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Keil

Photo by John Wogan

Erdman Animal Hospital has been part of Dr. Lance Keil's life from the start. His dad, Dr. John Keil, founded the practice 69 years ago. Lance Keil, now 65, took over in 1990. He was about to retire but has decided to stay on a little longer.

Erdman Animal Hospital was scheduled to close its doors today. Then along came a puppy who needs a booster shot next month.

The owner had brought it in for vaccinations as Dr. Lance Keil was preparing to shut the practice that his dad started 69 years ago in Baltimore. Keil gave the shots, then explained that the pup would need a leptospirosis booster in three weeks. The owner asked where they should go.

Keil was at a loss. "I realized how desperate the area was going to be for quality, reasonable veterinary care when we closed," he recounted later. The doctor then walked out to the front desk and scheduled the pup to return next month, well past the date the clinic was due to shutter.

From the time he announced in April on social media that he was closing up shop to retire — prompting hundreds of lamentations and notes of appreciation — Keil has been heartsick at the thought of leaving people in the clinic's low-income neighborhood without care they can afford. He tried for years to find a suitable buyer to continue the business, but it didn't work out. Now, at age 65, he figured it was time to move on.

But that puppy. Faced with the prospect that it might miss a critical booster shot to protect against a bacterial infection that Keil said has killed dogs in the community, the doctor silently berated himself. "I'm thinking, this is so stupid that I can't just come in once a month to do those kinds of things. There are some dogs that have bad heart disease that need medicines, and it just seems so ludicrous that I couldn't [help them]."

Dana Harrell and Alexis Posey

Photo by Bella Keil

Dana Harrell, left, and Alexis Posey, who have worked at Erdman Animal Hospital for 30 years combined, are starting a boarding and grooming business in the clinic building as its owner eases into retirement.

So he changed his earlier plan. Now Keil intends to come in for two or three days each month for appointments, including surgeries.

The schedule is exceedingly limited, but it gives clients time to find a new veterinarian for the long-term. And, Keil said, he needs to maintain staff part-time anyway to provide veterinary records to transferring clients.

There's more: Come July, the clinic building owned by Keil will house a pet boarding and grooming business being started by two long-time clinic employees. They're calling it Erdman Animal House.

The idea for a boarding and grooming business came from one of Keil's sons, Ben Keil. Erdman Animal Hospital used to offer boarding but ended the service a few years ago. Why not revive it?

The elder Keil pitched it to Dana Harrell, a veterinary assistant who's been at Erdman for 20 years. Harrell leapt on the idea and invited a coworker who's been at the practice for 10 years, Alexis Posey, to join him.

"We're very excited to be able to offer something to the community," Posey enthused.

They are, after all, part of it. Posey said she lived on the same street as the clinic for a few years, and Harrell currently lives 2½ miles away. Growing up, he lived three blocks over and would bring pets to Erdman Animal Hospital for care.

"That's how I got my job," Harrell said. "I brought one of my pit bulls, and Dr. Keil said, 'Let me go get some help,' and I said, 'I can hold that dog,' and I threw it up on the table. He looked at me and said, 'Man, you need a job,' and it's been history ever since."

As for Keil, the outlook for the business and his own future feels much lighter. "I really love my job," he said, adding that it will be healthy for him to keep working some. His original plan for retirement included taking occasional shifts at another hospital to keep his hand in practice.

Reflecting on the outpouring of emotion that greeted his earlier plan to close, Keil said, "My intentions were to just fade quietly into the sunset, [but] it seems now is not the right time. It has amazed me the loving support I have gotten from clients. Sort of nice to know your life had a worthy purpose."