Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 246: Paws, Purrs, and Compassion at Abingdon Animal Medical Center
What makes Dr. O’hara with Abingdon Animal Medical Center a good neighbor?
Discover the heart behind veterinary medicine as the Good Neighbor Podcast welcomes the dedicated team from Abingdon Animal Medical Center. Dr. O'Hara, Jenny O'Hara, and groomer Dakota Amos reveal what makes their practice special in this warm, insightful conversation about animal care and community connection.
From their comprehensive medical services to their full-service grooming salon and boarding facilities, the Abingdon team provides complete care for cats and dogs. What truly sets them apart, however, isn't just their medical expertise but their philosophy: "We love these animals like they're our own." This sentiment echoes throughout the discussion as they share how clients become extended family and patients become personal connections.
The conversation takes unexpected turns as Dr. O'Hara candidly addresses veterinary misconceptions, explaining that while there are plenty of joyful moments with new puppies and successful treatments, the profession also requires emotional strength when facing difficult diagnoses and end-of-life care. Originally from Southern California and now eight years into building their practice in Virginia, the team brings both professional excellence and personal warmth to their work.
Beyond their clinical roles, we glimpse their lives outside the veterinary world—raising children, gardening, homesteading with chickens, and embracing small-town community values. Their story reminds us that exceptional pet care comes from practitioners who balance medical expertise with genuine compassion and who truly understand the special bond between pets and their people. Whether you're looking for a new veterinary home or simply appreciate passionate professionals, this episode offers a heartwarming look at healthcare providers who consider your pets part of their extended family.
To learn more about Abingdon Animal Medical Center go to:
https://www.myabingdonvet.com/
Abingdon Animal Medical Center
(832) 392-7401
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am very excited today to have several very special guests in our studio and if you're like me, you're an animal lover in our studio. And if you're like me, you're an animal lover and I think you'll be just as excited because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbors, dr O'Hara, his wife Jenny O'Hara, and Dakota Amos, all of the Abington Animal Medical Center. Guys, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hello Hi.
Speaker 4:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2:Well, like I said, we're glad to have you. I am an animal lover. I typically have three to four five animals at one time, so I'm really excited to learn all about what you guys do. So, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about the Medical Center?
Speaker 5:um. So we are a veterinary animal hospital and we cover, you know, the basics, anywhere from, uh, basic animal medical care, annual exams, vaccines, um sick visits, hospitalization, and dr hair also does surgeries, dentals we do have all of the diagnostics and imaging here and then we also have a boarding facility that is a year-round boarding facility. So we have indoor and outdoor temperature-controlled runs and we offer grooming. We have a grooming salon downstairs and Dakota has over 13 years of experience A long time, so she's here with us as well today.
Speaker 5:So tell us all the services you offer in the grooming salon.
Speaker 3:Oh, we have like a full salon services, so I can do baths rooms, I can do. We do nails, tooth brushing anything to pamper your pet, I'm your girl, I can do. Baths rooms, I can do. We do nails, toothbrushing anything to pamper your pet, I'm your girl, I can do it. So, yeah, we're we're a small clinic, but we offer more than what I think a lot of people expect us to offer.
Speaker 2:I started to say you kind of do everything.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, we've got the list say you kind of do everything.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we've got the list. Absolutely.
Speaker 4:Well, dr O'Hara, how did you get into the veterinary business? Well, it's really simple actually. I kind of grew up with like a love of medicine and a love of animals at the same time, so I kind of just combined those two and wanted to be a veterinarian for a very long time and I got lucky enough to get into veterinary school and get through it, and now I've been practicing for almost 13 years now.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, 13 years. Have you had this practice for that long?
Speaker 4:I've had this practice, my eighth year with this practice All right, very good, jenny.
Speaker 2:Did he drag you into the business or? Did you guys meet in it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we actually have been married for 20 years, so we've been together since I was 17. So I saw him go all the way through part of his undergrad and veterinary school and his first few jobs, and then we decided to venture out here and purchase Abington Animal Medical Center together.
