The locally-owned rebrand of The Village Veterinary Hospital is hoping to expand quickly, adding emergency, after-hours services to its general practice.

Local veterinarian Julianna Wilcox is ready to unleash her expanded concept for pet care in La Jolla, based on her core values of integrity, conscientiousness and compassion for both patients and humans. 

Pearl Street Pet Hospital, located at 801 Pearl at Eads Avenue, is set to open in early August, a full-service, general practice for dogs and cats in a new building.

The hospital will host an open house from 11 am to 2 pm Saturday, Aug 9, with tours, pet portraits, rescue cats and a boba bar.

The new hospital is a rebrand of decade-long The Village Veterinary Hospital on Draper Avenue, which Wilcox, who has been practicing veterinary medicine in San Diego for about a dozen years, bought a year ago.

Wilcox is relocating and rebranding primarily for space, as the Draper spot is “very cute,” but with only two exam rooms and a small treatment room, the office is limited in offerings, she said.

Pearl Street Pet Hospital will soon offer after-hours emergency care, after Wilcox hires on more doctors and adds more hours, a service La Jolla currently lacks, she said.

The new location will also allow for more visibility.

The hospital is also asking city of San Diego and La Jolla planning groups for approval to convert one parking space on Eads Avenue, along the west side of the building, to a 20-minute zone to facilitate urgent pet drop-offs.

“Parking is such a premium in La Jolla,” Wilcox said. While the building does have parking in the rear, the front entrance is farther away, a challenge for people who are having an emergency, or with a large dog with a limp.

Wilcox will also focus on pain management and preventative care, two components she’s strongly drawn to. 

It’s important to educate her clients on how to carry out preventative care at home, “because a lot of it really is on them,” she said, like dental cleanings, weight loss and early joint supplements to ease arthritis.

Pearl Street Pet Hospital will also offer acupuncture and other integrative modalities like ozone therapy, Wilcox said.

Above all, the practice will operate according to its core values, which include integrity, conscientiousness and compassion.

Often, compassion, both financial and emotional, is missing in other veterinary practices, Wilcox said.

“We really go the extra mile for people,” she said. “It’s all about having pet owners feel taken care of from head to tail.”

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