Dr. Heather Stewart grew up in Manhatten, NY;
Oakland, NJ; and Santa Barbara, CA. She grew
up with so many animals, ranging from your typical
cats and dogs to horses and sheep and chickens and
rats. Heather's grandfather was a human
doctor, her grandmother an RN, and her mom and RN,
so the medical field was apparently a genetic thing.
It seemed logical to go into the veterinary field,
combining the medical interest with her love of
animals.
After high school in Santa Barbara, she
attended Rice University down in Houston, TX and
graduated in 1997 with B.A.s in both Biology
and German.
Then Heather worked in the Boston area
for a few years before attending the University of
Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in
Philadelphia. She
graduated in 2003 as a Veterinary Medical Doctor (VMD).
(This is of equal status to the more common "D.V.M."
degree, but
U Penn wanted to acknowledge the fact that the vet
school was based on the human medical school and not
on an agricultural school, so they kept the "MD"
part.)
Dr. Heather first started working as an equine vet
exclusively, but then started working at a small
animal clinic to expand her knowledge of dogs, cats,
and exotic animals. She also has been doing
some work at
PAWS Wildlife Center, helping to take
care of injured wildlife.
Dr. Stewart’s favorite thing about veterinary
medicine is the great variety of creatures she gets
to treat, and being able to help both animals and
humans in the process. She enjoys being able to see
all of these animals on their home turf in this mobile practice.
She and Kristin have many pets of their own – 5 dogs,
7 cats, 1 rat, 1 iguana, 1 blue-tongued skink, 1
leopard gecko, 4 horses, 9 goats, and 2 calves. It's quite a zoo!
In 2006,
Dr. Stewart completed her
PennHIP
certification.
PennHIP (The University of
Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program), is a great
tool for evaluating canine and feline hips for
hip dysplasia. It is a much more accurate way to
evaluate than the OFA technique, and puppies can be
evaluated as early as 6 months of age. Please talk
to us about having your dog (or cat) evaluated.
Unfortunately, our x-ray equipment is
insufficient for PennHIP at this time, so we will be
unable to take PennHIP radiographs for a while.
See the above link for veterinary hospitals in our
area that can take care of you.
Dr. Stewart is an avid rugby player, playing on the
Emerald City Mudhen Women's Rugby Team. She also
spends as much time as possible with her family and
horses and dogs, and enjoys any and all outdoor
activity.
Dr. Heather dedicates this entire business to her father, Don Stewart, who passed
away in January 2006 from lung cancer and aplastic
anemia. Without his help, she would never have
been able to take the chance and try to run this mixed
animal mobile practice.
He will be missed always.
