’s my supervisor cat, and I have a kitty cat at home. So yeah, you know — what’s a veterinarian without a big mutt? ?- April Burbank