Speaker 2:So Now, where are you guys originally from?
Speaker 4:Southern California.
Speaker 2:Really when in Southern California?
Speaker 5:I'm from the Mojave Desert, some Apple Valley area.
Speaker 2:Mr Bill.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Very familiar.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and then he is from. He grew up in like.
Speaker 4:Wrightwood, which is in the mountains there but, not too, far from that area. Beautiful country, this country.
Speaker 2:Beautiful country. I used to live in Laguna Niguel and my best friend lived in Victorville, so I spent a lot of time in the high desert, that's good.
Speaker 5:We were married in Laguna Beach at Crescent Bay Point Park.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, very cool Small world. Yeah, I used to get a church at Laguna Beach actually. Well cool Dakota, how did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:Kind of the same thing. I put in a simple Google search of careers with animals and grooming was one of them, and I had a wonderful teacher who kind of took me under her wing and showed me all the things and it's just taken off and not many people can say they love what they do. A wonderful teacher who kind of took me under her wing and showed me all the things and it's just taken off, and not many people can say they love what they do and I do. I can't imagine doing anything else. Everybody kind of knows me as the dog lady, so you know I wear that badge with honor.
Speaker 2:Very cool, very cool. Well, what are some myths or misconceptions in the veterinary business?
Speaker 4:I would say the biggest misconception is that it's all rainbows. You know what I mean. You kind of think a veterinarian and 90% of it is great. Right, you know new puppies, all that, but you know the truth is that a lot of animals cats and dogs they get sick and then they get, you know, debilitating diseases at times and then you know, and at the end sometimes you have to help them along and that's probably, you know, the hardest part. But people probably don't understand that part. Really, you know is there you know I can relate.
Speaker 2:I just had a 15 year old coon dog, a rescue that just passed away. She had cancer. So that was really tough, and I think it was tough on our vet too.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know cause she?
Speaker 3:she knew her dog really well, but well, I can understand that Not all rainbows and that like Dr O'Hara and, I'm sure, most vets but I know Dr O'Hara personally like he carries these animals like wellness with him. So he goes through the ups and downs, I think, with the clients just as much as they do. You know to an extent that you know he cares for these animals and he loves these animals. So the highs he feels the highs and the lows he feels the lows. So it's just part of the self-help.
Speaker 2:Part of the gig. Part of the gig. Well, who are your target customers for the Abington Animal Medical Center?
Speaker 4:Anybody who loves their cat and dog.
Speaker 2:Very good, pretty broad, pretty broad. You guys ever thought about doing your own podcast?
Speaker 5:Yeah, actually, before we got your email, we me and Dr O'Hara have talked about this off and on for years, but obviously life is busy. But he had mentioned you know I really want to do some sort of podcast or reel, maybe just once a week, something both fun, interesting, informative and sharing. Maybe a case or something each week, right? So yeah, we, we've definitely thought about it, we just haven't been able to manifest it into fruition. Maybe you're the spark.
Speaker 2:Hey, we'll talk. We'll talk later. We'll talk later. Very cool, very cool. Well, outside of work, what do you guys do for fun?
Speaker 4:Well, you probably hear from this a lot of people, but we have three children together and that's what we do outside of work.
Speaker 5:We raise little wild human beings and play baseball and we garden. We actually love being in nature and we garden a lot at our house and it keeps the kids, you know, outside.
Speaker 2:So very cool, very cool. Time of family is always the best answer.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, I also have a sweet two and a half year old. A sweet two and a half year old, and if my husband isn't racing in the local circuit, then you will find me on my little homestead, like chasing my kid and chickens around with my dogs. So you know, it's pretty yin and yang, it's a little opposite, but that's what.
Speaker 2:That's what you'll find me doing so the the chickens and dogs get along okay.
