Starting small with plans to grow

**Dr. Tarin Clausen is the owner of the new Otter Creek Veterinary Clinic in Schleswig. She is pictured here with Coffee, one of her three black cats.** Photo by Dan Mundt

As of Tuesday, September 5, the new Otter Creek Veterinary Clinic at 108 2nd Street in Schleswig is open.

Owner Dr. Tarin Clausen spent the last three years working for Seaton Vet Clinic in Denison.

She is a 2012 graduate of Charter Oak-Ute High School, has a 2015 degree in animal science from Northwest Missouri State and 2020 DVM degree from the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine.

Tarin grew up in Charter Oak, but decided to open a clinic in Schleswig because that is where she has made her home.

“My dad originally grew up in Schleswig, so I’m very familiar with the area and there was an office space and some land I’m going to buy that’s close to home,” she said.

All through her school years, Tarin had planned to go to Texas after graduation to work as a veterinarian with horses.

The COVID pandemic that started in 2020 gave her a new direction.

“When COVID started hitting, I decided I wanted to come back home and eventually open my own practice,” Tarin said.

Taking a job with Seaton Vet Clinic was an easy choice for her, as she had started working there in 2011 when she was a senior in high school; she continued to work at the clinic when she was home from college.

“I got a ton of experience there and I met a lot of people,” Tarin said. “I had an internship from him (Dr. James Seaton) and then also Dr. Bettin (Dr. Todd Bettin of Lake View Veterinary Services) in Lake View has helped me a lot.”

When she returned to the local area in 2020, Seaton, who had a large-animal-only clinic at the time, offered to let her start a small-animal operation in his clinic.

“His main focus was definitely large animal and that is what he’s very, very good at,” Tarin said.

She was able to gain experience treating large animals while working with Seaton, she said.

Tarin’s new clinic is relatively small, but she doesn’t intend to stay there for long.

“It will be a little tight for a while, until we get into the groove of things, but it will work for what I need in the short term,” she said.

Tarin noted that she is still settling into the space and her office is a work in progress.

The building was previously a liquor store, a grocery store, a dog grooming business and a boutique.

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Tarin plans to build a new building on Highway 59 near the Schleswig Golf Course by next summer or fall.

“I’m going to do small animal right now until I have a bigger place; that’s what I’m more familiar with,” Tarin said.

She intends to add large animals to her services at the new facility.

Working as a veterinarian makes sense for Tarin because animals have always been a part of her life.

“I grew up in town, but my grandparents lived on a farm, and I was always there with the cows, the cats, the dogs,” she said. “I got my first dog when I was in second grade as a birthday present and I’ve grown up with dogs since then. I have three dogs of my own: two Aussies and a mixed breed, and here at the clinic I have three cats. My boyfriend only knows of two, though.”

All three of her cats are rescues.

“One of them doesn’t have a leg, one doesn’t have a tail and I joke that the other one doesn’t have a brain,” Tarin said.

“They’re all very perfect but a couple of them are misfits.”

The cats all have names related to coffee: Coffee, Beans, and Tri Latte.

“Instead of chai latte, because she only has three legs,” she explained.

Tarin said she had never imagined that she would open a new clinic of her own at age 29; she thought she might buy into an already-established clinic.

“But the more that I go about this, I do feel I’m in the right place,” she said.

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