A veterinary clinic opened recently inside a Walmart in Wilmington.

VetIQ Petcare, which says it specializes in affordable veterinary care for dogs and cats, opened inside the Walmart at 5135 Carolina Beach Road. The new clinic opened about a month ago and is the third VetIQ location to open in North Carolina, Kathleen Intiso, wellness supervisor for VetIQ, said Tuesday.

Other North Carolina locations are inside Walmart stores in Morehead City and Winston-Salem.

The veterinary services inside Walmart come at a time when the Walmart is expanding its grocery delivery services with Postmates, which recently announced it was expanding delivery to Los Angeles and San Diego. The service is currently in Charlotte and Raleigh.

The VetIQ location in Wilmington is one of 20 veterinary service clinics in Walmart locations announced by parent company PetIQ Inc. in March.

These locations mark Idaho-based PetIQ’s plan to expand veterinary services to retailers, following its $220 million acquisition of California-based VIP Petcare in January, according to a PetIQ news release. 

The company plans to open more than 1,000 additional veterinary service clinics, in retail partner locations, through 2023.

VetIQ leases the space inside Walmart, Intiso said. It currently has five employees, three full-time and two part-time, with a third part-time employee being brought on board in the coming weeks, she said.

And Intiso anticipates that number will grow “the busier we get.”

Intiso said that so far, VetIQ is averaging about five pets daily but expects that number to increase as people become aware of its services.

“Most of it is vaccines. We have had a couple of sick pets … but every day we have more and more people coming in and asking questions,” Intiso said of the current flow of businesses.

The overall company chose the location “because of the traffic,” Intiso said.

“This is a huge Walmart with a lot of traffic. We have the beach, we have the tourists, and … It’s a good location. The foot traffic is awesome,” she said.