Speaker 3:Yes, my dogs are old, like you, senior dogs, and so they don't mind the chickens, they're like it's just another part of the pack, just another part of the zoo they're used to it.
Speaker 2:Very cool, very cool. Well, let's switch gears for a second and I'll let you guys decide who takes this on. Well, let's switch gears for a second. I'll let you guys decide who takes this on.
Speaker 4:But either professionally or personally, can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger? On the other side? I'll take this one.
Speaker 4:My first year out of vet school, I worked at a practice that did everything. It did everything. We did wildlife, we did exotics. I mean exotics I mean birds, iguana, snakes, all that. And then we did a large animal too, like goats, you know, cows, horses, all that, and cats and dogs at the same time.
Speaker 4:But while I was doing this I was working like 65 hours, 70 hours a week, trying to do it all. And you know I would work all day and then I would be called like a two o'clock in the morning, of course colicky, and I would try and go fix that, you know, and then reprints and repeat. And what I learned is that I couldn't do it all if I was gonna, you know, you know, have some kind of balance in my life and really streamline and be really good at just a certain thing. And I decided after that first year I'm I can as much as I like all these parts. I got it concentrating just one thing, and so I kind of just went into cats and dogs after that and I found my biggest love with dogs and cats very good.
Speaker 2:so you guys don't do large animals there. No, dogs and cats. Dogs and cats, that's good.
Speaker 4:All right, you got a ferret or something, yeah.
Speaker 2:You do Guinea pigs.
Speaker 5:No, no, no guinea pigs, no guinea pigs.
Speaker 2:Well, that's all right. My daughter had a. She just graduated from App State and last year and she she had a pet guinea pig in her apartment. So I don't know if she ever she couldn't sneak a dog or a cat into the apartment, but that's why she had a guinea pig.
Speaker 3:But, anyway.
Speaker 2:So if you guys could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about Abington Animal Medical Center, what would that be?
Speaker 4:You want to take that to cover.
Speaker 3:Well, doc and I were talking about it right before we started and I think the biggest thing is that we love these animals like they are our own. I mean, it's not just a patient, it's not just an appointment, you're not just a client. Like you become family to us. I know all the staff here. We think of each other like family, we celebrate each other like family, and then that kind of like moves into our clients and our patients. Abingdon is a small town and I've always said like no matter what we like, wrap our arms around the community and love the community and it's the same here at the clinic.
Speaker 3:Like we, we like to take care of our patients and love our clients and I just, I hope that people see that when they walk in our doors and they feel that when they walk in our doors, that you are now family. You know what? Whether you like it or not, we're going to treat you like family, we're going to love you like family, so you, know we really love the dogs.
Speaker 4:I mean we really do. I have people ask me sometimes they're like hey, doc, how many, how many dogs do you have? And I'd say thousands. Yeah, you know my patients, I consider my dogs. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Very cool. Well, that's what I look for in a vet actually is is exactly what you're talking about? Dakota is a family approach, and you have an appreciation for animals like nobody else, so that's, that's just wonderful. Well, for those of our listeners who don't have a vet or not happy with their vet and thinking about possibly looking at a new doc for their vet, for their animals, how can we learn more?
Speaker 3:Okay, so I'll just read off our phone number so like you can call or you can text. We have like a great system where you can text us if you don't want to call. The phone number is two, seven, six, six, two, eight, nine, six, five, five, and then we also have a website, and it's of course wwwmyabingdonvetcom, so you can look for us. Or we have social media. We have Facebook too.
Speaker 2:Very good Facebook. Did you say Instagram, no, no no, instagram yet. You're the spark, so maybe we'll, maybe we'll turn out hey well, I'm on Facebook, I'm not on Instagram, so that's okay, awesome. Well, I can't tell you guys how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule, and probably lunch, so I apologize for that, but appreciate you being here and we wish you and your families and Abingdon Animal Medical Center all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 4:Same back to you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and maybe we can have you back sometime. Okay, all right, sounds good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom. Or call 423-719-5873.