Judge Lets Cat Clinic Stay Open for Now

A Superior Court judge has allowed a Ventura veterinarian, ordered to give up his license and shut down his Ventura clinic, to stay in business.

Thomas James Bulgin, 53, of Ventura had been found negligent in the treatment of six animals by state investigators. But the order signed Thursday by Judge William Peck allows him to keep his All Cats Clinic open until the veterinarian’s appeal is fully considered by a judge.

Also, the ruling puts on hold $23,000 in fines Bulgin was ordered to pay as part of a ruling handed down Aug. 27 by the state’s Board of Examiners in Veterinary Medicine.

“I’m relieved. I think that we will finally be on the trail of getting justice,” Bulgin said Thursday afternoon. Bulgin has been a veterinarian since 1969. His cat clinic has been open in Ventura since 1988.

The appeals process allows Bulgin to take his case to a Superior Court judge for a ruling. In arguing for the stay of the state ruling and a new hearing, Wendy Lascher, Bulgin’s attorney, told Peck that the Board of Examiners is not likely to win its case against Bulgin.

In addition, she said the continuing operation of All Cats Clinic poses no risk to the public.

“My theory in arguing no risk is, in the first place, the incidents happened between 1988 and 1993. Dr. Bulgin has treated more than 18,000 cats since then and nobody’s complained,” Lascher said. “I don’t think anyone’s at risk here.”

And although the board found Bulgin negligent in some treatments “they found he was not incompetent in any of them,” Lascher said.

Bulgin’s clinic has remained open since the ruling last month, and on Oct. 1 he is taking on a partner, he said.