04/27/2025
A letter to Cara from a veterinarian friend of ours. If you’d like to send a letter to Cara, please send to [email protected]
Dear CARA Veterinary Management Team
Subject: Request for Consideration of Severance Packages, Paid PTO, and Balance Cancellation/Long-Term Payment Plans for Employees
I hope this correspondence finds you well.
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Kristine Peters and I worked at All Creatures Animal Hospital for over 2 years, when it was privately owned, just before CARA bought the practice. I know, and keep in touch with, many of the employees that still serve clients at this hospital. I have watched CARA take over from Jim and the downward trajectory management has bestowed upon the best animal hospital on the Olympic Peninsula for over 25 years since its inception.
Now I hear you are closing this practice, instead of continuing to help it grow, and you are not fulfilling basic employee support as you force many long term employees into unemployment without adequate notice. I am writing to respectfully request that management consider offering excellent severance packages, earned PTO payouts, and balance cancellation/long-term payment options (1-2yr options) to ALL of the exceptional employees whose contributions to All Creatures Animal Hospital have been truly invaluable. These individuals have demonstrated unwavering dedication to patients, clients, and colleagues, embodying the highest standards of professionalism and compassion throughout their tenure.
These team members are more than just employees — they have been pillars of this hospital and are like family. They have cared for patients with tireless compassion, comforted families in their most vulnerable moments, and worked behind the scenes to ensure that standards of care remained second to none. Their dedication has often meant personal sacrifices: staying late to stabilize critical cases, caring for exotics species no one else on the peninsula could assist, mentoring and uplifting newer colleagues, and stepping forward during crises without being asked. Their service has been characterized by tireless effort, personal sacrifice, and an extraordinary commitment to Jim's, and CARA's, mission and making it the strong and resilient practice that CARA wanted to purchase.
As you ask them to move on, offering severance is more than a financial gesture — it is a statement about who you are as an organization. It is a final act of gratitude that says: your efforts were seen, your sacrifices mattered, and you will always be valued as part of CARA's story. Providing severance packages, earned PTO payouts, and balance cancellation/long-term payment options would not only offer these valued team members critical support during their transition but also reinforce CARA's standing as an organization that values loyalty, service, and humanity — principles that will reflect the compassion and integrity that are supposed to be the foundations of our profession — both in how we treat our patients, and how we treat each other.
Their contributions deserve to be acknowledged with gratitude and respect, and not just at the doctor level. Without technicians, assistants, receptions, kennel, and support staff, pets would not receive the exceptional care All Creatures Animal Hospital is known for. Offering severance packages, earned PTO payouts, and balance cancellation/long-term payment options would send a clear message: that their dedication was seen, their efforts were meaningful, and their legacy will remain an important part of our future.
I am eager to hear positive news regarding the closing of this practice and the support provided to employees. How the final severance packages, etc... are handled will be closely watched by my network of over 40,000 veterinary colleagues, making this a pivotal moment to either strengthen or significantly impact CARA's reputation in the veterinary profession. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kristine Peters
