Meet Our Team

Dr. Lonnie Davis

Dr. Davis grew up on a 120-acre farm in Ohio. His dogs over the years consisted of Beagles, a German Shepherd and an Australian Shepherd. His black cat, Miss Kitty (anyone remember Gunsmoke?), ran the other pets and she lived to be 22 years old.

He had the chance to grow up roaming the farm with his pets and seeing the wildlife of a rural Ohio setting. The wild animals were always a source of interest and wonder.

When he was a youngster, his Beagle, named Dottie, was his very best friend. She listened quietly, never criticized him (no matter what!) and she always admired him without question. One of the first books he really wanted was a human anatomy book (he got a basic children’s anatomy book when he was about nine years old.) The next year he got a chemistry set for Christmas. Yes, you guessed it, he was a budding doctor.

He was a 4-Her through and through. He showed calves and pigs, did conservation projects, was a finalist in the State Fair Safety Speaking contest, won the State Fair Health competition and was elected president of the State Junior Fair Board the next year.

His love and respect for animals and their people comes from many different perspectives. Farm animals, pets, native wildlife, 4-H projects and most of all seeing the love and respect his dad had for animals. He knew animals were special because he saw the tears in his dad’s eyes when a load of calves or pigs were sent to market. His family raised animals to make a living but they also lived for animals.

He graduated from The Ohio State University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and then attended The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine graduating in June of 1973. When he first graduated from vet school, he worked in an incredibly busy and successful veterinary practice in Louisville, KY, for three years. Then, in June of 1976, he and his wife, Naomi, and five-month old son, Eric, opened the clinic at its current location. Since then, it has grown to be a highly successful practice serving the pet owners of Troy, Miami County and dog breeders and trainers throughout the USA. After all the years, practicing veterinary medicine is still the love of his life.

Dr. Lindsey Roth

I grew up in the city of Mishawaka, IN, with my parents, my younger sister Emily, and our Golden Retriever, Chelsea; we also had a large and close-knit extended family that would gather at my grandma’s for coffee and dessert on Friday nights. When pondering my future career choices as I was growing up, I never honestly considered becoming a veterinarian. I cried at every animal movie I ever watched and just thinking of the book Where the Red Fern Grows would bring tears to my eyes.

As I started college, I discovered that I really enjoyed math and science, especially biology. I found that if I focused on applying my knowledge to help animals I could make a positive difference in their lives, and I really enjoyed that feeling. I took my first job as a kennel assistant at an animal hospital in Indiana and I loved it. I went on to attend Purdue School of Veterinary Medicine, and I am now very excited to be a veterinarian at Troy Animal Hospital.

I moved to Dayton after graduation from vet school with my husband, Brian, who I met in junior high school. He is also a Purdue grad and is now an engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. We have one dog, Stella, who came from a rescue organization in Dayton. I am crazy about my dog, but I also love that with my work I get to spend time with all different kinds of animals throughout the day.

Dr. Julie Peterson

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a 1988 graduate of Kansas State University, and I’ve worked here at the Troy Animal Hospital for the past 15 years. I was born and raised in sunny Kansas wheat country on a farm where neighbors were a mile or more apart (connected by dusty dirt roads) and the “flat” plains were far from plain when explored on foot or horseback. I was intrigued by animals and knew I wanted to be a vet by the time I was 4 years old. We always had many interesting pets on our farm.

I am absolutely happy that I did become a vet here in Troy, as there is nothing I would rather do than medical and surgical care of pets and wildlife. It is interesting, challenging and rewarding. I love working with “exotic” pets– meaning birds, pocket pets, reptiles and amphibians– as well as wildlife brought in from Brukner Nature Center for medical care. Of course, I also love cats and dogs!

It has been 15 years since I started working here and I have realized how wonderful our clients are–friendly, kind and appreciative animal advocates. I am also thankful that Dr. Davis has (with additional help from staff members) created a hospital which embraces technology and warm advocacy for our patients and clients. Dr. Davis always tries to improve what we can offer here for the medical care of our patients–he looks for the newest and best technology available for therapeutic, diagnostics and surgery. Since I am a bit of a Ludite, this has been good for me–otherwise, I might never have learned to enjoy doing laser surgery, for example.

One Christmas many years ago, I asked each of my family members “what have you learned from life?” My 3-year-old daughter said, “I learned that you have to use soap.” My sister said, “Life is change.” For some reason, I’ve not forgotten this phrase and that is why it came to mind when our web page “director” reminded me for the umpteenth time to update this biography.

