Finding Your Place: How One Vet Built Community Through Compassionate Care

Meet the Host: Dr. O’Hara of Abingdon Animal Medical Center

Ever wonder what drives someone to dedicate their life to caring for our furry companions? Dr. O'Hara takes us on a fascinating journey from his veterinary school days at Oregon State University to establishing Abingdon Animal Medical Center in the heart of Appalachia.

With warmth and candor, Dr. O'Hara reveals how five years of practice experience in Texas prepared him to become his own boss. His search for the perfect practice aligned beautifully with his desire to raise his family in the stunning landscapes of eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia. What began as a chance visit to Abingdon while exploring other opportunities transformed into finding his perfect professional home—a testament to following both heart and instinct in career decisions.

Behind the state-of-the-art veterinary technology and comprehensive services lies Dr. O'Hara's simple but powerful philosophy: "I love the medicine, but I love the animals more than the medicine." This perspective shapes everything at Abingdon Animal Medical Center, from their approach to routine checkups to complex surgeries. When he's not being "Doc" at the clinic, Dr. O'Hara cherishes his role as "Papa" to his three young children, even coaching his nine-year-old son's baseball team. This balance between professional dedication and family life mirrors the values that drew him to Abingdon in the first place.

Whether you're a current client or simply curious about the human story behind veterinary medicine, this intimate conversation offers valuable insights into what makes truly exceptional pet care. Listen now, and then connect with Abingdon Animal Medical Center at 276-628-9655 or MyAbingdonvet.com to experience their unique blend of small-town warmth and cutting-edge care for yourself.

To learn more about Abingdon Animal Medical Center visit:
https://www.MyAbingdonVet.com
Abingdon Animal Medical Center
19586 Dennison Drive
Abingdon, VA 24211
276-628-9655

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Tail Talk with Dr O'Hara, where eastern
Tennessee and southwestVirginia's favorite pets get the
spotlight they deserve.
He's the heart behind AbingdonAnimal Medical Center, combining
small-town charm withstate-of-the-art veterinary care
.
Whether your furry friend purrs, barks or just steals your
socks, this is the place fortips, tails and a whole lot of

(00:28):
tail wagging.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome everybody.
I'm Skip Mauney, co-host slashproducer, here in the studio
with Dr O'Hara of AbingtonAnimal Medical Center.
Dr O'Hara, how's it going?
It's going great.
How are you doing, skip?
Doing just fine, Excuse me,getting close to the weekend so
I'm excited about that.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, it's supposed to be a nice weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Absolutely, and maybe we can get out of some of this
rain we've had over the lastweek.
It's been insane, insanely wet.
Well, let's get right to it.
Doc, over the years you'vegrown quite a remarkable
following there in Abington.
However, some of our listenersmight not be familiar with your
journey, so let's just take itfrom the top.

(01:17):
Could you share a littlebackground about your company
and what you do?

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well, I graduated veterinary school in 2012 from
Oregon State University, andthen I went into practice right
away, right after graduation,and I practiced in Texas one
year in West Texas, and then Idid four years in the Houston

(01:43):
area and then in 2017, Iacquired Abingdon Animal Medical
Center, and so I've been doingthat for about eight years here.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Wow, what part of West Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Midland, Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Midland, Friday Night Lights.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yes, it is a different country out there.
I'll tell you that for sure.
They do care about high schoolfootball and rodeo, and that's
what they care about.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
And oil.
I think that used to be thecase.
Midlands, odessa, very familiarwith that.
So what brought you to Abingdon, the virginia?
Did you just by happenstance orhow did you connect there?

Speaker 3 (02:26):
well, it's honestly.
We had our son at the time andI wanted to own a practice.
I wanted to be my own boss atthat point.
I'd work for five years underthe people and I gained a lot of
experience and I was ready tokind of to do it on my own.
And we visited this area and weloved it.

(02:48):
We thought it was a great areato raise a family, and it really
is.
It's a really awesome areaabsolutely and so it.
Just it was a lot ofhappenstance, coincidence,
everything in one.
It was just meant to be.
The practice was for sale whenwe were visiting this region and
we loved the region, so weacquired the practice over the

(03:12):
course of like six months.
It took a while to acquire, butwe did, and we've loved it here
ever since.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Wow.
So when you were visiting, youweren't there to look for a
practice, you were just visiting.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, no, we came out here because the practice was
on oh, oh, I see, I see.
So you knew it was it was on themarket, but we checked out
other ones near here too.
And then we were originallygoing to check out a different
practice, but we in tennessee,but this one was actually on the
way, it was like a couple hoursaway.

