Blue Ridge Animal Clinic

12/18/2024

10/18/2024

We couldn’t think of a better way of ending National Veterinary Technician Week than with our Bath County beauties, Jordan Taylor and Mikayla Woodzell 💗

Both of these ladies travel an hour just to get to work, which is impressive in and of itself. But they are so impressive in many other ways, too.

Jordan has been an LVT at the clinic longer than most of the doctors have been there. She, like many other techs at the clinic, has filled so many roles and performed flawlessly in all of these—running anesthesia and helping in surgery, acting an an embryo technician with advanced reproductive work, leading client communication efforts, and performing technical tasks with ease. She’s amazing beyond her professional skillset—she’s who we go when we need a comforting hug or a shoulder to lean on, she’s the encouraging voice we need through a difficult case, and she’s truly the glow that lights up the clinic. She’s the kindest soul to her coworkers, clients, and patients, which is not surprising if you’ve seen how wonderful of a mother she is to her three children. But don’t let her sweetness fool you because she’s a total boss, too, running her own wildly successful business, Painted Mountain Mare, outside of her clinic work and family life. We’re amazed and proud and so glad to call her ours 🧡

Mikayla has been at the clinic just about as long as Jordan has—again, longer than many of our doctors. And this girl knows her stuff. She remembers everything—what worked for a patient vs what didn’t, where we keep the medications and tools we rarely use, and how to fix any of our machines when they are acting up. She’s a gift in the clinic, but her real gift is with horses. We aren’t lying when we say she’s a horse whisperer—they are several clients that will tell you Mikayla is the only one their horses respond to, and we go to her with any horse-related questions or concerns. In fact, another job she holds outside the clinic is hosting trail rides in Bath County. When she isn’t doing that, she too runs her own successful business, Wranglin’ M Rags, and models for several well-known companies. She was even featured, last year, in Cowboys and Indians magazine—yes, THAT Cowboys and Indians magazine! We are so proud of her, and we love her honesty, her dry humor, her help, and her heart—she’s got a good one 🤍

We are so proud of both of these incredible women and are so happy, and thankful, they they have been with us as long as they have. The clinic really wouldn’t be the same without them, and they are the best possible people to spotlight at the end of this week!

10/17/2024

As we near the end of National Veterianry Techician Week, we want to highlight two of our most accomplished, talented, and appreciated LVTs—Nell Smith and Haley Austin 🩺

Around the clinic, we often joke that Nell has been around longer than the boss. She’s such an integral part of our team and foundation of the work we do here that the clinic would not be functional without her. She knows every detail about this place—she remembers where we’ve tucked tools and medications; she recalls special occasions of clients, like birthdays and anniversaries; and she can always remind of us the best way to handle a certain patient. She’s another one that works tirelessly to keep the clinic running smoothly, and the fact that she has been in about every role the clinic has to offer helps her run the place so well. When she’s not at the clinic helping us keep our ducks in a row, she’s often traveling with her daughter, Kaitlin, to cattle shows across the country. We’re so grateful and appreciative of her years of expertise and wisdom, and we’re also grateful that she’s always down to go out to Frank’s or order coffee (with lots of cream and liquid sugar, of course) ☺️

Haley is another one of our technicians that we are just so grateful for. No one here is as efficient as Haley! She flies through technical tasks with ease, and us doctors are always asking her for help with client communication, blood draws, dentals, and difficult cats 😻 She’s done everything in veterinary medicine from high volume spay/neuter to bovine embryo transfer work, so she truly brings so much to our practice. She’s spicy and sassy, and always brings a smile to our faces. She encourages us to not back down from anything—including those hateful felines!—and to always do our best work. Haley also shows us how important it is to cultivate and value a life outside work—along with her husband and her two beautiful girls, she manages a farm of Angus cattle and crossbred sheep in Botetourt County. When she’s not busy with her animals, she loves to take her horses on trail rides with her family and spend time with her little girls. While we only get her 3 days a week, we wish we could have her 7! She’s wonderful and such a gift to the clinic 💖

10/16/2024

Today’s spotlights are on two of the most superstar members of our patient care team—Jade Conner and Amber Reynolds 🤩

Jade’s journey here at the clinic has been one of progress. When she started out here many years ago, she worked back in the kennels, and now we are so proud to say that she will soon be a licensed veterinary technician, excelling in both small and large animal veterinary work. She’s learned and grown so much in her many years with us (just ask her how her blood smears are coming along!), but we’ve learned a lot from her, too—how to greet every day and situation with enthusiasm and a positive attitude, how to always find a way to work collaboratively with others, and how to be more caring and empathetic towards people and animals alike. She keeps us laughing daily, lights up any room she’s in, and amazes us with her ability to balance this job with studying for school and being a wonderful mom to her two precious boys. The only thing we can fault her for is being the ringleader of our clinic’s horrible coffee habit!

