Oakdale Animal Clinic

05/13/2026

NEW SIZES IN STOCK!!!

These are new pouch size 2.8 ounces for small dogs keep their food fresh.

I/D Chicken and Veggie Stew
Adult Senior for dogs 7 Plus Years Old Chicken & Veggie Stew

05/13/2026

SHE HAS BEEN ADOPTED.

I need a home. I am about 6 week old little girl. Please call the office at 318-335-3814

05/13/2026

Getting Down To Business

My first semester at A&M was an adjustment to say the least! This poor country boy was torn between loneliness and a knowledge that I went there with one thing in mind and that was to become a veterinarian. To be honest, school kept me so busy that I had little time to feel sorry for myself. I lived in a dorm on campus, ate at the campus cafeteria, and spent almost all of my time going to class and studying til late at night. I don’t remember doing anything recreational, there just wasn’t any time left in the day.

A little background on Texas A&M in 1968. Up until that year A&M was a men’s school and everyone had to be in the army corp. In 1968 it became coed and being in the corp was optional. That never hurt my feelings, because frankly I cared only about getting my veterinary degree. Don’t get me wrong I recognized the great history of A&M and admired those who wanted to be part of the old tradition, but I personally had no desire to be a part of all that. I was Louisiana born and that was what I identified with. I got a lot of kidding for being a Cajun, but that didn’t bother me. I was proud of who I was and that wasn’t going to change.

The first two years of our curriculum was a process of giving us the basic scientific knowledge that would give us the ability to understand and process veterinary medicine in the future. It didn’t take me long to realize that I could not possibly retain all the information that they were throwing at us. Rather than trying to memorize facts, I worked at understanding the subject matter in a way that helped me remember key triggers and allowed me to search out answers. It didn’t allow me to ace tests like I did in high school, but I was able to maintain a working knowledge of subjects and work out solutions. I still use that formula today.

Because we basically had 8 hours of classes every day, we did not have time to take tests during class hours. Tests were taken in the mornings before classes began. As I mentioned before we were in for a tortuous three years of study.

With all of that, I still was able to drive that red VW bug the 4 hour home and back a few weekends during the semester. I couldn’t have survived if I hadn’t. This home boy had to get some Cajun food.

More later,

Joe Soileau

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05/05/2026

The Next Chapter

Getting accepted to veterinary school was a surreal experience. I remember distinctly walking to the mail box that early summer and seeing the letter from A&M knowing that my future lay in that letter. As I began tearing the letter open, I was fearful, anxious and somehow hopeful all at the same time. As I read the beginning words and realized I had been accepted, I fist pumped the air and let out a primal scream! All my aspirations for the past few years peaked into a crescendo of emotion that was almost overwhelming.

I realized over the next few days that I had no visual concept of where A&M was and what any of it looked like. I was to start school in September and I was working construction in Lake Charles for my finance’s Uncle. She and I had purchased a brand new VW bug so we decided to make a road trip to College Station, Texas on July 4th which happened to be a Sunday. We took off from Oakdale at day break and drove to College Station, found the Vet School, looked around as best we could since it was basically shutdown for the holiday, and then drove back to Oakdale all in one day. Now I had a picture in my mind of where I was going and what everything looked like. As you can guess I’m a very visual person.

I worked the rest of the summer of 1968 on the construction job full of anticipation for what was coming in the fall. I had experienced the assassination of President John F. Kennedy during my sophomore year of high school and now I watched his brother Robert Kennedy killed in the same way. The Vietnam war rolled on, people protested, and Martin Luther King fought for civil rights. How I was able to focus on my agenda I don’t know, but come September I headed to college station and a knew chapter in my life.

My first day of orientation came and I met the other 127 members of my class, all dressed in our white smocks and pants. We had 123 men and 5 women. The class included people in all stages of their lives, a 45 year old county agent, a man with a chemical engineering degree, the son of the Houston mayor, 6 people from Louisiana and the rest from Texas. The realization quickly hit us that we were in for a grueling ride. Twenty two hours per semester, 3 semesters per year and the need to pass a comprehensive exam after our second year in order to move on to our senior year and our degree. But we were happy to be there and grew close from the knowledge that we were all going through the same thing.

More later,

Joe Soileau

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05/01/2026

UPDATE her family has been found

Who am I? I was hit by a car in Oakdale. I am at the clinic. Please come get me. 318-335-3814

04/30/2026

I was very pleasantly surprised by everyones response to my last writing and decided to continue fleshing out my journey since so many of you seemed to identify with it. If you have ever done any reflection on your life’s journey you probably saw as I did that there is a deep connection between certain occurrences in your life. I’ve come to believe that there are no coincidences in life. Everything happens for a reason and how we respond to each incident helps shape the rest of our lives.

