Dr. Dennis White retiring from veterinary practice

After 34 years in Tecumseh practicing veterinary medicine on the corner of N. Pearl St. and Logan St., Dr. Dennis R. White, DVM, is retiring. He has sold the Companion Animal Clinic practice to his associate, Dr. Jamie M. Major, DVM.White hopes there will be no last day for him at Companion Animal Clinic, even though he is retiring. “I’m retiring from the business,” said White. “I’m not giving up my license. There’s a possibility they might need a day off around here.”Although the practice officially became Major’s on Tuesday, March 10, White will remain in the office on a daily basis until Major hires a new associate. White is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Sarah, and his children and their families during his retirement, but is finding the idea of not being in the clinic on a daily basis a difficult adjustment.“I’ve been very loyal and dedicated to this business. It’s only because I gave of myself to transform this corner from what it was. This is my baby,” White said. “My family has accommodated me. I give a lot of credit to Sarah, Marc, Peter, and Jill. I need to reconnect with family.”White arrived in Tecumseh in 1981. He spent his early days in the former grocery store working around the clock serving the small animal vet needs of the community. Sarah remained in Grand Rapids with a seven-year-old, a five-year-old and an 11-month-old.“I slept on an army cot at night,” he said. “I had one client the first day.”The family moved to be with White six months after he started the practice. Tecumseh impressed the family from the start.“Tecumseh is a diamond in the rough, although the edges are smoother today than they were in 1981,” said White. “It’s a neat, nice, unique community.”White credits the success of his small animal practice to the change in attitude towards pets that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. Pets became part of the family, and were treated with compassion rather than as disposable accessories.Technology has also changed radically from when White became a vet in 1973 after graduating from Michigan State University. The ability to diagnosis more issues with CT scans and MRI, allow White and other vets to prolong the life of animals through proper treatment.When White began practicing, vets were all general practitioners for animals. Now in addition to general practitioners like White there are animal specialists just the way there are for humans.White knew he wanted to be a vet when he was 14. The neighbor’s dog was hit by a car, and White accompanied the family to the vet where Teddy the dog was successfully treated.“It was from that moment that my interest was piqued,” White said.Since that day, White has wanted to take care of the “kids,” as he calls his animal patients. “They are the kids,” said White. “Their bodies talk to me.”The messages of his patients and the communication of their families about strange behaviors, illness, or injury, is a language White learned over time. “All you graduate from college with is book learning,” he said. “You are practicing every day. It is a huge challenge every day because you don’t know what you are walking into. I’ve had too much fun fine tuning what I am doing.”After starting his practice in the former Hadley’s Market, White’s practice grew enough to expand first to the second floor of the building. Then in 1986, White bought the property next door that was originally the Beach Oil Station.The renovation and attachment of the two buildings allowed White to provide more outpatient care, a treatment area, radiology, and a state-of-the-art surgery suite. Major joined White at Companion Animal Clinic in July 2004, with major interior and exterior renovations done in 2006 and 2007.White now works with families who have the ability to research the Internet to understand their “kids’” illnesses and injuries. “The more knowledgeable my clients are the more they understand me and what I need to do to care for their kids,” he said.As his daily routine in the clinic comes to a close there are many things White thinks about. He loves his job, and knows his success is directly because of the quality of his dedicated staff.“I would give a definitive huge thank you to Jackie Yeary, my office manager of 13 years, and to all my staff. It has been a privilege working with them all,” said Dr. White. “They know I wouldn’t be anything without them.“It has been an exceptional privilege for the community to adopt me into their families through the practice and allow me to bring the quality of veterinary medicine that I wanted to provide for the last 34 years,” he said.