Inside the San Geronimo Valley Veterinary Clinic last Tuesday, an Australian shepherd named Teddy lay stoically on a stainless steel treatment tub as his teeth were cleaned. The six-year-old dog has been coming to Dr. Kelle Kearney for his entire life, and this time the veterinarian noticed an irregular bump near one tooth—of all 52 teeth, on the canine tooth. Stable monitors announced Teddy’s heart beat with a casual rhythm while a heat blanket (called a “hotdog”) cradled him in his deep anesthesia sleep.
Dr. Kearney analyzed the bump using both an x-ray image and her given eyes to determine that is was not a cyst, but merely some swelling of the gums. A biopsy was averted, and lunch from the Lagunitas Market has just arrived. Dr. Kearney took a break in her office with her two pups: Dylan, a Samoyed retriever, and Wiley, an Australian shepherd.
Since she took over the practice from its founder Dr. Bob Baker in March 2015, Dr. Kearney has been treating San Geronimo and Nicasio Valleys’ dogs, cats and other smaller animals with the same affable attention and care you’d expect as a human patient. Her assistants maintain a chart during each visit to note a patient’s every condition in order to provide a detailed, growing profile. The work has allowed Dr. Kearney to forge a unique bond with her community.
“Animals made me a better humanitarian,” she said. “They connect you to people and they’re a great conduit for happiness and connection. It’s community. I’ve met a lot of great people through caring for their animals and it has made me a better people person. They tell you in veterinarian school that animals are connected to humans and this is a people business.”
Dr. Kearney manages a staff of six mostly West Marin residents that includes four veterinarian technicians. She has used the last three years to modernize her equipment and move into the digital age with less paper waste. She doesn’t advertise, besides a page on Facebook, and does well with word-of-mouth referrals. The clinic provides preventative care, injury and trauma treatment and orthopedic surgeries such as tending to a cruciate ligament rupture, an ACL injury for dogs. Preventative care often includes inoculations (vaccinations have eliminated the parvo virus in dogs and leukemia in cats) and she’s sensitive to every patient’s perspective.
“I spend a lot of time educating and talking with my clients about preventative health,” she said. “I’m not here to force anyone into a decision, but I want to give them an overview to help make a more informed choice.”
When Dr. Kearney became a veterinarian, the field was vastly male and full of private practices. Today the landscape has altered: women composed the majority of the field a few years ago and there is a growing conglomeration of corporate veterinarians, such as the Veterinary Centers of America. Aware of the shift, she’s doubled down on providing a homegrown, full-service hospital.
“So people can stay local,” she explained. “And come get the care they need instead of schlepping off to a cooperate-owned veterinarian clinic. I want to provide advanced, high-quality medicine with a one-on-one family doctor kind of feel. Most of big veterinarian clinics shuffle pets in and out and you see you a random veterinarian each time. One of the reasons why I chose to have a practice in the valley is because it’s dying off and becoming harder and harder to find that type of veterinarian.”
Two years ago, when she turned 50, Dr. Kearney was rummaging through old photographs and realized that 80 percent of them showed her with animals. Even in diapers, she was surrounded by them. She owned her first pet at age 5—a squirrel she named Squirrely—and soon after came a rabbit named Lily White. (One of those old pictures shows her with the bunny nestled in a baby stroller.) Born in Littleton, Colorado, Dr. Kearney and her mother moved to Marin when she was 7 years old.
The first time she entered a raffle was when a feeding store in Mill Valley put up a pony as a prize. As fate would have it, she won the pony and the new member of the family caused her mother to relocate to Forest Knolls. Once in the valley, the menagerie expanded to include horses, dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, mice, parakeets, goats, snakes, lizards, an iguana and a tortoise. Among the many lessons learned was that animals helped keep her present.
“I think animals are true Buddhists, and are living in the moment,” she said. “That’s a great lesson: to live our life to the fullest every day. Animals aren’t thinking, ‘Last year I had a yard that I was happier in and this year I have a patio.’ Animals are just genuinely living in the moment.”
Her first gig was at age 14 helping Point Reyes rancher Anne Murphy with her horses while Ms. Murphy was caring for a new baby. The next year she worked as a kennel assistant in Mill Valley. She graduated from high school early, took classes at the College of Marin and attended Colorado State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine, graduating with a degree in animal science and a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine in 1997. She was the first person in her family to graduate with a degree.
She’s also certified in veterinary medical acupuncture, having completed traditional Chinese training in Cuba in 2000.
After working in clinics in Stinson Beach and San Anselmo, she pounced on the opportunity to own a practice and purchased the San Geronimo Valley Veterinary Clinic from Dr. Baker, who established the clinic in 1983.
In her office, a section of the wall beneath her desk glistens with saliva from her dog Wiley. An animal calendar hangs on the wall and a layer of dog hair coats the cushions of her couch. As the boss, she’s yet to indulge in any vacations, but she said living in Fairfax and working in the valley is akin to taking one every week.
“I take full advantage of hiking and horseback riding opportunities,” she said. “Every weekend is like a mini vacation to me.”
The San Geronimo Valley Veterinary Clinic is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. You can reach Dr. Kelle Kearney at (415) 488.9791.