When I was a freshman in high school I had never met a veterinarian and new very little about the profession. My world revolved around family, church, and friends I had in my very small community here in Oakdale. I had not traveled more than 60 miles from home. Then, one early morning midway through my freshman year someone I had known most of my life, Mr. J. E. Baker my agriculture teacher, walked by my desk and placed a pamphlet in front of me. The title of the pamphlet was “CAREERS IN VETERINARY MEDICINE”. I was intrigued to say the least. My first question to him was how do I get there from here. His answer was “ continue to work hard and make the best grades possible”. I took him at his word going from a B and C student to straight A’S. But Mr. Baker didn’t leave me floundering in my dreams. He continued to encourage me every step of the way. I became active in FFA getting elected as an area officer and eventually a state officer. Knowing my parents had no means to bring me to different events, he took it upon himself to bring me everywhere I needed to go. He took it upon himself to bring me to LSU and introduce me to the head of the veterinary department. Because there was no veterinary school at LSU at the time, he encouraged me to reach out to veterinary schools at Texas A&M and Auburn. He was my greatest cheerleader. He would not let any doubts come into my mind. Looking back to that period of my life, I have always been in awe of how I was able to focus on the target and not allow anything to distract me from my goal. The reality of my situation, no financial ability to afford a college education, difficulty in being accepted to a veterinary school, and logistics of going to school, should have crushed my dreams forever. But, the fact that Mr. Baker believed in me and that my parents and siblings never questioned my choices, over road all obstacles in my path.

On graduation night I received the very first W. T. Burton Foundation Scholarship given to a student at Oakdale High School. That scholarship paid my way through school at LSU and most of A&M . I became the first person to obtain a college degree in my family. Believe me when i tell you that my journey would have been completely different without teachers, family. friends, and a deep faith that I was being guided by something much greater than myself.

Continuing to be very blessed,

Joe Soileau

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04/22/2026

Hey Class of 1966. Our 60th high school reunion is coming up this fall. Homecoming is Friday October 30th.

We would love to get as many of us as possible together. If you can come let me know, I can be reached by this email([email protected]), facebook, call the office at 318-335-3814,

Thinking of organizing a meal Friday or Saturday. Let me know your preference.

Homecoming float - needs help to set up?

Call or foward this to any classmates you know.

Thanks,

Joe Soileau

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04/22/2026

REFLECTONS

Some old high school classmates called me the other day and wanted to know if we had anything planned for our 60th High School reunion coming up this fall. I must admit it took me by surprise. It’s funny how our minds fool us into believing that we are the same as we were all the way back then. Then little things like that brings us back to reality. My senior year in high school I was caught up in dreams of being a veterinarian and the whole world lay ahead of me. I could see no obstacles, only the light at the end. I stumbled and fell many times, luckily I was able to pick myself up each time and continue the journey.

When I told my boys that I left home alone on a Greyhound bus to go to LSU in 1966 they thought I was crazy. No parents to deliver me to my dorm and help me register for my first semester. I got off a bus next to Tiger Stadium and found my way to the registrars office and did it all myself. My dorm room was under Tiger Stadium. No air conditioning, community showers down the hall, no cell phones, and no phone at home to even call home to. A lot has changed in 60 years.

There was no veterinary school at LSU in those days. I had the option of applying to Auburn, Oklahoma State or Texas A&M. After completing my pre-veterinary curriculum in 2 years I was accepted at Texas A&M and began veterinary school in August of 1968. I got married after my first semester at A&M and our first apartment was in an old army barracks renovated to make eight apartments in each barrack. Rent was 48 dollars per month and we could barely afford it. After a grueling 3 years I graduated with my degree in veterinary medicine. I was green, naive and had a lot to learn.

Fifty five years later here I am back home in Oakdale getting ready to celebrate my 60th high school reunion. Hopefully we will have a good turnout and be able to visit and reminisce with our old friends.

For any of you that read this that were in our class, please give me a call and contact any others in our class that you know how to get in touch with and encourage them to make and effort to attend. I would like to get a feel for how many would be coming and maybe organize a meal together if enough people attend.

Later,
Joe Soileau

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04/22/2026

This is not associated with the Oakdale Animal Clinic. I don't know who this is. It is beinging posted to our stories.
They are posting under several different names.

This is a SCAM!!!

DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM!!!!

Steph

04/15/2026

UPDATE: HIS FAMILY WAS FOUND!!!

Does anybody know me. I was found by the YNot Stop Please call the Clinic at 318-335-3814