Best Friends Animal Clinic, LLC

04/07/2024

Today is the clinic's 19th anniversary. I want to thank all our wonderful clients for your loyalty and for trusting with the care of your precious little and big best friends. It has been my personal privilege to know some of you for almost my whole career through 2 different veterinary clinics and many many dear pets. And it continues to be my joy to meet all the new clients and your pets who come to see us. I couldn't have done it without you.

Here's to many more years together.

Dr. Ebalinna Vaughn

02/05/2024

I want to tell you about a very special patient. Sulley was found as a kitten by his owners who brought him to see me at the end of May in 2005 as an estimated 6 week old kitten. This means that he was born within a few weeks of the clinic opening. Sulley has been coming to see me ever since and is now my oldest living patient whose lifetime spans the lifetime of the clinic. I think that is so incredibly cool.

Sulley is now a grand 18 year old cat who is about to turn 19 about 2 weeks after the clinic's 19th anniversary on April 7th. What a trip it has been and I am so glad that Sulley has kept pace with us for so long. Here's hoping for a few more years.

Here is Sulley as a wee little kitten then at about 2 years of age and lastly just a few days ago as a grand slightly crotchety older gentlecat.

12/21/2023

Just in time for Christmas. Phew!!!

THIS JUST IN: USDA Issues Permit for Santa’s Reindeer to Enter the U.S. USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service sent this bulletin at 12/21/2023 01:00 PM EST THIS JUST IN: USDA Issues Permit for Santa’s Reindeer to Enter the U.S. (Washington, D.C., December 21, 2023) – The U.S. Departm...

10/12/2023

Also just for fun and since it is almost Halloween here is an employee's dog Roxy masquerading as a ghost. She's all ready for Halloween!

10/12/2023

Just for fun let's see who can guess this beautiful girl's age. This is Finn. The first picture was when she was 3 months old. The last is her most recent picture. How old is she?

Answer: Finn is 7 years and 4 months old. She is a member of the dubious premature graying club. It isn't as obvious on the picture but her legs are also gray where they used to be black. Thankfully, the rest of her is still a happy active dog who still thinks she is even younger than her actual age.

09/25/2023

Speaking of old pets. This little old girl is my personal cat - now. This is Mei. She was brought to us by a very compassionate person who realized she had been left behind in an adjacent apartment by her previous owners when they moved. He was not in a position to keep her and she was initially brought in for euthanasia. However, even before I saw her, my staff said she was purring in the carrier and being very friendly. She was not ready to go anywhere. Needless to say she got a second chance and we took her in.

She was a friendly matted emaciated little cat with a really big voice. She is estimated to be about 17-18 years of age. She tolerated being shaved down with very little fuss - every thing had to go including most of the hair on her tail.

With a little help from a good Samaritan, a complete shave down, multiple warm beds to choose from and as much food as she wants she is now part of the Vaughn household and will be cherished for as long as she wants.

These are pictures of what she looked like when she came to us, the full shave down and the most recent picture taken 2 months ago showing her beautiful coat filling in.

11/25/2023 - I have a sad update to Mei's story. She was diagnosed with kidney and liver failure about 2 weeks ago and quickly stopped eating and even stopped drinking much on her own. So despite fluids and appetite stimulants and all manner of foods to try to coax her with we realized she had had enough and it was time to let her rest which my husband and I did on Thanksgiving day.

We loved having her for the 9 months she stayed with us and will miss her and her loud voice very much.

09/23/2023

This is Tui - one of my favorite patients who is always such a joy to work with. She always rolls on her side making me master the skill of drawing blood with her on her side. I didn't know Tui as a puppy. She was about 6 years old when I first met her. She is now over 16 years old and still doing very well. She still loves treats and still rolls on her side for her exams.

09/23/2023

Here are a few pictures and a little information in honor of some of our grand older patients. Much as we hate to see them age we are reminded of how privileged we have been to know them for so long.

This is Schatzi. We first saw her when she was just a little over 4 months old. The second picture was when she was about 3 years old and finally the most recent picture at almost 13 years of age.

04/09/2023

April 7th was the clinic's 18th anniversary. I want to thank all our clients for your loyalty and trust over these last years. I could not have asked for a greater group of clients with all your awesome and a few difficult pets. I've known some of you for over 25 years now through multigenerations of pets and children. Some of you are newer but just as important and hopefully we will continue our relationship along with all our best friends for much longer.

Thank you.

Ebalinna M. Vaughn, DVM

12/27/2022

Merry Christmas (belatedly) from Best Friends Animal Clinic and a couple of our regular and long term pups. We also hope the new year is a good one for everybody.

10/21/2022

The holidays are upon us. This is a great and timely article on keeping our 4 legged best friends safe so they too can enjoy the holidays.

Fall and winter holiday celebrations often include festive eats and treats—Halloween and candy are synonymous, as are Thanksgiving and turkey. As the

03/16/2022

These are the little things that I especially love about my job. Yes, I do get to snuggle with puppies and kittens which just lifts my heart and makes those long difficult days so bearable. This little one is Dori and was doing her best to recharge all our spirits.
And her brother, Nemo, was doing zoomies in our front room. So we had 2 spirit boosters that day.

03/10/2022

Congratulations to Taylor, one of our team, who just got accepted into the VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, VA, my alma mater. She is going to be a member of the class of 2026! She has worked hard for this goal as the competition is steep for a seat in any veterinary school. I am so excited for her and proud to have been a part of her journey. She has a lot of long days and little sleep ahead of her but it will be worth it in the end. She has a very bright future ahead of her and will make an excellent veterinarian.

03/04/2022

Lost Dog Notice!
Cooper is a 17 month old male neutered Portugese Water Dog who went missing from his home in Markham, VA 2 weeks ago. He is microchipped and weighs 70 pounds. He is a very sweet dog but is scared and will run if chased. It will take patience and a slow approach to get him to come.

There have been numerous sightings of him and he was tracked by a pet tracker and last scented and seen at Atoka and Rectortown Road. He was seen being walked by a man and woman and presumably put into a car since the pet tracker lost his scent at the intersection.

The owner is offering a reward for information leading to his safe return.

07/27/2021

Meet the sisters Mabel and Millie at 2 months then 16 months of age. Mabel decided to copy her sister as an adult and got rid of all her brown markings. Now her unique left front paw in the fashionable sock is the main difference between the two beautiful girls.

07/27/2021

This handsome young man is Tiny, an American Curl mix at 3 and 19 months of age. He outgrew his name a while back but his wonderful personality didn't change.

07/27/2021

The small and the really big of it all. Some cushions are just meant to be. This one is warm and fuzzy with the faintest rumbles and made to order for a tiny kitten like Kobe.

07/27/2021

Back to school time. Ally and Bella don't quite agree but they are willing to give it a try for now.

03/11/2021

This is handsome Aslan at 2 months and 2 1/2 years of age.

03/11/2021

For a full and never a dull moment household how about a puppy every year? First there came the sweet boy Tavish in 2017. Then came adorable little Teagan girl in 2018. Finally came spunky Skylar Rose in 2019.

03/01/2021

02/27/2021

This is sweet Leyla who has had a little bit of a rough first year. She jumped out of a moving car when she was 9 months old and broke her pelvis but with surgery, time and a great deal of love from her owners she has healed completely and is still the happy friendly dog she was as a puppy.