Jul 26, 2018 4 min read

Are they only animals or furry family members? Veterinarian Lisa Lusk likes the latter, which in many ways has been the ladder to success.

As the founder of Monongahela Animal Hospital in Hazelkirk, Carroll Township, she knew when growing up on the family dairy farm in Fallowfield Township at the tender age of 13 that she was destined to be a veterinarian, a path that led her to Penn State University. Her mom, Connie Lusk, remembers her daughter sitting down with her faculty adviser, who asked freshman Lisa about her career plans.

“Veterinarian,” she replied.

“OK. Now, what do you really want to do?” was the adviser’s response.

That adviser is out there somewhere sprinkling salt and pepper on his words, making them a tad easier to munch, but future vets take note: the Penn State University website states, “Nationwide, in 2007 approximately 5,750 applicants competed for 2,650 places in the 28 United States veterinary schools. Thus, the nationwide acceptance rate was 46 percent.”

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, sometimes called “Penn Vet,” the newly minted Dr. Lusk practiced in New Castle, Lawrence County. There, she sometimes dealt with Amish clients’ farm animals.

“Some of the old-timers had problems with a woman,” she says. She also spent two years as a vet in Ebensburg, Cambria County.

What beckoned her home? “I just like the area,” she says. “My family was here and this is where I grew up. I knew I wanted to come back if there was that opportunity.”

She worked with Dr. James McClements at his office on VanVoorhis Lane until he died, and she then had her own animal hospital on Hazelkirk Road in Carroll Township constructed in 2001.

The clientele comes from as far away as Blairsville and West Newton, says Connie Lusk, the office manager who handles the billing.

Closer to home, Debbie of Monongahela brought her 8-year-old Yorkshire terrier, Coco (“like Chanel,” she says), for a mani-pedi. “I can’t even tell you how many years,” Debbie says of her relationship to the clinic. “However many she’s been a doctor.”

Chanel seemed comfortable there, but others are not as calm. “Sometimes we have to give them medicine before they come in,” Dr. Lusk says. Some animals do better when their owner is not present.

“Sometimes it’s better for them not to have to come in the building,” she said of other pets.

“She has seen most of these dogs since they’ve been babies,” Connie Lusk says of her daughter. “They’re part of the family.”

A visitor may find two Pembroke Welsh corgis on the premises: Dr. Lusk’s Goober and Connie Lusk’s Teddy. Reflecting the familial relationships at Monongahela Animal Hospital, the corgis are brothers.

“They have such personalities,” Connie Lusk says of the corgis.

Rounding out the vet’s family are her husband, three children, a blue heeler mix, an Australian shepherd mix, a house cat, a miniature donkey and a flock of chickens, and, formerly, three pigs.

The staff also includes Dr. Sarah Ripepi. Staff members are also welcome to bring their pets.

If every day is “take your dog to work day” at Monongahela Animal Hospital, being in charge of a small business also allowed Dr. Lusk the luxury of having her small children around her during her work day.

Connie Lusk says the hospital was built with four exam rooms, one of which was actually used as a nursery until the youngest of three siblings outgrew it. When the last one enrolled in school, the hospital gained another exam room, but the bus dropped Dr. Lisa’s brood off in the afternoon at the clinic.

Asked if there’s one topic to which pet owners should pay more attention, she was quick to answer, “Lyme disease,” a debilitating condition that brings about, among other symptoms, lameness and joint inflammation, caused by a tick bite.

Pet owners, Dr. Lusk says, aren’t really aware of how prevalent Lyme disease is in pets. “We find one out of every six or seven that we test turns out positive,” she says.

There is a Lyme disease vaccine for dogs, but information about it online varies, so owners should discuss it with their veterinarian. There are also anti-flea and anti-tick products, but owners need to be vigilant.

“Check them after they come in from outside – even if they’ve only been out in their yard,” Dr. Lusk says.