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Ruskin Animal Hospital and Cat Thyroid Center

Veterinarian Hal Ott celebrates 50 years in the profession he loves

By LOIS KINDLE

Veterinarian Hal Ott, 75, is jubilant fifty years caring for those who tin can't speak and advocate for themselves. "He's got a good heart; he cares for both people and animals," said longtime friend, Priscilla Mixon. "He treats every animal the same and gives each ane the same respect as he would a person." LOIS KINDLE Photo

Sometimes, the simplest of choices has the most monumental impact on our lives. Such was the case of high schooler Hal Ott, whose parents moved from Pittsburgh to Pompano Embankment when he was 16.

Needing an elective to graduate, he randomly chose a course in agriculture, which sparked a passion in him that has lasted a lifetime. "I admittedly loved it," he said. "I had my own steer, hogs, chickens and rabbits and walked away with numerous awards."

Unaware at the fourth dimension of where this newfound interest would take him, Ott went on to the Academy of Florida. In that location he discovered the aforementioned love for scientific discipline as he had for animals, which led him to employ to the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he was accepted.

Ott graduated in 1969 and was offered a task as a veterinarian for horses on a race-track farm in Ocala. Although he was tempted, the job required lots of travel, and he had a married woman and ii-year-old son to consider at the fourth dimension.

The Ruskin Animal Hospital, 715 U.S. 41 S, Ruskin, was founded by veterinary Hal Ott in 1971. At that time, he was assisted just past a part-time receptionist. Today the practice Includes 25 employees, including three veterinarians. Ott works role-fourth dimension in the Cat Thyroid Center.

So he opted to join the Air Forcefulness as a captain and was stationed at MacDill AFB for two years. "My mission was to care for Sentry dogs, the pets of base personnel and, primarily, to inspect thousands of pounds of shrimp procured by the Army," Ott said. "I gained 35 pounds making sure the shrimp tasted no less than ideal for our service people."

Starting a career in S Shore

Discharged in 1971, Ott decided to open a minor animal veterinary clinic. "Hillsborough County seemed as proficient a place equally any," he said. So he looked at the canton's population map, plotted the location of every veterinarian do on it and discovered Ruskin had no veterinarians. "I figured at that place were likely enough people in that location to back up a do," the immature veterinarian said at the time.

Through Dickman Realty, Ott leased the former Spade Technology building, made a few changes and hired a office-time high schoolhouse student every bit his receptionist. The "cash annals" was his father'south old cigar box.

"The first solar day I grossed $17, and it took many months until I had my start $100 day," he said, noting he sometimes bartered for payment in the form of chickens, pigs or produce. "Thankfully, I managed to earn enough money to support my wife and ii children."

Practise manager, Diane Cooper, pauses for a photo with her father, veterinarian Hal Ott, at the Cat Thyroid Heart in Ruskin. She has worked with him for the past 16 years.
lois kindle photos

Ott recalls being a veterinarian in Ruskin, then a farming community, was much dissimilar from what it is today. At that place were no specialty vets like there are now.

"My patients were dogs and cats who lived a lot of time outdoors," he said. "They were hunting dogs, guard dogs and working animals. The cats were ratters.

"I treated goats, rabbits, birds, snakes, even a circus monkey," he added. "If an beast could be brought through the door, I'd treat it."

As a event, Ott saw lots of dogs with heartworms and flea- and tick-infested dogs and cats. He too treated animals with snakebites, gastrointestinal issues and intestinal parasites and many that had been hit past cars or wounded by gunshots or arrows.

"I was decorated 24/7, as nosotros didn't have later-hours emergency clinics," he said. "Information technology was not unusual to become home afterwards a ten- to 12-hour day, only to have the telephone ring from a panic-stricken owner whose dog needed firsthand intendance."

Ott regularly visited expanse fish farms to write wellness certificates for fish being transported across the country. During the carnival off-flavor, he treated black bears and big cats in Wimauma and Gibsonton and, even, a gorilla that needed its health certified earlier existence sent to Republic of cuba.

Fast forward to the present

The Cat Thyroid Centre at the Ruskin Animal Infirmary typifies veterinarian Hal Ott'south thoughtful consideration for animals. In add-on to the crates its cats must stay in after handling, the room includes comfy couches and a fish tank and bird to keep the felines engaged.

That small building Ott once leased is now Ruskin Animal Hospital, perhaps the most well-known veterinary do in South Shore. Three total-time veterinarians and a large team of certified vet techs and veterinary assistants staff the facility.

The dogs and cats they see now are house pets who have become family members to virtually people. "Gone are the days of giving daily heartworm pills and dipping and spraying our dogs for fleas," Ott said. "A monthly flavored tablet or small corporeality of liquid practical to the skin does a much amend job."

Today's veterinarians treat new problems, like diabetes, obesity and chronic/obsessive disorders, he said. Even Lyme disease, in one case seen only in the northeastern role of the country, is now here in Florida.

In 1998, Ott became licensed to treat cats with hyperthyroid disease with a radioactive material chosen I-131. He is one of only seven veterinarians licensed in the country to do so. "This disease didn't exist anywhere in the U.s.a. when I opened my exercise in 1971," he said. "Now I treat 250 cats a twelvemonth, referred to the Cat Thyroid Center from across Florida, out of state and, even outside (the country)."

Despite how times have inverse his profession, Ott nonetheless enjoys the career he chose."What hasn't changed is my love for animals, their owners and the surround," he said.

Beyond the practice…

Ott said he began his career to aid those who could not speak or advocate for themselves. "Well-nigh midstream my free energy and focus broadened," he said.

He was instrumental in the founding of Mary & Martha House, traveled to Haiti with a missionary grouping to provide stoves, food and education for the country'southward poor children and is now involved in micro-financing pocket-size, rural co-op, sustainable farms.

"I became an ambassador fellow member of the Carter Centre, which wages peace, fights disease and builds hope across our world," Ott said. He also has helped out Southeast Guide Dogs, Smile Train and the Earth Resource Center.

In 2003, Ott founded the Critter Adoption and Rescue Effort no-impale animate being shelter, serving served x years equally its medical director and half-dozen as its board president. He besides founded and still maintains Ott's Off-Leash Dog Sanctuary in Ruskin.

"1 thing I take learned, mayhap more than anything else, is that the more than one gives from the middle, the more ane receives," Ott said. "Today more than ever the earth needs kindness, dear and generosity. Nosotros need to open our artillery and our hearts."

Now 75, Ott has set up no retirement date. In 2013, he moved to Palmetto to downsize, purchasing and renovating a domicile built in 1910. "My virtually precious legacy is my iv fantastic children and eight grandchildren," he said. "I've had a very rewarding career. Even if I could practise information technology all over, I wouldn't change a affair.