English-speaking, pet-loving residents of the Guadalajara and Lake Chapala areas are frequently more than familiar with the veterinarian brothers Antonio and Arturo Ladron de Guevara, who, along with their father, a sister and the younger Hector, have for decades operated large, well-equipped clinics in both locales and speak excellent English to boot.
“I adopted a cat from them and had it 15 years,” said one Guadalajara resident.
“My first cat had a kidney problem,” said another. “I was impressed with them because they knew of a cherry flavored, kids antibiotic that cats like!”
“When they started at the lake, they were the most professionally run vet, with a style that was more north-of-the-border,” said a Lakeside resident. “That, plus the English factor, plus the affiliation of the clinic with an animal shelter, has made them popular.”
Although some people seem to mentally mesh the two brothers together, everyone seems to grasp that theirs is a family operation with a reputation for quality.“The family has stature,” said a longtime Guadalajara resident. However, while many people associate the name Ladron de Guevara with the large and prosperous colonia of the same name, Antonio said there is no connection.
“Our family is only well known in veterinary medicine,” he said. “My father was co-founder of the veterinary school at the University of Guadalajara. In fact, he taught there until one week before he passed away. And my brother Arturo was a professor there until 1975 in the specialty area of small animals.”
“My dad started the Guadalajara clinic with Arturo in 1964,” Antonio continued. “I joined in 1977. Now Arturo and I work together with three other vets here. In Ajijic, my nephew Hector and I started in 1984. So we’ve been together there 30 years. There are five more vets there.” He stressed that he believes that partnering with other vets is the way to form a successful practice and avoid the fate of the many vets who do not survive professionally.
“Besides, with other vets at hand, there are always people to consult if I don’t know the answer,” he said. At the same time, he showed off the diagnostic equipment, such as a centrifuge that one of his partners, Mauricio Orendain, was using at the moment.
“If you don’t have your own equipment, sometimes you have to wait a day for results from a lab.”
The Ladron de Guevara vets also focus on education, both of themselves and others. Antonio spoke of attending seminars — in Canada, France and the United States — and of studying with vets who are respected in fields such as cardiology, oncology, knee rehabilitation, etc.
He has learned from experience too. “20 years ago, I got a fracture. After that, I started to use painkillers on animals. Now we use a lot of painkillers and anti-inflammatories — the first thing I do is relieve pain. Pain can kill them. It slows down the endorphins.”
Sometimes the educational efforts are the other way around. “We get invited to speak on radio and TV,” Antonio said. “I always say to the media: ‘You are helping the situation. You are doing the most.’”
Likewise, he has given seminars raising the awareness of police and firemen about the laws (which he helped craft in his role as government advisor), for example, laws about the illegality of selling animals on the street.
“Now there are at least ten rescue organizations in Guadalajara,” he said, while years ago there were many more sick and abandoned dogs and cats on the street. He said that he has arrangements with some “serious” rescue organizations in which he gives them some services for free every month.
As we spoke, one large, rescued dog sauntered in and out of the clinic as if he owned the place while another shuffled in from the kennel, allowing Antonio to rub his stomach.
“When we first got him, he was really afraid of people. Now he’s very friendly,” he said, noting that large dogs are the most difficult to find adoptive homes for.States, Spain and Mexico.