On Monday Nov. 4, a veterinary clinic opened its doors in Silt for the first time in five years. 

The Silt Veterinary Clinic, located at 470 County Road 311 in the old Divide Creek Animal Hospital building, brought vet services back to the municipality, which had been without a local vet since Divide Creek closed in 2019. 

One of the first appointments in the new clinic was a euthanasia.

---

---

“On Monday morning we were able to, unfortunately, accommodate a euthanasia,” Veterinarian Dr. Sydney Hayter said. “(The customer) followed up with an email telling us how grateful she was and how much Silt needs a place like this. That was really heartwarming to hear and everybody that I’ve talked to has been very excited and eager to tell their friends.” 

The Silt clinic is a new branch of the locally-owned Glenwood Veterinary Clinic in Glenwood Springs. Established in 1936, the Glenwood clinic provides medicine, surgery and dental procedures for a variety of animals, as well as externship and apprenticeship opportunities for students and recent graduates. 

---

---

“We don’t outsource. A lot of these corporate practices just bring people in from other parts of the country. Because they have all of these different locations, they can just move people around,” Dr. Sam Johnson, veterinarian and owner of the Glenwood and Silt clinics, said. 

“They don’t really care if these practices are successful,” he added. “They don’t have any investment in the community. Every dollar you pay to a corporate group, a certain percentage of that is going to pay for their corporate structure. Every dollar that is spent at this practice is going to be invested right back into the community.”

Johnson, who started working at the Glenwood Veterinary Clinic in 2017 before becoming full owner in 2019, knows that it is often difficult for up valley clientele to drive into Glenwood Springs for vet services. 

“I think it’s getting harder and harder to get into Glenwood Springs and we wanted to try to provide the service to this community that hasn’t been here in years,” Johnson said. “When I first started, I had heard of Divide Creek Animal Hospital…and we had heard really good things. When they stopped providing service here, I know that the community in Silt, Rifle and New Castle really lost a big service.”

When the old Divide Creek building went up for sale in August, Johnson felt as if the opportunity was too good to pass up.

 “I didn’t know anything about it really because I hadn’t been inside,” Johnson said. “When we saw it, we just saw that the bones were so good. There was a lot of potential to help this community.”

Like the Glenwood location, the Silt Veterinary Clinic is a mixed-animal practice: veterinarians treat everything from reptiles and other exotic animals to livestock. Clients with two out of the three types of animals the clinic sees —small animals (including exotics), cats and dogs, livestock and horses— receive a 5% discount on services across the board. 

The clinic also offers a referral program. Current customers get a $25 credit for every referred client who books an appointment with the clinic, and the new client will get $50 off. Until the end of the year, new clients can also book primary exams with the clinic for only a dollar. 

Eventually, Johnson plans to offer animal boarding at the Silt clinic and will partner with local retailers, using the building’s extra space to sell products.

“We’re continuing a brand of medicine that has all but gone extinct, which is the idea of veterinarians who can see all species,” Johnson said. “In Silt in particular, you have many families who don’t just have a dog. They have a dog, they have 4-H animals, they’ve got horses, they have all of these different species, and to be able to keep all of your care under one roof, it’s massive.”

Accredited sources have released differing statements regarding the current national state of the veterinarian workforce. The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges stated that “Significant shortages of veterinarians exist across all sectors of professional activity and at all levels of specialization,” in March, while the American Veterinary Medical Association stated that “A recent analysis of the drivers of supply and demand for veterinary services in the U.S. shows that the number of graduates from existing U.S. veterinary colleges is likely enough to meet demand to 2035,” in October. 

However, veterinary shortages in rural communities are still a concern, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which reported 237 rural veterinary shortage areas in 47 states in 2023. The USDA reports 16 Colorado counties with veterinary shortages in 2024, with 13 classified as private practice, rural area food animal medicine shortages, according to the Veterinary Services Shortage Situations Map. Although Garfield County is not listed as a shortage area, the Silt Veterinary Clinic fills a gap in veterinary care for municipality residents. 

“We come here to take care of animals, it’s not about the money,” Johnson said. “For us to come out here, it’s an opportunity to expand ourselves to a new world, to a community that we know already, but that we’ve known for a while needs help.”