Dr. Jennifer Ondera

You will hear that a lot of vets knew that they wanted to become vets when they were small children; I was not one of them. What I loved as a child were my dogs (snuggles were the best!), learning new things, soccer, and tea parties!

In high school, I eventually settled upon medicine, as there were vast avenues to continue to learn and then use that knowledge to help others. However, I wasn't sure exactly what field in human medicine I was interested in pursuing. I continued to pursue this in college, and after extensive research and volunteering at different hospitals, I stumbled upon veterinary medicine. I shadowed at a veterinary clinic and immediately found my nitch! I switched majors immediately, and worked to  gain experience in this field, starting as a kennel attendant.

I went on to veterinary school, and after completing my internship, I went into emergency medicine, and then switched to general practice.  While I loved helping my clients and patients, I was realizing that  something was missing, and I was emotionally burning out. During this time, my own dogs (I consider them my children) were having a hard time. Sophie was starting to have a hard time walking (and was being maxed  out on medicines at only 10 years old), Ruby became diabetic and was  quickly maxing out on the strongest insulin out there, and my youngest-  Maggie- was starting to have gastrointestinal problems, along with her behavior problems worsening.

I was introduced to veterinary acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM), and let me just say, while I went in as huge skeptic and thought this was voo-doo, I am a convert! Acupuncture and TCVM have helped all my dogs clinically improve to the point where you would never even know they had such bad issues before!
 

I still practice traditional western medicine (TWM) and continue to want to learn about different advancements. I still believe in and recommend vaccines and diagnostics such as bloodwork, radiographs (x-rays), and advanced imaging (CT/MRI, Ultrasound, etc...). However, I feel that TWM does have some limits, and isn't able to explain things to my satisfaction. This is where TCVM  comes in for me; it explains why things happen in a different way, and also teaches me to how help heal the body.  TCVM has rejuvenated my love of veterinary medicine! 

• Bachelor of Sciences in Animal Science (BS): University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - 2007
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM): University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - 2013
• Internship: Valley Animal Hospital in Tucson, Arizona - 2014
• Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist (CVA): Chi University in Reddick, Florida - 2021