Veterinarian Overview
Dr. Laura Ellsaesser completed her undergraduate work at Auburn University with dual BS degrees in zoology and wildlife science and graduated magna cum laude 2008. She played clarinet in the Auburn University Marching Band for 2 years and remained an active member of other university bands throughout her time there. She also spend much of her time at Auburn volunteering at the Southeaster Raptor Center working to rehabilitate injured and orphaned birds of prey, which sparked a strong interest in wildlife and exotics animals. She attended North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine when she was fortunate to pursue many opportunities to continue to foster her interest in the scaled, feathered and sometimes slimy critters not so commonly seen in veterinary medicine. She earned her DVM degree in 2013. After graduation, Dr. Ellsaesser completed a one year rotating small animal medicine and surgery internship at Texas A&M University. With her internship complete she knew it was time to move back to the east coast to be closer to family and landed in Hampton Roads where she has been working in emergency medicine for the last year and a half. Dr. Ellsaesser is now excited to join the VCA Boulevard team and take on the new challenges of general practice. She is also excited to start seeing more exotic pets once she gets her feet on the ground at VCA Boulevard. Outside of work Dr. Ellsaesser is always looking for a new outdoor adventure and can regularly be found on the trails in nearby parks or off on a camping trip. In the fall, Saturdays are dedicated to watching Auburn football and cheering for her Tigers. She hopes to find a concert band to join so she can blow the dust off the old clarinet and get back to making music too. Currently, Dr. Ellsaesser has a California kingsnake, Anubis, and three cats who run her house, Sokatra, Linguini and Tilt-o-whirl (pictured here when she was only 6 weeks old and came in as a Good Sam with a broken leg and promptly found her way into Dr. Ellsaesser's home).