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Company overview: Harry Latshaw, a veterinary anesthetist who worked at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine from 1972 to 2000, founded Vetamac in 1990. The company makes veterinary anesthesia machines and equipment, and it services its own and other manufacturers’ anesthesia machines. Equipment sales account for about 40% of revenue, with service accounting for the other 60%.
Current ownership: Tom Eden and his wife, Tricia, bought the company from Latshaw in 2012. Tom Eden had met Latshaw through their mutual involvement with a faith-based organization in Lafayette. Latshaw invited Eden to join Vetamac’s board, and one of the board’s tasks at the time was to develop a succession plan once Latshaw retired. “We looked at some different options, and I liked the company so much I decided to buy it,” Eden said.
Company growth: When Eden acquired Vetamac, it had three main product lines and six field service technicians who serviced mostly the Midwest and Florida. Today, the company has about 20 product lines. Its workforce includes 25 field service technicians and is growing, with customers that include veterinary practices and animal research laboratories coast to coast.
Products: Vetamac makes veterinary anesthetic machines, ventilators, surgery tables and related veterinary equipment at its Rossville facility. The company’s top-selling product is its Dream anesthetic machine for cats, dogs and other companion animals.
Fun fact: The company worked with NASA several years ago when the agency was researching ways to combat the bone-density loss astronauts were experiencing following space flight. NASA sent rodents to space, then did experiments on them once they returned to Earth. Vetamac sent two technicians to Kennedy Space Center in Florida to teach veterinary technicians how to use the anesthesia machines on the rodents in the research.
Headquarters: Rossville
Website: vetamac.com
—Compiled by Susan Orr
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