Mohegan Lake Veterinary Hospital, Mohegan Lake
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
For 27 years, the veterinary practice on East Main Street (Route 6) in Mohegan Lake was been a fixture in the community.
The site was home to the veterinary practice of Dr. Jack Stuppler until his retirement. Mohegan Lake Veterinary Hospital, which opened six months ago, is seeking to continue Stuppler’s legacy. The new owner is New York City resident Dr. Kathleen Bishop and Dr. Monica Belvedere of Poughkeepsie is the medical manager.
“It was a great location with great clients,” Belvedere said last week.
Belvedere said she is responsible for “basically all the medical parts” of the facility including making decisions on the types of medications and appropriate medical procedures needed for a pet, as well as overseeing the staff.
The majority of animals the hospital works with are cats and dogs with occasional work with such other mammals as rabbits and Guiney pigs, Belvedere noted.
The main focus of Mohegan Lake Veterinary Hospital is “a general, primary doctor practice,” Belvedere said, adding emergency services and sick visits are also available.
“I’m to the owners’ pets what your GP (general practitioner) is to you,” she said.
Surgery, annual exams, vaccinations, routine blood work, dentistry and X-rays are among the services offered at the veterinary hospital, Belvedere said. “Dogs and cats need to be under anesthesia to have their teeth cleaned,” she pointed out.
Most of the veterinary hospital’s clients come from such communities as Cortlandt, Yorktown, Mohegan Lake and Peekskill. Working with animals was the career choice of Belvedere since childhood, she said. “I wanted to be a veterinarian since I was four years old,” she said.
Being a vet has been fulfilling, Belvedere said. “Obviously, helping out animals is super important,” she said. But it is also important to work with pet owners, she said. “Our pets are our family members,” adding that having satisfied owners feeling better about their pets “brings me joy and fulfillment.”
“We want everything to go smoothly,” Belvedere said. “My top priorities are the good medical management of the patient and then being conscientious of owners’ time. And so I want to be able to provide everything that their pets needs but not have people waiting around. I want the whole experience for them to be pleasant.”
“Just being able to practice high quality medicine is my goal,” Belvedere said. “My goal has always been to be the best vet that I can be.”
Mohegan Lake Veterinary Hospital is located at 1960 E Main St. (Route 6) in Mohegan Lake. For more information, call 914-528-5000 or visit https://www.moheganlakevet.com/.
