Sailors and Marines turn to Navy doctors when they're sick, but when their service animals, or pets fall ill, there's just one branch that answers the call — the U.S. Army.
On Camp Pendleton, that's U.S. Army Veterinary Readiness Activity San Diego.
On Thursday, the Army celebrated the opening of its new clinic at the base.
Army Lt. Col. Craig Calkins is the unit commander. He said the entire military community can benefit from the clinic.
"First and foremost, this building exists to take care of the military working dogs," he said.
But they also treat military family pets as a service.
"Also, to give us additional sets and repetitions of doing tasks so that when there is a military working dog emergency, we're ready," Calkins said.
Army veterinarians care for all the military working dogs across the U.S. Department of Defense. They're also responsible for military food inspection, certifying that food sold on base meets safety and health standards.
"Most people don't realize there are a lot of veterinarians in the Army," he said.
The new facility provides the same level of pet care as civilian providers off-base — but at a significantly lower cost, said Army Staff Sgt. Temujin Benton.
"If you came to us and you got all the vaccines, it'd be like $150, $160," Benton, a veterinary technician, said. "Out in town, you're looking at paying $400 or $500 for the same vaccines."
He said that's an aspect the community appreciates as pet health care costs have skyrocketed over the last decade.
A recent study found that since Oct. 2024, half of all pet owners said they've skipped necessary or recommended treatment for their pets.
According to PitchBook, these price increases coincide with the almost $50 billion that private equity firms have poured into the veterinary services industry since 2017.
"I think especially for California, we are cheaper — significantly cheaper — than the outside," Calkins said.
That's because the Army controls the price of its veterinary services worldwide — the price of a checkup at Camp Pendleton is the same as one in Vicenza, Italy, he said.
"We don't up-sell stuff," Calkins said. "We don't get any commission from selling stuff. "We're just here offering a service — just practicing high-quality medicine and surgery."
