The Gentle Doctor of East Tennessee

03/03/2025

As of 3/3/25 we are not accepting new clients for sick pet appointments, only for wellness and surgery visits. Due to being short staffed, we are limiting appointment times available so we can continue to provide quality care and are reserving sick visits for current patients. We hope to be able to go back to normal operations soon. Like all small businesses, staffing is hard when sickness is also going around. We're working hard to keep providing high quality care and that makes this a necessary decision. We would rather be good at what we do and do less of it than provide your pets with care that doesn't meet our standards.

We will update as we get through this time.

Thank you all for always supporting us. We appreciate you so much!!

02/15/2025

Wrenley thinking about why her mom isn’t home.

Dr. D is stuck out of state due to some car trouble but will be back ASAP.

01/10/2025

Just like the rest of Knoxville, we can’t guarantee what our hours will be tomorrow and Saturday. We’ve asked our employees to consider their own safety first and foremost. We will be open in the morning with limited staff but will close if needed so everyone can get home safe. We will make a decision about Saturday before we leave tomorrow so we can call anyone with appointments Saturday and let them know. Patience is appreciated since you can never really predict the weather in Knoxville!!!

If you’re coming in for refills, etc it is best to call or email before you leave home so you know for sure that someone will be there. Tiny is pretty smart but not great at counting pills without thumbs.

01/02/2025

Happy New Year Knoxville! We have had to raise some service prices slightly for the first time in 5 years, but there is good news. The increases weren't nearly what we thought they would be given the increase in cost of goods AND we've found a lower cost merchant processing system so those fees we all hate will be going down DRAMATICALLY. As always, we will only increase prices of medications and preventatives as we get price increases from the manufacturer. Otherwise, those don't change. Our goal here is to help people, and we can't help you if we can't afford to pay our staff fairly so the increases were necessary but minimal.

We also should have an install date for our new phone system soon, which we know will help a lot of you. And last but not least,
our lead tech Ace has been accepted into veterinary school at the University of Tennessee and is leaving us in August, but we do have two great new people starting today. We are all very proud of Ace as she moves forward with her career, but we will miss her and know many of you will also. Good things are happening in 2025!!

Thank you all for getting through 2024 with us. It was a rough year, but we all made it.

Breanne's dog showing off the nuggies he will be losing today.

12/26/2024

We hope you all are enjoying your holidays. Dr. D is answering emails from home today, and we will have a tech in for a few hours tomorrow if you need us. Otherwise, as always, see an urgent care center, your full service veterinarian, or an ER if your pet needs care ASAP. And, remember, dogs should not get turkey bones at all since they splinter and can be fatal, and turkey skin is very fatty and can cause pancreatitis. Be safe and keep your friends out of the ER!

Tiny Cat ruling the dog lobby.

12/12/2024

Since Dr. D is the coolest boss ever (and totally not the one writing this post) all full time staff get the week of Christmas as paid time off so we will close that week as we have every year since we opened. If you will need refills over the holidays, please get them called/emailed in so we can get them filled next week.

Thank you and be safe this holiday season!

We do have presents for the good pups that visit next week and treats for the kitties.

11/28/2024

Snoozing at my vacation house. Have a safe weekend, and we’ll see you Tuesday.

11/21/2024

We’ve heard you and are excited to announce that we have found a solution to our phone issues! We’re getting an entire new phone system installed soon, and it will be much easier to get in touch.

Pic of Snoop the Jeep cat for fun.

11/06/2024

Got this drawer out to refill it with gloves to do cat spays, not spayed cats.

10/11/2024

The Labrador and I have been out of the office all week, but we didn’t have to close the entirety of fall break like usual because Dr. Faulks and the rest of our people really stepped up. We will be closed tomorrow, and Wren and I will be back to our normal schedule on Tuesday.

Since I was out for a week, next week may be very busy so we’re preparing. Enjoy this beautiful day!!

Also, next week is Vet Tech week so we’ll be celebrating the wonderful work our staff does all week.

Dr. D

08/03/2024

Tiny cat diary: The obsession people have with the one they call Snoop baffles me.

08/01/2024

We haven’t posted in a bit so here’s Snoop enjoying her new fountain for your viewing pleasure.

07/05/2024

Reminder: We are closed today for the holiday weekend. We have such a small staff that we close holidays to make sure everyone gets the time off that they need and deserve.

Enjoy your holiday weekend, keep your pets indoors and safe, and email us with anything we need to take care of on Tuesday. Tuesday will be busy so emails will get answered faster. gentledoctortn @ gmail.com

If your pet needs emergency care, we always recommend the University of Tennessee or Animal Emergency and Specialty Center of Knoxville. For non-emergency urgent needs, we recommend the urgent care teams at Central and Concord. For walk in care, we recommend Petwell.

We’ll be back on Tuesday ready to run.

Snoop Cat High Five for fun. Tiny Cat is at her vacation house with one of our techs.

Dr. D

06/28/2024

Tiny Cat Alert: We need clean newspapers for kennels and all those socks you have lying around without a match to keep tosies warm during surgery please.

06/13/2024

Tiny Cat Diary: Soooo glad the one they call doctor gave me a yoga room. A girl has to get her stretch on.

06/08/2024

We had an incident this week that involved someone who yelled at, cursed at, and was incredibly disrespectful to one of my techs, and he threatened to share all about it online after I asked him to leave. I’d like to get ahead of that and publicly say that, yes, it’s true. If you can’t be respectful to my staff, you will be asked to leave. They work really hard, risk getting injured daily, and don’t make anywhere near enough money so it’s fair for us to ask that they are at least treated with decency. We all get frustrated sometimes, but no one deserves to be treated like trash for trying to help an animal. So if you read anywhere that we won’t see clients that abuse our staff, it’s true and I am not afraid of anyone knowing that information.

Support the mental well-being of all veterinary staff by not abusing them in person or online.

Much love to the 99.9% of our clients that are kind, respectful people.

Dr. D

A pic of my newest family member……

05/03/2024

This cat drives me crazy , but I don’t think I could possibly love her more. She was given to us by a client that couldn’t keep her, and we’re so glad she found her home here.

Dr. D

05/02/2024

Proud to be privately owned.

Why your last vet bill was barking mad.