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Thompson Falls Veterinary Clinic has welcomed a new veterinarian to the area. Associate veterinarian Kelsey Rehm started her position in April of this year. After her husband received a job with Fish Wildlife and Parks, the pair, both originally from Montana, moved back to the state from Spokane. "It was really exciting to be able to come back home," Rehm said.

Rehm did her undergraduate at Montana State University and received a degree in animal science. She then spent the remaining three years of her studies at Washington State University. She also spent one year in Texas interning and studying equine medicine as she chased her dreams of working with horses.

Because of the prevalence of the career, Rehm said she had a hard time finding a clinic to work for and set the dream of being an equine surgeon down. "After that, I spent almost two years working for a mixed animal practice before moving to Montana," she said.

Rehm says she was just in the right place at the right time when she got the job at the Thompson Falls vet clinic. "Dr. Ingram has been a great mentor and a great source for me to learn from," Rehm said. "I really love it there. It's a good community of people and everyone is really supportive of each other."

While the associate veterinarian says she will be working predominantly with small animals, such as cats and dogs, she will also continue to improve upon her medicine and further her education while at the clinic.

It was her love of horses that initially set her out on the career path. "It all started my freshman year in high school," Rehm said. She participated in a 4-H project that involved raising a horse from a colt to full maturity. "My horse had a vitamin E deficiency," Rehm said. "She did make a full recovery and is now 16 years old, but it was the mystery of what was going on with her that made me want to get involved with equine medicine. I just have a love of horses and that's just what I wanted to do."

Rehm has faced the ups and downs of the career since graduating in 2018, but her compassion and drive to help the animals she works with is what has kept her going. Internal medicine is one aspect of her career that Rehm has invested her time and passion in.

"It's more of a challenge than anything, it was the hardest class in school," she said of the subject. "The patient does benefit from it. You get to be a detective, that's how I would describe it. I love surgery and all aspects of it."

Rehm spoke of the hard days as well and the difficult diagnosis all veterinarians face in their careers. "You want so badly to help, but the quality of life is so poor," she said. "I just wish I could fix everything. They've been a part of your family for so long, it's hard not to take that to heart."

Rehm will be spending the majority of her time at the Thompson Falls location but will be spending one day a week in Plains. "It's been a steep learning curve, those first three years," she said. "Just knowing that I made a difference in the animal's lives and keeping them happy and healthy, It's just very rewarding."

The Thompson Falls Veterinary Clinic can be reached at (406) 827-1234.