Veterinarian closes doors of his Manhattan Beach practice after 45 years
Veterinarian Bob DeHart of South Bay Dog and Cat Hospital will shut his doors this month to retire and travel. Photo by Rebecca Zisser
“Hey bud,” DeHart calls out to Copper, a large tawny cat that has become a permanent resident of South Bay Dog and Cat Hospital in Manhattan Beach.
DeHart seems perfectly content walking around the hospital he started 45 years ago. However, on June 15, he plans to retire and close the doors of a vet clinic that has served South Bay pet-lovers and their furry friends for almost half a century.
“Dr. DeHart is kind of the end of an era,” said Nancy McKeever, who has taken her ailing pets to DeHart since the 1970s.
“[He’s] has really been great,” she added. “If I had a problem or a question I could just call. They’re very helpful.”
Since fifth grade, DeHart knew he wanted to be a veterinarian. Despite growing up in an urban part of Bakersfield, he was surrounded by animals during his childhood, which made the decision to become a vet an easy one.
“I had dogs and cats, and then we had ducks and geese and chickens,” DeHart recalled. “I always enjoyed animals. I had a cousin that entered vet school and it just seemed like a good deal.”
DeHart graduated from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1964 before opening the doors to South Bay Dog and Cat Hospital on Manhattan Beach Boulevard in 1966.
He has bittersweet feelings towards his upcoming retirement. Having never taken more than a three-day vacation in all his years at the hospital, he looks forward to traveling, running, gardening and spending more time with his wife and two kids.
“And I will have a big old orange cat as soon as I retire,” he said, pointing to Copper.
But not all aspects of DeHart’s retirement are so joyous.
“The staff, we’re all a family,” he said. “I will miss the staff tremendously, I really will.”
Yet, DeHart has no regrets.
Getting to work with animals every day has led him to say farewell to a fulfilling career.
“This is ideal,” he reflected. “My colleagues tell me about some of the problems they are having, and I don’t have them, not at all. I love what I did.”
Although DeHart arranged for all of his clients to be transferred to Dr. Kim Rea of the Redwood Animal Hospital in Redondo Beach, the relationships he’s developed with his clients will be hard to replicate.
“I guess that I have a lot of clients that think the world of me,” he said. “And I think the world of their pets, and them too.”