A Puppy on a Mission

Meet Jake, he is an adorable mixed breed puppy. He was born in the pound, and will go from being rescued to becoming a boy’s hero.  He came into 1^st Pet for his vaccines and has already received a puppy check-up, with Dr. Flood.  Jake is doing great and is growing quickly.  

Brock is a boy who needs a service dog and his family decided to rescue a pup and have Brock and Jake go through the necessary training together. 

Brock has a rare type of childhood disorder, although an official diagnosis has not been established. His body has already started to decline and will progressively need Jake’s help.  Jake will be learning what he needs to be able to do to give Brock the help he requires.  Jake will get enrolled in behavior training first then will get specific service training. Jake is already a really smart puppy and his family is confident that he will do really well. 

 

Jake’s mom was found in Casa Grande but he was brought to the valley where Jake coincidentally ended up just a mile and a half from Brock’s home. It seems like greater powers were in the works to bring these two together. 

Learn more about Trina!

If you have not met her before, please meet Trina!  Trina is a Certified Veterinary Technician who has been working with 1^st Pet in Chandler for the past 8 years. 

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Trina has also lived in California, where she worked at UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in the small animal medicine department.  Prior to getting into the Veterinary profession, Trina served in the US Coast Guard and has also held a variety of positions in the law enforcement, public affairs, and communication fields. She obtained her BS in Animal Science at University of California Davis.  

Trina says she has had too many heartwarming experiences here at 1^st Pet to list-  but one that sticks out in her mind involved a veteran who served in Iraq and adopted a dog there.  The adopted dog helped the veteran recover from surgery where he had to have a portion of his lung removed. 

One night the veteran brought his beloved dog into 1^st Pet because he was coughing up blood.  The dog’s condition ultimately required removal of part of his lung - ironically the same lung his owner had to have removed!  The veteran was by his dog’s side the whole time helping us nurse his good friend back to health just as his dog had been there for him! 

Veterinary Technicians perform many duties including triage, assisting in surgery, performing anesthesia, caring and nursing patients back to health, recognizing and 

alleviating pain, assessing vitals for any worrisome changes in our patient’s condition, and more.  Trina loves every part of it!  She especially enjoys developing the relationships with the owners as well as the pets, and providing her patients with extra TLC including petting and talking with them and their owners, taking them outside for ‘sun therapy’, and playing music for them. 

When not working Trina also serves on the Alumni Advisory Board at Mesa Community College and attends college classes and spends time with her husband, 3 daughters, 3 dogs, chickens, pigeons, turtles, a tarantula, and a bullfrog. 

Get to know Tatijuana!

Meet Tatijuana one of our CVT’s. She has worked at 1^st Pet for over 15 years and is an amazing employee. In fact she is employee of the quarter at her location.

Tatijuana is originally from South Dakota. She has been married to Torey for 12 years and they have 2 beautiful daughters, Spiryt and Skylee. The girls are constantly busy with school, gymnastics and dance. To complete their family, they have a Sphinx cat named Mona, a Mastiff named Percy and a Chinese Crested named Hollywood. 

Tatijuana grew up surrounded by animals on a farm, and enjoyed keeping busy with her horses. She used to teach western riding, and ran barrels in the rodeos. She still loves horseback riding, along with concerts with her family, reading and movies! 

One of her most memorable patients was a cattle dog that came in for ivermectin toxicity. He was already showing signs of some neurologic problems. The dog was hospitalized for nearly a week and was on a ventilator for 2-3 days during his hospital stay. The hospital team worked really hard on his case and celebrated when he walked out of the hospital to go home,

Tatijuana loves critical cases especially surgery and is great at everything she does.

Dr. Flood-one of our own

Dr. Jennifer Flood has been part of the 1^st Pet Veterinary Centers family for over 10 years now.  As long as she has been with us, when asked what we would be surprised to know about her, her reply was ‘That I… absolutely LOVE my job- I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else!’.  

Clearly Dr. Flood has known her path all along.  Having been born in Cleveland, she has lived the majority of her life in the Valley.  She achieved her undergraduate degree from Arizona State University and went directly on to Colorado State University where she obtained her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.  

 What is Dr. Flood’s favorite story from working at 1^st Pet?  That she is always amazed to see the generosity and the huge hearts our clients have--whether it be offering to help pay for a stranger's bill, consoling another client during the euthanasia of their first pet, or adopting/fostering the stray cat that gets brought in...our clients are amazing!  And we completely agree!  

Dr. Flood's favorite thing about her work is becoming an integral part of a client's relationship with their pet.   She also enjoys getting to be a part of many of her patients lives from puppy/kittenhood until they are seniors--it is fun to see them grow and mature. 

 Dr. Flood’s own family consists of her husband, 4 children (you would never know it by looking at her!), 2 step children (kids ranging from 17yrs- 1yr old!), 1 cat, and 1 dog.  What about her spare time?  She laughs at the thought of spare time with 6 children and all her furry patients to care for at 1^st Pet!  But she wouldn’t have it any other way….

Getting to know Dr. Lunt!

Many of you have probably come to know Dr. Ryan Lunt at our 1^st Pet Veterinary Hospitals over the past 6 years.   Born in Ft. Collins, Colorado, Dr. Lunt is married with 3 children (2 boys ages 9 & 7 yrs, 1 girl, age 5).  

They also have 3 dogs, a cat, 10 horses, 6 chickens, and a hermit crab to round out their family.  One of his dogs came to him after being abandoned behind a dumpster, nursed back to health by a Technician from 1^stPet, and subsequently adopted by Dr. Lunt and his family.  

The pup was the only one of his litter to survive and is now a very important part of Dr. Lunt’s family. Dr. Lunt feels this is a cool example of how our pets find us and enrich our lives. Dr. Lunt has seen many owners who bring in pets having similar stories and loves how pets affect all of our lives.

Dr. Lunt wanted to be a veterinarian since he was a little boy. He grew up working with his dad who was a large animal vet, working mostly on dairy cattle, and decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.  He has worked in a variety of fields including holding a job as a Veterinary Assistant prior to attending Veterinary school.  After graduation he spent one year in small animal general practice prior to joining our team here at 1^st Pet!  Dr. Lunt particularly enjoys soft tissue surgery and helping people keep their pets healthy.

When not working, Dr. Lunt loves spending time with his family- spending as much time outdoors together as they can.  An eye injury as a teenager, leaving him with use of only one eye, has not slowed him down in the slightest.  In addition to achieving becoming a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, he also regularly participates in activities such as snowboarding and anything else he can do (like speaking Spanish)!  We are so happy to have Dr. Lunt serve as our Hospital Director at 1^st Pet Veterinary Centers- North Valley!
 

Helping vet students achieve their dreams

1^st Pet helps many students get practical experience in the real world of veterinary medicine.

Danielle is a 4^th year veterinary student doing a 3-week externship in Internal Medicine, Critical Care and Surgery with 1^st Pet.   

Krista is a Veterinary Technician Practicum student doing 200-hour externship with 1^st Pet. 

Externships help the veterinary students decide which path they want to go on in their veterinary career. These unique opportunities allow the students to discuss with the doctors what their treatment plans are in caring for pets in real life situations.

We have an amazing team of doctors and technicians that enjoy teaching students about the world of veterinary medicine.