(03:47):
So we were like, why not checkthis one out while we're out
there?
And we loved this one in thisarea much more than the other
one we visited.
So we got kind of lucky that wewere like, hey, check this out
while we're out here.
You know what I mean, so verygood, very good.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, you're absolutely correct.
It's beautiful to me, the mostbeautiful part of the country,
most beautiful place I've everlived, and a great, great place
to raise a family.
So can't blame you thereSpeaking of family when you're
not taking care of your patients.
What do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Oh well, I like to hang out with my children.
I've got three kids, one nine,one about to be seven and one
four and I just like to be Papawhen I'm not being Doc.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Basically, you know what I mean, are they into any
sports or anything?

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, my son.
He loves baseball so I helpcoach his team.
He does a little travel teamand I help coach with that and
we have a lot of fun with that.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Oh, very good.
How old is your son?
He's nine, nine.
Oh, that's awesome, man.
Great, great time to be a dadand a kid and play baseball when
you're nine, 10, 11 years oldFantastic.
Well, we know that, doc, thatmarketing is key to just about
any business's success.
How do you market AbingtonMedical Center?

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Well, I think the best marketing tool we probably
have is word of mouth, I guess,of people who have had good
experiences.
You know we try and provide thebest.
Like we've talked about before,I treat every pet in there that
comes in there like they're myown and then I hope the client
has a great experience with thatand patient has a great

(05:35):
experience with that and it justkind of gets around, you know.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Absolutely no better advertising than word of mouth
for sure, than word of mouth forsure.
Well, you know you're a superbusy guy and uh, uh, you know,
and I know because we've had toreschedule a couple of times,
but but you know you'rededicated to your work yeah I'm
not doing that anymore oh,that's okay, that's all right.
No, that's perfectly fine.

(06:00):
Work comes first, um.
But speaking of work, what?
Just to get learn more aboutwhat?
What drives you?
Why are you doing this?
Why be a vet?

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Well, I love animals, I mean I just I mean that's
probably the most, you know,important thing to drive, I
think, to be a good veterinarianis that you really have to love
animals.
You know I love the medicine,but I love the animals more than
the medicine.
You know what I mean.
I really do, and so that's whatdrives me.
Good outcomes are the mostimportant thing for me.

(06:33):
I want good outcomes for thepatient.
It's not always possible, butI'll do anything I can to make
sure there's a good outcome,from something simple as a skin
infection to something morecomplicated that may need
surgery.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, so you, you do perform surgeries yeah.
Yeah, what other services doyou offer that maybe other folks
don't necessarily?

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Well, we're pretty technology up to date.
We got ultrasound, we can doultrasound.
We can obviously take x-rays.
We have a computed x-rays,which is really cool because we
can take the shot and we canhave the results back in seconds
, literally it's on a computerscreen and it's really useful,
but we pretty much do it all.

(07:18):
I mean soft tissue surgery, spay, neuters, all that kind of
stuff, dental procedures, dentalhealth is one of the kind of
things that's really need to getout there more of how important
it is for the overall health ofthe patient.
Canine and feline, cats anddogs.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
I imagine that's pretty tough to clean a dog's
teeth.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Well, yeah, they have to take a little nap for you,
obviously, because they're notgoing to just sit there and be
like aw.
A lot of times they have a lotof buildup and stuff.
You've got to scale it off andpolish everything up, clean
everything up, and a lot oftimes there's extractions that
are needed too, because you know, the tooth is that bad.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
So I've had personal experience with that Not not my
teeth, but my dogs, yeah, and itis very, it's critical actually
can cause a lot of other issues.
So well, dr O'Hara, again Iknow you're busy, love it,
appreciate you taking time outto introduce yourself to our
listeners, and we'll catch youin the next episode where we'll
dive into some frequently askedquestions.

(08:20):
Oh, that sounds great Skip.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
Thank you All right man.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Have a great rest of the day.
All right, you too.
Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Thank you.
Thanks for joining us on TailTalk with Dr O'Hara.
If your four-legged familymember needs a checkup, a
stylish groom or just a cozyplace to stay, give us a call or
text at 276-628-9655, or visitmyabingdonvetcom to book your

(08:51):
appointment.
Abingdon Animal Medical Centera small town feel with
state-of-the-art care and plentyof belly rubs.