Hello, my name is Ken Giese. My dog’s name is Riley. I live in Woodbine, Iowa and have been here for seven years. When I first moved to town, I was looking for a vet for Riley. I ran across Dr. Pothast and since then she has taken exceptional care of my dog. I live by myself, and Riley is the most important thing in my life. She has done surgeries on his back legs. Also, she has removed a growth on the upper part of his mouth and has made sure all of his vaccinations are correct. I will continue to use her at her new clinic. I haven’t known Russ as long as I have Johanna, but he has always been there for my needs regarding my dog. I would also recommend Russ for any needs at the new clinic. I think Johanna is an amazing veterinarian and she’s always trying to better herself with courses that would bring her expertise along. I would trust her with my dog forever.
In October of 2024 my beloved little Elkie "AKA wiggle butt" came down with an auto immune disease where her blood cells were attacking themselves. It landed her an overnight stay at an emergency clinic having a blood transfusion. When I picked her up at 8:00 a.m. they told me that she had had a reaction to the transfusion and would most likely have to have another one, but I would have to take her to Iowa State where they could separate the blood that she needed without giving her the rest of the blood. I was terrified after paying a few thousand dollars right there that I would run out of money before I could save her. I drove her straight from the emergency clinic to see Dr. Pothast. She immediately examined her closely and started her on the appropriate meds to help her body stop the attack that was going on. The thing I appreciated so much was that Dr. Pothast knew Elkie well enough to know that she is an extreme introvert and it would be stressful for her to stay at the clinic so she had me take her home because she trusted that I would watch her like a hawk and have her back in in a flash if I felt something was wrong.
We set it up that I would take her in every morning first thing to have her examined and monitor her slow recovery. With Dr. Pothast's very close daily monitoring the attack stopped and Elkie was able to slowly rebuild her blood cells and was able to climb back without another transfusion. The happiest day was when Dr. Pothast walked into the exam room took one look at Elkie with her great big wide "stranger danger" eyes, she smiled and said, "there's the Elkie we know!" It did my heart good to know that she knew my little girl well enough to not be offended by Elkie's terrified look even after all the close monitoring she had done with her, but to be happy to see that she was back to herself!
Without saying a word Dr. Pothast set a very affordable fee for me to be able to afford to bring Elkie in every day to be monitored. What I appreciate so much about her is that I knew she heard every word I told her and took it into great consideration. Another thing that we greatly appreciated is Dr. Pothast would take Elkie's vitals and examine her every morning and then my mom and I would take her vitals every evening, but we were in unfamiliar waters that we called the emergency line talked to Russ every evening. He would talk to us and reassure us if he knew her vitals were in a range that was good but at any point if he wasn't sure he would reach out to the vet on call and find the answers and get back with us. We so appreciated his patience and his willingness to ease our minds every evening. Russ and Dr. Pothast together make an extraordinary team that is above and beyond anywhere else that we have ever gone. Elkie's story is only one testimonial of too many to count that Dr. Pothast has played a huge role in saving their lives!
My 9 month old black lab puppy Mister Bojangles was given a material chew toy. The next day he was laying around the house wouldn't eat or drink. He was very sick. Took him to see Dr Johanna. The chew toy fibers were wrapped in & around his intestines & stomach...Bojangles had to have surgery. Surgery was long & tedious, didn't know if Bojangles would live through it! Bojangles was everything to me...I had just buried my best friend Dusty Solberg in September from a three wheeler accident...didn't believe I could take the loss of my dog and another best buddy on top of it!! Doctor did everything she could, my family & I said our goodbyes to him because we weren’t sure the outcome of his major surgery....after Doctor called & said its a miracle Bojangles had got up doing a bit better!
After much care & love, my beloved Bojangles is healthy!! happy!! & will turn 9yrs old this March!! Will never be able to thank Dr. Johanna for her skills. She’s not only the greatest vet!! She’s a true miracle and blessing!! She calls him her miracle dog!! And to this day nine years later here’s a picture of my dog and best friend ever Mister Bojangles!! If ya have a pet, I highly recommend Doctor Johanna!! signed Kyle (Soda Pop) Hans! Moorhead, Iowa!
Hello, I hope this review gets read by many! Meet Kala! This is one of my kids. She is very special to my husband and myself. We call her Kala kid!
Kala got real sick on us one day and she got to where she couldn't raise her back end up off the floor, then we noticed that she couldn't raise her whole body up off the floor, even with her front legs. Then she was on her side and couldn't raise any part of her body, including her head. We couldn't figure out exactly what was going on, so I called the veterinarian immediately here in Missouri. I took her in and they did some blood work, and some other test said that she had a ruptured vertebrate in her back! At that time they put her on something like a muscle relaxer and they also gave her steroids.. They told me to keep her on the steroids for a week and within that time she should be back on her feet, but she will always have problems with her back. Well, after that week was over she was not any better actually she had gotten worse. It's like she had given up hope ,so I called the vet and they told me to give her the steroids for another week and then contact them. Come to find out the steroids was actually making things much worse!
I then called my friend who said something is just not right. And she said you should bring her back up here to Dr. Pothast (Johanna). We used to live in Iowa so I had been to Dr. Pothast ( Johanna) and she had done miracles on my dogs. She really examines them looks them over very carefully does not try to rush through anything and does blood work and everything else to try to get to the bottom of what's going on she does not give up!!!
So I had my friend call Dr. Pothast (Johanna) and set up an appointment. So we took her up there, and Dr. Pothast ( Johanna) looked at the paperwork that the doctor in Missouri had given me, and my friend told her everything that they had said and done. She looked at it was puzzled and decided to just not even look at it and do her own test and her own blood work and start from scratch. She was puzzled at first, but kept running test and like I said she did not give up until she got it figured out. Needless to say with the steroids from the prior vet just about killed her. And come to find out she never had anything wrong with her back!!!! Dr. Pothast (Johanna) called my friend and had her come in and told her that she had Myasthenia Gravis!!! Which is a chronic immune disorder. She is on medication for the rest of her life. Very small dosage every morning and every evening. It has been almost a year now she is happy fat and sassy! My friend was a blessing to me and so was Dr. Pothast!!!!!!
I would really like to include Russ in my review! He really went on his own to find a place to compound her meds. To go above and beyond to tailor specifically to Kala's needs. Just not a normal prescription. But made just for her!!!! Please do not hesitate to take your pets or as I call them my babies to Dr. Pothast!! As far as I am concerned, she is the very best! She saved our Baby Girl !!!!
Puppies and kittens are so cute and it's relatively easy to take care of them. Vaccinations, well-checks, and tummy aches are the most common veterinary experiences with them. It's how the older years go that are a true test with a veterinarian.
Dr. Pothast suspected cancer, after lab work, with my sweet Shelby Lynn, and referred me to VCA Midwest Veterinary in Omaha for the diagnostic scans and surgery. Chemo was recommended and that was something that could be administered by Johanna. Due to the combination of surgery and chemo, which was successful, Shelby had become a little fearful of the clinic because of the chemo treatments, but I was gifted with almost two more years with her.
Shelby was my fur baby soulmate and at the age of 14, she let me know that it was time. I am so grateful that Johanna and Russ were able to come to the house so we could say good-bye in a peaceful and calm environment. The genuine compassion and kindness that they showed that day was real.
An exceptional vet will be as involved with their patients as the owners and that is true of Johanna. I trust her and she has taken care of all my furry children since she moved to the area. Russ and Johanna are a great team and their staff will care for your pets as much as they do.
As an added note, you won't find many veterinarians that will help repair a Monarch butterfly's broken wing.