So, yes, there have been changes. Well-loved family pets have passed on and other new pets have been welcomed into our home. New staff members (such as Dr. Roth) have joined the Troy Animal Hospital–all wonderful people! There are new friends and clients, and always the sad goodbyes to pets, heroic struggles and triumphs through illnesses, and delightful new puppies and kittens to see for wellness exams and routine surgeries. Some of the puppies and kittens I got to know when I first started working here are now “senior citizens.” It really does seem like yesterday when they arrived at our clinic as tiny kittens in shoe boxes and nervous puppies in blankets.

Although I don’t want to admit it, I am getting older too. Having two kids in college (Robin and James) proves it. The house does seem empty even with the overabundance of critters. I miss them and I miss their friends visiting our house (music- loud!, cooking-Indian food!, D&D games-funny!, table tennis in the barn loft-precarious!).

James is a genius at computer science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio; starting his third year. (and I’m not just saying that because I am his mom!) Robin is studying at the University of Chicago to become an amazing, world-famous journalist (and I’m not just saying that because I am her mom!) She has one more year of school until she graduates. Both kids are accomplished violinists.

Brad, my husband, is teaching at New Horizons computer school in Fairborn and he continues to study and teach martial arts (Kenjutsu and Aikijutsu) at the dojo in the Oregon District. He helps friends and family members with computer glitches and helps me on late night emergency calls at the pet hospital. Thank goodness he loves animals, is very sympathetic and has a great sense of humor. Brad also paints miniature alien armies and designs and paints terrain for Warhammer games. He is part of the amazing subculture of “miniature” artists.

My parents live here in Troy with their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She is an exuberant and mischievous character. My parents travel occasionally to see family in Kansas, plus often family members travel here to visit. Lynnie, the dog, thinks they are here to visit her, of course.

As for me, I love my work as a vet and enjoy my own pets at home. We have a menagerie–four dogs (Jordan, Sue, Cleo and Sully), two inside cats (Christopher and Gracie), four “barn” cats (Bobby, Miranda, Rozwell and Lamba), one horse (Freckles), three miniature Jersey cows (Maude, JuneBug and Gloria), one ferret (Malcolm), one Corn snake (Cornelius), two Cockatiels (Humphrey and Ruthie), two Amazon parrots (Bart and Jessie), two Flemish Giant rabbits (Jabba the Hop and Bugzilla), three goats (Fritz, Teckla and Roti), two Koi, two turtles, numerous tropical fish, goldfish in the stock tank, 41 chickens and 3 hives of honey bees.

I also love vegetable gardening and have a huge garden, fruit and nut trees and berries. I raise a lot of specialty garlic, which taste great raw (sorry about the breath!) and we have garlic braids hanging all over the barn rafters. I truly believe in keeping EVERYTHING organic for the bees and garden.

We just harvested (robbed) the three bee hives in August. My son, his girlfriend and my dad all helped. Dad was the only one stung–he gets stung every honey harvest! I take no chances–I wear an impervious “Brazilian Bee Suit” and wield a well-smoking bee smoker. Wow, honey straight off the comb is fabulously delicious! When bees make honey from wildflowers and various trees instead of monoculture crops such as buckwheat or clover, the honey takes on a very unique flavor. We only got five gallons this year, plus what would be about three to five gallons of comb honey. Hopefully, better luck next year, but that depends on keeping all three of my hives alive through the winter. I left each hive with an undisturbed “super” full of honey so the bees will have plenty to eat in the winter.

This past spring, I had a major project in ordering (via mail) 28 new chicks and raising them. They lived in the house until old enough to go outside. We have twelve older chickens (and one rooster) and, unfortunately, they are not laying many eggs anymore. They are, of course, welcome to live out their happy lives without fear of becoming chicken stew as I am a vegetarian. But…I do love omelets and scrambled and deviled eggs, etc. and, to me, store-purchased factory farm eggs taste like cardboard. So, that is why we got all the new chicks. Let me tell you, those chicks are cute and funny–so many different varieties including endangered breeds such as Mottled Houdans. I made a point of ordering more Black Langshans. Our rooster is a Black Langshan and not only is he beautiful with iridescent, long tail feathers but he is also an amazing rooster–non-aggressive and very protective of the hens. He herds them into the chicken house at night, breaks up spats between the hens and calls them over for delicious bugs, tomatoes and blackberries tossed over the garden fence (by me, although he likes to take the credit).

I could go on forever about my pets but it’s time to get back to work!