Dr. Larry King likes animals, and he likes medicine.

He decided that becoming a veterinarian would be a "good combination" of these two passions, and so upon graduating from Colorado State University, King joined the Lien Animal Clinic in West Seattle. That was almost 40 years ago.

On New Year's Eve King will be retiring from his post at the family-owned animal hospital. He has been with Lien Animal since 1968, and owned the clinic for 19 years with his wife, Connie. All four of King's children have worked at the clinic at some point throughout their lives, and two of them have made careers in the veterinary profession. The Kings sold the clinic to its current owners, Dr. Timothy R. Kraabel and Dr. Elizabeth A. Fritzler, in 1999.

"Management is not as much fun as the medicine part," he says.

When asked how the practice has changed over the years, King gives a laugh. His answer? It's quite a bit different.

He believes that the biggest advancements have been made in the field of diagnostics. When King first started working for Lien Animal, they did not have a lab on site.

"The only lab was at the veterinarian college, or we'd use the West Seattle Hospital," he remembers.

Now, he says, there's more of an ability to diagnose the animals. These technological advances have been, in King's opinion, the biggest change in the industry.

Once King is retired, he plans to continue doing some relief work at the clinic. However, he also looks forward to having time for traveling, and being able to devote more attention to his hobbies. According to his profile on the Lien Animal Clinic Web site, King enjoys fishing, baseball, and basketball, and is involved with Promise Keepers, a Christian men's organization.

King will also have time to work on his house, which, he says with another laugh, "I've ignored over the years."

What will he miss when he retires?

"My clients," says King immediately. He will miss his staff as well, he hurriedly adds, and then repeats, softer this time, "I will miss my clients." King pauses for a moment. "But, I am looking forward to having the ability to get up and go whenever we want."

A lot of extraordinary things happened at the clinic during his near 40-year career with the Lien Animal Clinic, but King can't recall any specific instance off the top of his head.

"Oh, a lot of things (happened)," he answers vaguely. "I can't bring up any right now." Any heroics King has been responsible for or participated in will just have to be remembered by his staff and the community of West Seattle pet-owners he has served for over half his life.

An open house will be held at the Lien Animal Clinic on Monday, Dec 31, from 9 a.m. until noon, for anyone who would like to say good-bye to Dr. King.

Freelance writer Mia LaCourse may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com