Amber hasn’t been with us quite as long as Jade but has certainly made just as much of a positive impression. She’s a master juggler too, managing cattle, goats, and a spirited five year old at home along with this job and enrollment in a licensed veterinary technician program—we’re in awe of how she does it all! She’s a huge team player, jumping in to help wherever it is needed and always going above and beyond what is asked of her. She’s another one that keeps us smiling and laughing daily just by being her sassy self, but we also love how devoted she is to providing the best patient care possible. She’s a tireless worker, always staying late to help us doctors with tying up loose ends or finishing patient treatments. And while she’s always full of surprises, the biggest (literally) surprise she has recently dropped on us is the nearly 150 lb calf out of one of her heifers that was delivered through a C-section at the clinic just over two weeks ago, a surgery that she assisted in!

We are so proud, for so many reasons, of both of these two women and are so thankful we get to work alongside them daily! 🩷

10/16/2024

Our next technician that we would like to spotlight is Chloe Johnson! ✨

Chloe is one of the hardest working members of our patient care team—in addition to having a full-time job at the Virginia Safari Park just down the road, Chloe is studying at Blue Ridge Community College to become a licensed veterinary technician. When she’s not in the back of the clinic perfecting those technical skills, like catheter placement, she’s greeting you and your pets in the rooms with her bubbly, happy attitude. She’s always bringing a smile to our faces and always giving us tips about exotic animal handling and care. She’s a travel ju**ie and definitely one of the more adventurous minds at the clinic. She’s also become one of the clinic’s most bleeding hearts, opening her home to two orphaned cats over the course of the last year 😸

Thank you, Chloe, for all you do for us as a clinic staff and for all creatures, big and small!!

10/15/2024

It’s our favorite week of the year—National Veterinary Technician Week!! 🩺🩻💉🐾

Our technicians are truly the backbone of our clinic. What we are able to do as doctors wouldn’t be possible without their skills and expertise at everything from animal restraint; to obtaining diagnostic information like blood, urine, and radiographs; to catheter placement; client communication; and so much more. They are the ones your animals recognize and love, the ones who keep the building standing by doing whatever needs to be done, and the ones who always keep us doctors on track. We simply wouldn’t be able to do our job without them.

This week, we will be taking time each day on this platform to recognize and spotlight a couple of our wonderful and talented technicians. But if you happen to see them in person, please take the time to thank them for the care and love they give your pet 🩷 We will be kicking off our technician spotlight this week by introducing two of our newest technicians, Gabrielle Goodwin and Melissa Boyd!

Gabrielle (who despite thorough internet sleuthing managed to hide a picture for this post) is a licensed veterinary technician (LVT) who came to us just a few months ago but has fit in seamlessly ever since. She’s never rattled, cool as a cucumber, and on a mission to make our dental offerings for your pet better than ever before. You can find her doing everything from assisting in small animal surgery to helping on equine floats; she’s got skills in both areas, and both large and small animals of her own at home! While she has many pets, she’s a cat lover at heart, and she’s an avid reader as well. We’re so happy she’s here at the clinic.

Our other newest member of the team, Melissa Boyd (pictured below) joined us around the same time as Gabrielle. She’s preparing to become an LVT (send her good vibes on her upcoming licensing exam!) and also has exceptional skills with both small and large animals. She enjoys emergency medicine as well as large animal reproduction, and in her free time, her and her husband stay busy with both horses and cattle they manage at their family farm. She brings such a great work ethic and skillset to our clinic, and we’re thrilled to have her here as well!

