NARROWSBURG, NY — Once upon a time, Dr. Neil Hess graduated from forestry school and began working with trees.

“I’ve always loved animals,” he said, but being a veterinarian didn’t factor into his life plan. 

It took his mom to point out that switching from caring for the forest to caring for animals was a good idea. 

And now he’s come full circle, running a new animal hospital in Narrowsburg amidst the forests of the Upper Delaware.

Hess and his wife, Leslie Hess, bought a home in Narrowsburg back in 2021. And once there “we didn’t want to go back home,” she said. “We were looking for a way to stay in Narrowsburg.” 

They wanted to start a practice here, and when the Jeff Bank building went up for sale, the couple jumped at the chance. “In a year or so, we’ll [both] be up full-time,” Dr. Hess said. Leslie, an elementary school teacher, is staying in northern New Jersey for now while her youngest finishes school. 

Located next to Fort Delaware, Narrowburg Veterinary is a “full-service animal hospital,” Dr. Hess said. “We diagnose and treat disease.” It’s not an emergency hospital, but is open on weekends, which might be a relief for those pet owners who can’t get away from work Monday through Friday.

The practice opened a couple of weeks ago, and was “completely booked,” the veterinarian said.

It’s not a surprise that Narrowsburg Veterinary could hit the ground running. Pet ownership in general has increased. Morgan Stanley, a bank, found that there were five million more pets in America since the start of the pandemic.

As we give to our pets, they give back to us. Studies on animal-human interaction, funded by the National Institutes of Health, found that animals can provide comfort and support and interacting with them can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol in humans. Pets can build a bridge for social interaction.

So we have more pets and we recognize how much they help us—to the point where they really are part of our families. 

“So many more people have called themselves ‘pet parents,’” Leslie Hess said. Pet owners want the level of care for the furry ones that they want for the two-legged members too.

She recalled a story she read recently. “The thing that struck me is the disconnect between people.”

People are spending less time together. They’re working remotely, she said. They are more hesitant to trust each other.

“People are alone more,” Dr. Hess said.

And therefore many are turning to pets. “There’s a trust between a pet and a human,” Leslie Hess said. 

“People have come through trauma,” her husband added.

“And the pets have gone every step of the way” with them, she said. 

“Young people have their pets,” Dr. Hess said. “My mother’s whole life revolves around her dog.”

(Raise your hand if you can say the same about your pets.)

“One thing Neil offers to clients,” Leslie Hess said, is that “his entire philosophy is to care for both the client and the patient.” He holds their hand, she said. Follow-up calls check on everyone. 

That care means a great deal as we walk the path that is a pet’s life—so much shorter than most humans’, and yet so full of joy.