Once an appointment has been scheduled, successful admision into the hospital involves three aspects:

Finding the hospital

When to Arrive

Preparing your pet

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  Finding the Hospital 

     Kulshan is located at the southeast corner of the E. Badger & Benson roads.  Just north of Lynden on the northwest corner of the Homestead golf course our office is easily accessible from any direction.

From the South:

     The Guide Meridian and Hannegan roads provide easy access to Kulshan when approaching from southern county locations.

     Traveling north on the Guide, your trip will take you through Lynden's fast food corridor, past the John Deere dealership and require a right hand turn onto the E. Badger Road.  (If you start counting stoplights with the one next to Bob's Burger and Brew Restaurant and Dairy Queen, you'll take a right at the fourth stoplight.)

     Benson road forms the second intersection with the East Badger road and is located one mile east of the Guide.  Turning right onto Benson places you almost immediately at our driveway where a quick left off of Benson puts you in our parking lot.

     Approaching Kulshan via the Hannegan gives you a little more exposure to town, but may be a little more challenging for those unfamiliar with the streets and landmarks.  Your best option from this direction is to continue straight through the first stoplight that greets visitors to Lynden coming from this direction.  The next intersection is a fourway stop and a left hand turn there results in you traveling east on Grover St.  A right hand turn at the next intersection (marked by a full cycle stoplight) you reach puts you again traveling north, this time on Third street.  Another quick left at the next intersection, just prior to the Cenex convenience store places you traveling west on Main street.  Traveling down Main street you will pass Lynden's Middle School which will be on your right.  Benson Road is the second road to the right that you will come to traveling west on Main Street.  Take a right hand turn onto Benson and after a pleasant drive that takes you past Isom Elementary School and various residential areas, another right hand turn just before the Badger Road will place you in our parking lot.

From the North:

     Very few people have the privilege of approaching Kulshan Veterinary Hospital from the north, but those that do are treated to the panoramic view of a sampling of the areas dairy farms.  Coming from the north most often involves traveling south on the Guide Meridian to the Badger Road.  Take a left hand turn onto the Badger Road followed a mile later by a right hand turn onto Benson Road.  From there, it's a quick left turn into our parking lot.  Other options from the north involve using different side roads to get to the Badger road and proceding from there.  For more details on these options, give the clinic a call and we can advise you regarding your specific case.

From the West:

     Reaching Kulshan Veterinary Hospital from western Whatcom County typically starts with getting to the Guide.  The best choices from the south are Smith, Axton, and Birch Bay-Lynden roads.  Once on the Guide, the same directions that were given approaching from the south can be used.  From the north, H street allows one to access the Guide and a left hand turn on to the Badger road is required.  Those coming east on the Badger road can simply continue past the Guide.

From the East

     Similar to reaching the clinic from western Whatcom County, reaching Kulshan from southeastern Whatcom County typically involves getting to the Guide Meridian or Hannegan Roads.  Once again, Axton and Smith Roads are great ways to do this and once on the Guide or Hannegan following the directions for approaching the clinic from the south takes you quickly and easily to our front door.

     For those coming from northeastern Whatcom County, traveling west on the Badger or Hampton Roads are the best ways to reach our facility.  As one comes west on Badger, a simple landmark to use is the Texaco station at the corner of Bender and Badger Roads.  Continuing west you will skip the next intersection (Depot Road) and then turn left at the next intersection, which is Benson Road.

     Coming via Hampton takes one through part of town which, as was mentioned before, can be a bit more challenging.  After the S-curve, crossing the little bridge and starting uphill, you will come to an intersection where you are heading north.  Take a left hand turn at this intersection and continue on this road until you come to the first stoplight.  At this stoplight, turn right and the first intersection that you will come to is the four-way stop mentioned in the discussion of approaching Kulshan from the south via Hannegan Road.  Follow those instructions from this point and you'll soon be in our parking lot.

     For those coming from the east on Hampton that would like to avoid town, heading north on Northwood road will take you to the Badger Road where you can take a left hand turn and take it to the clinic.

Coming from Anywhere:

     Finally, if you're still confused as to the best way to get from where you live to the clinic, give us a call.  Our large animal doctors know the roads of this county better than most and would be glad to help us relate to you the most direct and/or easiest way to get you and your animals to our office.

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  When to Arrive 

For Appointments

     To better facilitate patient flow, we request that clients arrive a few minutes prior to their appointments.  This allows our reception staff to update your personal information and check your pet in.

     If you or your pet is new to us, we'd appreciate you arriving ten to fifteen minutes prior to your scheduled appointment.  This allows for the time you need to fill out the necessary paperwork associated with your pet's visit and the time we need to enter it into our computers.  You can also print out our client and pet information sheets from this web site to expedite your check in process.  These pages can be found in our frequently asked questions section.

For Small Animal Surgeries

     Admissions for standard small animal surgeries such as spays, neuters and declaws as well as for dentistries can be done any time the day before or prior to 9:00 AM the day of surgery.  When dropping off your pet the day of surgery, our staff is available to admit your animal as early as 7:30 AM by special arrangement.  Normal admitting time is after 8:00 AM and it's very important that your pet arrive before 9:00 AM unless special arrangements have been made.

     Admitting times for non-routine surgeries should be discussed with your pet's doctor or another staff member as these will vary with the surgery.  Certainly, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

     When dropping off your pet for surgery, please plan on spending ten to fifteen minutes filling out pre-surgical paperwork and admitting your pet.  While we recognize that this may be somewhat inconvenient, it is very important that we have the information that we request at this time to insure the safety and proper care of your pet.  If you would like, we can fax or e-mail most of this paperwork to you to further expedite your pet's check-in.

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  Preparing your Pet:  

For Routine Surgeries

     For routine surgical procedures, such as spays, neuters, declaws, dentistries and mass removals, your pet should not be given access to food for twelve hours prior to surgery.  We recommend taking your pet's food away by 8:00 PM the night before surgery in you are bringing it in the day of the procedure.  It's okay for them to have water at any time.  If your pet is admitted the night before surgery, we'll see to it that food is withheld appropriately.