Dr. Lisa Coder graduated from the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine in 2013. She then completed a year-long internship in a private Mixed Animal with specialty/referral equine at Dakota Large Animal Clinic in Harrisburg, South Dakota. In chasing her dream to own a thriving mixed animal clinic, she and her family moved to Ottawa, Illinois. Unfortunately, that opportunity fell through, and she worked at both an exclusively small animal clinic and then as an Emergency Veterinarian at a large referral veterinary center. During this time, she attended the Chi Institute and became a certified veterinary acupuncturist. When she and her family began missing South Dakota, Dr. Lisa searched for a job in Sioux Falls. Frustrated with the culture of veterinary medicine (weekends, on-call, itty-bitty amounts of PTO, etc) she left clinical medicine and took a job with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service based in Sioux Falls. Although she learned a ton of cool stuff, she missed the connection with pets and their owners. She opened her own corporation, Home Vet, PC in the fall of 2021, providing holistic services (acupuncture, therapy laser, herbs, tui-na body work, etc) to pets in the greater Sioux Falls area. In March of 2023, she was offered the purchase of an existing small animal/exotics clinic (assets only) that the owner was going to close for good within two weeks, due to his own health struggles. In essence, Dr. Lisa figured out how to buy a business in 10 days. Shockingly it mostly all managed to fall into place. Things are still a bit chaotic, and we are still finding surprises as the previous owner was a bit of a pack-rat (we recently found a brand new printer, still in the shipping box, from a year ago!). She kept the staff and added new people. She is working on not only helping all the patients she inherited, but updating the clinic as well. She recently purchased a new dental table, dental station, anesthesia monitor, and lots and lots of inventory. She rebranded the new clinic as Vital Animal Veterinary Clinic (operated by Home Vet, PC). Dr. Lisa feels that culture is the single most important quality to protect at the clinic. No one is more important to her than her staff. She loathes bullying of any kind and will not tolerate it from staff or clients (angry cats are excluded from this list). Dr. Lisa is passionate about diversity, inclusion, support, and helping her staff reach their goals. She brought a whole-body approach to medicine, using traditional medicine along with holistic options to give the best care to patients. Want to know more? Join us for the Interview the Boss or review the video at your leisure. In her spare time (ha!) Lisa enjoys spending time with her two cats, Lloyd and Honey Badger, her husband and two boys, running, reading, writing, and volunteering at her church.

Abby Ontjes graduated from Globe University as a registered veterinary technician in 2013. She loves every kind of animal you can think of. She has a special passion for reptiles, and although she does not have any of her own yet, she is looking for the best fit for her home. She has 3 cats and 3 dogs (Flash, Mouse, Dora, Shadow, Mandy and Aja). She has experience in almost every aspect of operating a clinic. In her spare time, she loves doing diamond painting, cross stitch, and reading. Her favorite television show is Bones. Also, she loves manicures and uses her fancy nails daily to open the foil linings on difficult pill bottles.