Our Rehabilitation Team

We’re here to help.

Dr. Wendy Walden, DVM

Owner and Veterinarian

I have known that I wanted to work with animals since I was in kindergarten. Growing up I was surrounded by hamsters, rats, mice, dogs, rabbits, birds, cats, and guinea pigs and people would always ask if wanted to be a vet. My answer was “no,” I wanted a job where animals wanted to come to see me. I fell in love with veterinary medicine after taking my first college biology class and working in a veterinary hospital the following summer. I started to realize that the patients did appreciate that we were trying to help them.

I graduated from Colorado State University with a bachelor’s in Animal Science in 1998 and then my Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 2002. My husband and I moved to Las Vegas so that he could finish his college degree. After he graduated in 2006, we moved to the Austin area, and I went to work at a wonderful hospital. After working there for over a decade and serving as the Medical Director for five years, I left to pursue my dream of owning my own practice…Whitestone Animal Hospital.

My favorite part of working in this profession is getting to know my clients and their pets. Watching families and pets grow is so rewarding. I have a passion for dentistry and preventative care. I do love complicated internal medicine cases, pain management, and infectious disease workups. I am Fear Free trained and a member of the Association of Feline Practitioners. I also do work for the Central Texas Rat Rescue and with two Wildlife Rehab groups. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t have a little animal ranging from a rat to a skunk in my arms.

Acupuncture grabbed my interest during veterinary school. I earned my certification to practice acupuncture from Colorado State University in 2004, and I’m currently taking courses in Integrative Herbal Medicine. I always knew I could do more for my acupuncture patients, so started taking courses to become Veterinary Rehabilitation Certified at the Canine Rehabilitation Institute in May of 2024. I have finished my course work that included 40-50 hours of online classwork and 80 hours of classroom work and hands on labs. I will be doing a 40 hour internship to finalize my certification in the Fall of 2024.

When not at work, my husband Matt and I enjoy spending time with our three kids Donovan, Cassidy, and Brinley. We also enjoy our animal family which includes 6 Mini-Aussies, three cats ( I have an extra soft spot for black cats and have two), one prairie dog, a dozen fish, two pot belly pigs, and a dozen chickens.

Technicians

Matt

Manager and Technician

Matt comes from an animal loving family where he grew up raising and showing 4-H animals from rabbits and pigs to lambs and horses. He has always had a dog and learned that he had a true love for cats when he bonded to his first cat Baxter in 1998. (Baxter lived to 21 years of age!). Wildland fire fighting and managing his own fire crew gave him great management experience where he had to manage several people in stressful and potentially life threatening situations. Matt left the job he loved to finish his college degree in Criminal Justice. He spent three years working and managing a veterinary boarding facility where he learned what it took to run a boarding facility as well as picking up some technician skills. Matt is now our bookeeper, Mr Fix It, tech assistant and boarding kennel manager.

After spending time at a local Animal Rehabilitation Facility, Matt has really gotten excited about all that rehabilitation can do for our patients. He is currently enrolled in a veterinary rehabilitation course that includes 42 hours of classwork online and hands on along with a 40 hour internship. He should be a Certified Rehabilitation Assistant by the end of 2024 .