Dr. Ken Schoolmeester

I couldn’t decide on a major, so it chose me. I began my veterinary journey in a tiny drug store during my early college days. While I was pricing jar after jar with a ticket gun, a black dog walked up and licked my face. I couldn’t believe that a dog was inside the store. I rushed to follow it as it rounded the aisle; however, it seemed to have disappeared. I looked all over the store and even went outside, but no one had seen the dog. Yes, this was the early 70s, and no, I hadn’t smoked anything funny before my shift. My mother had told me from the time that I was a small boy that I would be a veterinarian. It seemed like it was time to finally heed her advice and start the journey she had predicted.

After completing my veterinary degree at Ohio State, I moved to Greensboro. I found North Carolina to be a beautiful state with a wonderful climate. After a year of working my first job as a veterinarian, I decided it was time to open my own veterinary practice and fulfill my vision of what personalized veterinary care should be. Twenty-three successful years later, I sold my practice in Greensboro and moved to Charlotte to start a new personal life. I opened Mixed Pet Veterinary Hospital in early 2000. The journey has been gratifying and fulfilling beyond even what I had experienced in Greensboro. Yet, more than five decades after that day in the drug store, I look forward to going to work (I do not call it work – but my life’s passion). I have much fun with my staff as most of them are adept jokesters and keep the hospital lively. Yet, I am also impressed every day with their level of dedication and compassion toward our patients. Most importantly, it is rewarding to provide my clients and their pets with the highest level of medical and personalized care in the veterinary industry. At the end of each day, I look forward to working more on my passion again tomorrow.

I share my life with my wonderful and beautiful wife, Holly, who works behind the scenes. She has been crucial to the success of my veterinary career and, even more so, my happiness. We are both social creatures and like to experience all that Charlotte offers from the arts, activities, and diverse cuisines. We also have a wanderlust for traveling to unique destinations near and far. However, we both appreciate our time at home with a glass of wine while cooking together. We have two cats at home: the extroverted, Marmalade (who secretly thinks he is a dog) and the introverted Sterling (who wants to be only with mom). We also have two resident cats at Mixed Pet. Tweed has been with us for over a decade and Stevie, our one-eyed cat, joined us a couple of years ago. You might see one or both of them lying on the front desk messing up paperwork or knocking things off of the counter.