Heart of Ankeny Animal Hospital Opens Mid April

The Heart of Ankeny Animal Hospital's midwest location means clients carrying live rattle snakes in Tupperware containers aren't likely to walk through the door when the clinic celebrates its opening in mid April.

And that's a good thing, though not the reason Veterinarian Stacey Munger chose the growing town of Ankeny to open a practice of her own.

Munger is originally from Urbandale and wanted to return to her roots. He husband from Woodbury, Minn. wanted to go home too, but Munger said she won that battle.

The couple, with two young toddler girls, spent some time in Savannah, Georgia and Minnesota before settling on Ankeny.

Munger hopes to open her new small animal clinic April 22. The hospital is located at 701 SW Ordnance Road, Suite B.

Heart of Ankeny Hospital will be able to provide a range of veterinary services, but Munger expects to spend much of her time concentrating on preventative care of cats and dogs. In the past, Munger has occasionally checked out a gerbil or hamster, but the strangest thing she has ever worked with was a poisonous snake in Georgia. A client's puppy had been bitten and they brought the live snake to the clinic in a container, thinking it needed to be identified.

“It was hissing and rattling,” Munger said. “Who would want to be the person opening that thing?”

Munger can't remember what came of the snake, but the puppy survived.

Ankeny Newsletter. Ankeny Patch Facebook page. Twitter: @AnkenyPatch