ABOVE: Dr. Dennis Katzer, left, and Dr. Mike Sasse shake hands outside the Chain of Lakes Pet Hospital in Fairmont. Katzer has retired as veterinary of the clinic and Sasse will be taking over the business starting next week.

FAIRMONT– Dr. Dennis Katzer, long-time small animal vet in Fairmont, is retiring after 39 years here. However, his practice is transferring to the capable hands of Dr. Mike Sasse. The clinic will re-open under Sasse on Monday.

Dennis and his wife, Nancy, came to Fairmont in 1983. He said the pet hospital was actually the original Fairmont veterinary clinic building, which he worked at until 1989.

“They outgrew this facility and decided to build new, which they did. At that time Nancy and I offered to buy the clinic property and small animal and equine part of the business. That’s when we went on our own,” Dennis said.

And he has been on his own for the most part. For the first few years it was just him and Nancy, who is a vet technician as well. They started to add support staff as they could afford it over the years and Nancy was gradually phased out as she pursued her artistic career.

Dennis had an associate from about 2014 to 2019 but other than that he’s been the only vet at the clinic which has kept him busy as he said they have clients come from everywhere within a 30 miles radius.

The Katzers said they had seriously been considering retiring for about the past three years.

“It seemed like a good time. I’ve been practicing for 41 yeas and most of that was by myself. We felt it was time,” Dennis said.

Both Dennis and Nancy feel good about the clinic’s new owner.

“We’re very happy and excited that this town will continue to have a veterinary clinic. That was our main concern that there would be a clinic here and that our staff would still have jobs,” Nancy said.

“He will provide good care for his patients,” Dennis said of Sasse.

When asked what he’ll miss about the job, without missing a beat Dennis said the clients and the staff.

“I’ll miss being around the dogs and cats and doing surgeries. Probably a lot of little things,” he said.

However, he’s also looking forward to getting a well-deserved break after a satisfying career. While they have no big plans, the Katzers said they’ll stay occupied with taking care of and riding their horses and visiting their daughter and grandchildren in Vermont.

Dr. Mike Sasse owns another practice, Willow Pet Hospital in Austin, which he started in 2016.

Initially it started out with just Mike and his wife, Dr. Sara Sasse, came on board after a year. He said they had good success from the start and later brought on Dr. Dan Liebsch, who started right before Covid hit.

“He does small animal, but also a lot of equine work. We have another part of our business that’s called Prairie Land Equine,” Mike explained.

Liebsch’s wife, Dr. Ariana Liebsch, also joined the team last fall for a total of four veterinarians at Willow Pet Hospital in Austin.

“We’ll continue with that name and change the name here so we’ll have two locations but one website,” Mike explained.

He shared that he has an interest in the business management side of things and had been searching professional websites when he saw that the clinic in Fairmont was for

sale. While it’s an hour from his home in Albert Lea, Mike said it’s definitely doable.

One important aspect that will make it work is the addition of Dr. Alex Holtem who has been hired and will be living and working as a veterinarian here in Fairmont.

Initially, Mike will also be working in Fairmont full-time to start and said they plan to hire another doctor here. They plan to add a few more staff members, though all current staff members are welcome to stay and Mike has met with them all individually.

“We want to keep everyone on board and just build upon that,” Mike said.

There won’t be many changes to hours, though the clinic will be closed on Saturdays whereas it was open to just medication pick-up in the past. Mike said they will not offer boarding services.

“Our thought is that’s not our lane and we should support the people who are doing boarding in town and refer people there,” Mike said.

The clinic will continue to offer all of the routine stuff, like spaying, neutering and vaccines. They’ll offer surgeries, ultrasound, lab testing and continued care.

“We can coordinate care with specialty centers,” Sara said.

“We pride ourselves in practicing good, modern medicine. We’ve developed a reputation in Austin and the community in taking on more difficult and complex cases. We often get referrals because they’re difficult problems to solve,” Mike said.

When asked why they like what they do, Mike said, “We like practicing medicine. I’ve heard people say they get into veterinarian medicine because they don’t like people, but every dog and cat comes with a person.”

He said during Covid when they were doing curbside service and people weren’t allowed in the building, he found he missed the contact with people.

“We see people at some of their happiest moments, and some of their more difficult times. I like helping people work through those things and make decisions,” Mike said.

For more information, visit willowpethospital.com