Moving to California may have been easier for Bob Merlo, considering his situation.
His doctors are there. His cancer treatments are available there. His son and family are there.
But Merlo didn’t want to leave the community high and dry without a veterinarian to take over, he said.
“It’s not just about me,” Merlo said. “I have established relationships with people here and those are meaningful. You don’t just get up and leave those kinds of things.”
After more than a year searching for a replacement to fill Saratoga’s veterinarian needs, Merlo is moving to California to be with his 17-year-old son Mike.
As of Monday, Merlo has left Saratoga to be closer to his family, leaving veterinarian David Everston, of Laramie, in charge of the clinic.
“I’m really excited that he’s here to take over,” Merlo said. “It is going to be a good contribution to the community. … This is the best case scenario.”
Everston said he will run the Platte Valley Small Animal Clinic as a satellite from his main clinic, Alpine Animal Hospital, located in Laramie.
Merlo will be missed by some of his clients.
“He has been a tremendous asset to the community helping with the younger people. He was a pretty good football coach,” said Saratoga resident Gary Herold who wandered into his clinic July 10. Herold didn’t know of Merlo’s departure until then.
Merlo didn’t want to leave Saratoga.
“It’s not by choice that I want to leave, but it’s a ‘Have-to’ situation,” Merlo said. “I have been going to California for the last two years every month for medical treatment in addition to treatment in Laramie and it has gotten to the point where all my family is in California and all my doctors are in California.”
Merlo has prostate cancer that is metastatic to the bone, and is terminal. For the past several years, Merlo has traveled between Saratoga, Laramie and California for radiation treatment and other newer treatments.
Merlo’s son was a sophomore attending Saratoga High School when doctors discovered the cancer was metastatic.
“The treatment I had to have done, I couldn’t get it here. I had to go to California,” Merlo said.
Mike moved to California at that time, knowing his father would frequently be there, and eventually move there.
The treatment is done by removing blood from the body and treating it with a protein, and then injecting it back into the body. Merlo said he did and continues to do well with the procedure.
“I didn’t know I was going to live a year. Now, I am feeling confident I am going to live for two more years,” he said.
Although life in California may be easier for Merlo, he will miss his profession, specifically working in Saratoga.
“Every day is different. Every day there are new challenges and every day there are new relationships formed with new patients and clients,” he said. “The reason I am in this profession is because it is never the same.”
Merlo said one of his favorite things about the Saratoga clinic is the sense of community that takes place right at his doorstep.
Saratoga resident John Collamer walks through the door with his dog and takes a seat. A few moments later, Herold walks in and they begin to chat. Merlo has coffee ready every morning for just such occasions.
“This is a typical day. This is what happens,” Merlo said as the two men began talking. “It’s like a holiday.”
Merlo wasn’t sure exactly what he was getting into when he moved to Saratoga with his son three years ago.
“I didn’t come here to practice medicine,” Merlo said. “I came here to semi-retire.” Merlo knew he wanted to serve the community in some way, but wasn’t sure how. It wasn’t until one year later he decided to open a part-time clinic in Saratoga with the help of an animal groomer Rene Hodges.
“The longer I was here in the community the more demand there was for small animal, so I got my Wyoming license and I started doing house calls,” he said.
Merlo’s services soon exploded, and in a span of two years, he served about 900 clients.
In that time, Merlo and Hodges underwent a project in 2011 to capture and spay and neuter feral cats in the area, and then release them. The first year they did it, their efforts were met with community members tripping the traps set to catch the cats.
“I guess they thought we were killing the cats,” Merlo said. But that wasn’t the case. Merlo quit for a while until February, when he started doing it again on a quieter basis.
“I started doing it on a daily basis and I kept it quiet for a long time,” he said.
Within a span of three or four months, Merlo had spayed and neutered more than 40 cats at an estimated cost of $75 per cat.
Merlo said, by conducting the project, he prevented 415 kittens from being born. Merlo said he did the procedures on his own time and money, until others heard of what he was doing.
“Once people got wind of it, they started jumping on board,” he said.
Several companies and individuals donated labor or money toward the cause.
Merlo didn’t see his actions as a clinic operation, but as a public service to the community.
“We as veterinarians are involved in public service and also public health,” he said.
He said it helps with sanitation and prevents the spread of disease. “It needed to be done and it needs to continue.”
Merlo said he enjoyed serving the Saratoga community, even more so than when he lived in Illinois.
He said the best part of Saratoga was the people because they are real.
“I came to an unreal place to a real place, and now I am going to an unreal place from a real place, and believe me, when it gets too unreal, I’m coming back here for a visit,” Merlo said.
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