My grandfather, Earl Jones Sr., graduated from Auburn vet school class of 1951. He worked for the Department of Agriculture for the majority of his career in regulatory medicine. At one point, he became a lobbyist in Washington D.C. for 2 years for animal welfare and was a part of passing an animal welfare bill in the 1960s. In 1968, the family moved to Alabama where Dr. Jones Sr. bought a small animal hospital, Cahaba Mountain Brook Animal Clinic.
Tragically, my grandfather passed away in a car accident while my dad was in undergrad at Auburn University. My dad graduated from Auburn College of Vet Med in 1979 and returned to the family practice that year. He has been the owner of that hospital for 43 years now.
Tragically, my grandfather passed away in a car accident while my dad was in undergrad at Auburn University. My dad graduated from Auburn College of Vet Med in 1979 and returned to the family practice that year. He has been the owner of that hospital for 43 years now.
I grew up around that hospital. Starting as a kennel worker from a young age, I worked my way up the ladder. From getting locked in kennels because I was crawling in every one to pet the dogs, to a veterinary assistant. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was learning all of those years about how I eventually would want run my own hospital. You see, my dad has always been far ahead of his generation. He’s paid employees better than anyone else in the profession and truly cared for them and shown them appreciation. Sure, there are a few times that back-fired, but the fact that he didn’t view everyone as “replaceable” made a larger impact on my life.
There are still employees there that have worked there since I was a child. You can see the passion for animals has been in my genetics for generations. From my grandfather being a lobbyist against animal cruelty and my father teaching me how to treat not only pets, but people, too.
There are still employees there that have worked there since I was a child. You can see the passion for animals has been in my genetics for generations. From my grandfather being a lobbyist against animal cruelty and my father teaching me how to treat not only pets, but people, too.
Now a little about me
I am a super extroverted, passionate, adventurous person. Growing up I always planned on becoming a veterinarian. In high school, I started to fall in love with playing music, euphonium specifically. I took a left turn to pursue music education at the University of Alabama, even as a die-hard Auburn fan. That experience gave me a deep passion for education and music. I also met my wife, Jackie, at Alabama. Anyway, playing music took me around the world playing in solo competitions from Arizona to Michigan to Italy to Finland. After 2.5 years in music ed. I realized I loved it but I still wanted to be a vet. My wife and I met while co-founding (with one other friend) the Alabama pre-veterinary club. We built a curriculum to help guide future pre-veterinary students at the university. We also fell in love. We soon moved in together after only 6 months and we were accepted to Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine together into the class of 2018. We got married between 2nd and 3rd year of vet school and have now been together for almost 11 years. Currently we have four pets: Amica (cat), and our dogs, Coppo, Luca, and Shelli.
Passion
The passion I earned for education has persisted as a vet. I love to teach anyone who wants to learn. My passion for medicine, patient care, and client communication and education far exceeds most people’s standards. My goal is to take all I have learned from all of my adventures in life and help guide my team members, whether employee or a patient and their family, to be the absolute best they can be. My drive comes from seeing the growth and improvement in others, both pets and people. I commonly tell my clients, “I treat the family, not the pet.” No two pets are the same just as no two people are the same. I understand that and want to bring that passion to anyone and everyone I can.
