There's a new vet in town

Teri Byrd sells her practice

Without fanfare or even a public announcement of the fact, ownership of Madison Park Veterinary Hospital changed hands on Tuesday morning and Dr. Barry Katz, having just arrived on the scene from Atlanta, took charge. The clinic's four-year owner, Dr. Teri Byrd, apparently decided to sell her practice in February but did not want that fact generally known. We understand that she didn't tell many people of the impending management change until several days before it became a fact.  Though we don't know what factors may have prompted Byrd's decision to sell, we hear she felt she was ready for a sabbatical---one which has apparently already begun in Maui.

By Thursday, Katz had formalized his arrival in the neighborhood with an "Hello Madison Park" letter on the clinic's website.  In it, he says "we have chosen the Madison Park area because it immediately felt like home to us. My wife, Jenya Katz, is from the west coast. She grew up in Southern California, where her family still resides. Now that we have a family of our own, we knew in our hearts that we needed to move out west so our kids can be closer to their grandparents. Seattle was the place for us!" Katz tells us that he drove into the neighborhood and decided he liked the place before even having set eyes on the actual clinic he was considering buying.

He and his wife, who is also a veterinarian, have two young children. The rest of the family will stay behind in Atlanta until school is out and then join our new vet somewhere here in the Seattle area.  Katz is living temporarily in Bellevue; but ideally, he says, he would like find a place closer to the clinic before the family arrives.  His wife, he reports, will not initially be working at Madison Park Veterinary, though she may practice at another clinic at some point.

No major changes are currently planned for the clinic, Katz notes, except that Saturday hours will be added to the schedule later in the Spring.  Madison Park Veterinary will hold an open house on Saturday, March 31, 11 am until 2 pm, where you can meet Barry and quiz him on whether he's a cat person or a dog person.  Not that we expect him to tell you.

[Madison Park Veterinary Hospital is located at 4016 E. Madison Street.]