09/17/2024

So thankful for a community that rallies to help our patients in need! We are so grateful to both the Rockbridge Baths and the Glasgow volunteer fire departments that showed up on a moments notice and helped to get Lola back up. We are happy to also share that Lola is doing great since her incident ☺️

08/08/2024

Interesting juxtaposition at BRAC earlier this week. Funny how Dr. Fenster's patient is a feline similar in size to her own upper body, while Dr. Tester's feline patient fits in the palm of his hand?!

08/08/2024

Excessive scratching is one sign of an itchy pet, but there can be other signs as well: licking, biting, chewing, recurrent ear infections, hair loss, body odor, and/or skin changes such as rashes or redness. Making an appointment with a veterinarian is the best way to determine the cause of the itch, discuss management strategies, and work toward a more comfortable life for your pet! 🐶

05/24/2024

Samba Murphy and her little pig friend are ready for parent pickup!

05/21/2024

BRAC Welcomes Dr. Alec Tester!

We are very pleased to announce the arrival of Dr. Alec Tester to our family at Blue Ridge Animal Clinic.

Beginning July1st you will find Dr. Tester seeing to our small animal friends in clinic as well as out in the field seeing to large animal calls.

Dr. Tester is a welcome addition to the BRAC team of veterinarians, technicians and support staff.

It is our hope that with our seventh veterinarian on staff we will have additional resources available to see to the growing needs of our clients and the community.

Welcome Dr. Alec!

A brief bio about Dr. Tester:

Dr. Alec Tester grew up the small town of Mountain City, Tennessee just a few minutes south of the Virginia border. He attended the University of Tennessee and received his BS in Animal Science in 2020. He then attended the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine where he obtained his DVM in May of 2024. Dr. Tester practices both large and small animal medicine. His professional interests include herd health management, and surgery. He enjoys building close relationships with producers, and owners for the betterment of themselves and their animals.

Dr. Tester was involved in his local 4-H and FFA in high school participating in many of their judging teams. He continued this into his collegiate career participating in both the horse judging team, and dairy challenge team at UT. In his free time Dr. Tester enjoys spending time outdoors and traveling with his wife Destiny.

05/07/2024

Congratulations to Kacey, our latest 4th year vet student who has since graduated to an official DVM last weekend! Well done Kacey! We wish you all the best as you journey off into your role as an official Dr. of Veterinary Medicine. - Your friends at BRAC

04/26/2024

Happy Veterinary Receptionist Week to the spunky ladies up front that make us look good and make the clinic “go round”!

Amy, Jen, Brenda, and Sarah, you all are SO MUCH more than receptionists!

• You are some of the best multi-taskers in the world!
• You are the welcoming face of the clinic and make both clients and patients immediately comfortable at arrival.
• You offer sympathy and talk many clients through hard medical decisions.
• You triage phone calls and emergencies.
• You help carry sick pets inside from the car.
• You handle many phone calls and conversations that doctors and technicians simply don’t want to do.
• You remember names and faces that the other staff may have a hard time remembering and need your help.
• You catch mistakes the doctors make on billing and/or discharge instructions every week! Looking especially at you, Amy.
• You are often the first staff members that see our patients. You notice when a pet looks unstable in the lobby and needs seen immediately.
• You give clients assurance and guidance on treatment and scheduling.
• You often arrive to work earlier than others and work overtime.
• You act as technicians, filling in and helping out in both small and large animal whenever we need a hand.
• You are our pharmacists and fill medications daily.
• You all keep us laughing and provide office morale!

Thank you for your invaluable work you do everyday! This week is all about you!
• We see you
• We value you
• We owe you!!!

Sincerely,
Your doctors and technicians at BRAC 🩷

03/28/2024

We are so pleased to announce our most recent addition to the BRAC family, Dr. Kathy Eichelberger! You will begin to see Dr. Eichelberger here in the clinic beginning next week. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience. Welcome Dr. Eichelberger!

A little bit about Dr. Kathy Eichelberger; she is a 1985 graduate of the VaMd College of Veterinary Medicine at Va Tech. She has practiced small animal medicine in Roanoke, Buena Vista, Bedford and Lynchburg. She moved to Rockbridge County in 2006 and considers this her playground as well as home. She enjoys family, riding her horses in several disciplines, her dogs, sailing, kayaking and snow skiing. She is particularly interested in companion animal wellness care, internal medicine and soft tissue surgery. She looks forward to meeting everyone associated with Blue Ridge Animal Clinic.