Our Story

Dictionary.com defines a “unicorn,” as it’s being used today, as one that conjures up ideas of “the powerful and the possible,” or one that is rare, or even “anyone who showers sunshine…into our lives.” That’s me! Or what my team at my new integrative veterinary practice and I aim to be.

Whether you know me from my time in-clinic, my mobile practice, or have stumbled upon this site in a search for a new veterinary experience, welcome! Here’s a little background on how I got to where I am today.

When I graduated from veterinary school in 2007, I was wide-eyed, enthusiastic, and so excited to grasp the dream I’d had of being a veterinarian. I had this dream from when I was a little girl in Taiwan, caring for puppies, kittens, and many other little creatures.

I spent seven years working in-clinic in West Hollywood. Then for six more years, I worked at a clinic on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula. Working in traditional western veterinary practices gave me so many opportunities to heal people’s pets, build wonderful relationships with pets and their parents, in addition to fellow in-house veterinarians, vet technicians, and other staff.

But I was looking for something different. I wanted the veterinary profession as a whole to be more hands-on, warm, and individualized. I wanted to serve frustrated pet parents who felt their pets were just given medication after medication without addressing the root of the issues while also feeling like their concerns weren’t listened to. I wanted to end the cycle of burnout and stagnation I saw in so many practitioners.

I am a proponent of both eastern and western veterinary medicine. And for many conditions, western medicine is absolutely the way to go. However, some conditions just don’t respond well to conventional medicine. I discovered the power of acupuncture in my own life and began practicing it over the last decade. Acupuncture, and eastern modalities like it, have untapped potential for the world of pet care. I do love using both eastern and western modalities and aim to choose individualized options most appropriate for the patient in front of me.

I have gotten many comments over the years about being a natural “healer.” I believe a pet’s emotional and mental health is just as important as their physical health. My team and I are big advocates of treating the animal as a “whole” rather than just the diagnosis or diseases they are dealing with. I place a heavy emphasis on diet and lifestyle as well as emotional well-being as these are the foundation and building blocks of health and happiness.

So in 2018, I began seeing patients independently via house call, offering holistic services such as:

• Acupuncture
• Integrative Consults
• Nutrition Consults
• Herbal Medicine (based on eastern philosophy)

All the while, I continued working in-hospital. But in the fall of 2020, I reached a fork in the road.

More and more people were reaching out to me for my mobile, holistic services. Seeing there was a great need for the integrative approach in pet care, I decided to make the leap, leave my clinic, and go all-in with a brand new venture.

It’s not just about curing diseases. It’s about finding ways to prevent sickness and suffering while strengthening the bond between people and their pets. My house call background gave me a great perspective on providing care with the pet parent present and involved in the whole process.

Construction is ongoing in my new, heart-centered little space, but the way it will be set up is symbolic of my philosophy. It’ll be an open-space floor plan, welcoming, intimate, and fear-free, where pet parents can stay with their pets as much as possible. We’ll stay out in the open and have the pet parent involved, educated, and empowered. There is no “back area” where we take the pets. It will be a space of comfort for them and you. I’ll even be performing most of my care on a mat, on the pets’ level. It won’t feel like a hospital but like a home.

On the back-end, that means practicing radical self-care amongst myself and my team. Our field often calls for us to give and give and give, leading to burnout. One of my “north stars” is to challenge that status quo, to “heal the healers,” to enable us to better care for pets, and to bring more compassion and positivity into the veterinary medicine space.