05/07/2026
A note from Dr. D on our 6th anniversary:
Good morning lovely people of Knoxville. Our little clinic opened on 5/5/2020 right smack in the middle of the COVID disaster, and this community has blessed us from day one. We have been able to help so many animals and so many people, and many of you have been so incredibly kind and grateful that this practice exists. I cannot even express how thankful I am that you have allowed me to follow my dream and supported my team along the way even as we navigate sometimes difficult times.
I have briefly mentioned the abuse of my staff before, but it has progressed and we are making an official policy as of Tuesday the 12th of May. Every single client we see will have to have a code of conduct signed and in their file before they can be seen. This isn't something you'll have to fill out every time, but will need to be filled out the next time or the first time you come in if you're a new client. The abuse my staff and I have taken has gotten completely out of hand. Many of you know my history.....I graduated from vet school and went into animal welfare within a year of graduation and have stayed there since, I started a Fellowship literally the day after I had my third baby, I was a full time professor and have taught students part time for years to help them learn to practice veterinary medicine in a way that can help more animals and do so with a common sense approach. I didn't need to get board certified to do my job, but I did go through the tremendous amount of work to get my specialty certification while raising 3 children and being a full time professor at UT. I decided that wasn't enough so I also went back to get my Masters degree in Public Health while still working full time and raising three children. I have also been in the middle of a very bitter public divorce for over 2 years and fighting literally daily to keep this practice open and helping people rather than selling out as others would prefer I do.
I say all of this not to show off or try to impress people but rather to explain how much this place means to me and how much I have worked to get here. If you want or need low cost preventative care, spay/neuter services, etc I am literally the only person you can see in East Tennessee that is a board certified specialist that provides that care, and I am proud of that. I could get a job anywhere, but this isn't a job to me. This clinic is my passion, and I love it.
Yesterday, my staff and I were yelled at for a rather extensive period of time because another veterinary professional (who likely had the best intentions) sent a pet here for something that would require a specialty center such as UT or the Animal Emergency and Specialty Center to treat. We spent a great deal of our time explaining this and trying to do what we could to help, charged the client nothing, and still got the door slammed in our faces after being yelled at for an extended period of time. Two prevet students were present, meaning that this person likely made both of these bright young women question their future as veterinarians. Would you want to spend 8-11 years of your life studying to be in a profession where people scream at you when you do your job correctly?
Our little clinic is not perfect. We make mistakes and missteps. But we do our best every day to do what we can to help as many pets as we can. We have a very small staff and can only do so much, but my staff works harder than any group of people I have ever worked with in my career, and they do not deserve this sort of treatment.
Our new Code of Conduct will state that we now have a zero tolerance policy. If you yell at my staff, curse at them, slam the door or the phone on them etc you will not be allowed back. We will happily transfer your records per state law but we will not accept abuse. We will even happily add a note about why you were not allowed back to the medical record so your general practice vet has the information about how you feel you were mistreated and they can make an educated decision about the care they want to provide or if they prefer to send you somewhere else that could meet your needs.
We understand that when your pet is sick you get upset and that everyone has a bad day here and there and will account for this, but we will not be abused for doing our jobs and doing them correctly. Zero tolerance.
If any vet assistants or licensed technicians out there are looking for a position where you will not be treated like this, feel free to send us a resume. We are opening a nonprofit to provide income-based subsidized care and we will be opening it with this same policy from day one so we are planning to double our staff soon.
Again, thank you to those that say thank you on the way out, that tell us they appreciate the work we do here, that are kind to us, and that are understanding that staying low cost also means that we cannot provide all of the care a general practice or a specialty practice can provide. We sincerely appreciate you, and you are welcome in our doors any time you need us.
Dr. D
Pic of Snoop to lighten the mood a bit.
