Dr. Russ Baxley purchased the Gorman Animal Hospital in March 2022.

Renamed the Southeast Kansas Veterinary Center, it is located at 1251   240th St., Fort Scott.

Hours of operation are Monday – Thursday: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday:  8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed.

The phone number is (620) 223-1171

Dr. Baxley is a veterinarian and a veteran.

All together he has served in three wars, Baxley said.

“As a youngster, I was in the Air Force,” he said.

He started as a veterinarian in the U. S. Army in Afghanistan where he worked on dogs that detected explosives and narcotics.

He then left the army and returned to Kansas and worked for a mixed animal veterinarian.

A hankering for more adventures led him to Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco and Egypt, as a contractor for the U.S. State Department, again working with detection dogs.

Returning to the U.S., he worked in Destin, Florida for a year and a half until the COVID 19 Pandemic restrictions made the job “undesirable,” he said.

Returning to Kansas, he traveled the state filling in at clinics for manpower shortages. It was then that he came to Fort Scott to the clinic he purchased in March 2022.

Dr. Baxley loves animals and the best part of his career is “returning a sick animal to health, seeing how happy the animal is and pleased the owner is.”

He is concerned about the misinformation for the care of animals that is on the internet and recommends that people look to information on academic or government sources.

The best source for veterinary advice is a veterinarian, he said.

In the industry there are new drugs coming for small animals that will help minimize pain and many new diagnostics for detecting and treating them.

For livestock, there have been new scientific studies for treating parasites, which helps decrease disease in cattle, while lowering production costs. “The hard part is getting people to change from old to new ways,” he said.

Coming in 2023, cattle producers won’t be able to buy common antibiotics over the counter.

“There is a paradigm shift coming to the livestock business in 2023,” Dr. Baxley said.

“They will need to get these (antibiotics) from a veterinarian, which requires a Veterinary-Client-Patient-Relationship,” he said. “This means that your vet has sufficient knowledge of a producers animals to make diagnosis.”

“I love helping people…save money and make money,” he said.

Kennel/Vet Assistant Needed