
Craig Verwers, D.V.M.
Dr. Verwers’ interest in veterinary medicine goes back to his freshman year at Western Hills
High School when he met a Fort Worth veterinarian and learned what a veterinarian did. He started working for that veterinarian as a kennel assistant when he was 14 years old and continued working with different veterinarians through high school and college. He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Texas A & M University College of Veterinarian Medicine.
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Dr. Verwers lives on a small farm in the Aledo area. He raises sheep and currently has chickens, and of course dogs and a barn cat. Ronnie, an Anatolian Shepard works with Lucy, a Great Pyrenees to guard the homestead protecting it from all unwanted four-legged creatures like coyotes and raccoons that might hurt the sheep or chickens. Little Susie Q, who does her best to run with the big dogs, doesn’t know that she is only six pounds.
Dr. Verwers’ desire is to partner with you to give your pet the longest, healthiest, and happiest life possible. He enjoys sharing the latest information with pet parents on ways to make this goal possible. Important components to maintaining good health are preventative lab work, good dental care, and quality nutrition as part of an overall preventative protocol. With a full in-house lab, digital x-ray, ultrasound, and radio and laser scalpels, he is able to do diagnostic procedures as well as many general surgeries. Extensive use of cold laser therapy helps many cases.
In the past several years, Dr. Verwers has become an avid golfer; frequently playing twice a week. His ongoing involvement with the Optimist and Rotary clubs is important to him because of the benefits they provide to the community and the friendships he has formed through them. He regularly volunteers at Beautiful Feet in the kitchen making breakfast. But most importantly, he is the husband of Debbie, a father of four and a grandfather of seven.

Barbara, Office Manager
Barbara first joined our team in 2000 as a Kennel Assistant and front desk helper. She returned home in 2001 to return to her role as home school a stay-at-home mom. She came back to fill in in the kennel from 2006-2007 and finally settled in her role at the front desk in 2010, first as a Customer Care Representative and then in her role today as Office Manager. Barbara has lots of experience with all kinds of customer needs. Barbara has always enjoyed getting to know our pet parents and all their fur babies. She especially enjoys sharing products and treatments that she has personal knowledge of because she uses them with her own pets. Just ask her about the miracle cat peace at her house when CD Stress was introduced as their diet and the wonders of cold laser therapy on injured and aching joints.
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Barbara’s household is full of cats and dogs. She has six cats! You can see how her life changed with Hill’s CD Stress. Some of them “aren’t really” her cats. Her children have “gifted” her with most of them over the years as they’ve moved and couldn’t take the cats with them. She also has 3 dogs-Rex the Boxer, Sophie, a small Chihuahua type mix, and finally…Bridget (AKA the Warthog). We kid you not folks. In profile, walking past the front door, Bridget looks like the Warthog in The Lion King. So, all these pets in one house does make animal life and happy relations a key factor to peace in her home. Barbara enjoys traveling in her new red crossover, and has been hitting the road for long weekend trips around the state. Many of her trips take her to visit grandbabies for the weekend, concerts and Texas Tech football games.

Sara, CVA
Congratulations to Sara as she has finished the three levels of the Certified Veterinary Assistant program!! Sara has been involved in the veterinary field for almost 7 years and has really made her time count. Sara is great with all types of pets, but we tend to focus here on cats, rabbits, and birds. She is our on-site, in-house “cat whisperer” as she can cox sick kitties to eat and many an angry cat to be calm. She has a way about her and her Fear Free Certification for dogs and cats is put to good use in the exam room. She has also been certified Fear Free Avian allowing her special skills and powers in handling birds for examination, nail and beak trims, and diagnostic procedures. Sara is committed to easing your pet’s concerns while with us as an Elite Fear Free Professional. This title indicates her commitment to continually educating and improving her understanding of what it takes to make your pet comfortable in a potentially stressful situation.
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At home, she enjoys spending time with a wide variety of pets. Spike the tortoise, Cowgirl or “Girl” an Angora rabbit, Poco the Sun Conure, Blue the Quaker Parrot, Castro the dog, and a big group of cats=Whiskers #1, Pooh, Cowboy, Mr. Fluffy. She likes to spend time on her own learning more about veterinary medicine, frequently coming to the practice with an idea to try a new product or investigate a new way of doing something. Her evenings are spent peacefully brushing Cowgirl and Cowgirl enjoys the attention. She also trains her birds. She gets some of her techniques from Bird Tricks.com. Aside from time with pets she takes part in Treasure Hunts. She was involved in The Golden Ticket search in the recent past that took her on long weekends through Texas and as well as visiting several other states.

Linda, Exam Room Assistant
Linda has been working in the veterinary field for over 20 years, the last 6 years with us at Ridglea West Animal Hospital. She has a natural way with dogs that are nervous with their visit to the veterinary. But it was just this past year that she completed her training and earned her Fear Free Certification with dogs and cats. This, along with the obedience and behavior training she has taken the opportunity to learn makes her our “dog whisperer”. She takes great joy in watching when a patient comes in and leaves with a “happy to be here” attitude. She also takes great joy in patients that come in as puppies and grow up with us through the months and years. Each becomes especially dear to her, and she enjoys welcoming them back for their yearly checkups.
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There are eight dogs and cats that keep Linda on her toes in her home. Rico, a pit mix, is her favorite and her baby (shh, don’t tell the others) and has been in her home the longest. Close seconds are Zoe and Lucky (American Staffordshire Terriers), and Baby (pit/bulldog X). Along with four dogs are four cats-Blue Boy, Girl, Little Girl, and Bruce (where did that come from?). All play well together and live in peace. When not working, Linda spends time living and enjoying life. She has an optimistic outlook on life. She likes the great outdoors and takes part in camping, fishing, and disc golf. She also enjoys working with her gang and training them in new tricks and skills.

Debbie
Bio coming soon!

Tori, LVT
Tori began her veterinary career volunteering at a veterinary clinic close to her home. With a double Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M-Kingsville-B.S. Animal Science, 2017 and B.S Veterinary Technology 2019-she was in the second graduating class for the then-new and only Veterinary Technology program in Texas. She received her license as a Licensed Veterinary Technologist in the summer of 2019. She especially enjoyed the opportunities that her education gave her. During her time in school, she worked in the university aviary and serpentarium gaining experience with birds and reptiles. She also worked with cattle and horses at the King Ranch in Kingsville and with aquatic life at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi. Her training allows her to provide exceptional care for critically ill or injured pets. Above all, she loves to share what she has learned about pets and their health with our clients. She is a natural teacher.
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She has two dogs, both rescues from her school days. Mr. Moose is a lab mix and can always be seen carrying around a stuffed toy of some sort in his mouth. He never travels alone. On special occasions, Mr. Moose will have sleepovers with Prince at Olivia’s house. Jaxamillion, a Corgi mix, was her first adoption. He came to her as “dog aggressive” meaning he could not be around or even glance in the general direction of other dogs without becoming aggressive. He was not fond of people, either. Through much training and love, Tori was able to correct this behavior and bring Mr. Moose into her family. Tori is married to a wonderful man she met in college. They are involved in many of their church’s activities. Tori also enjoy reading for pleasure and going to Escape Rooms with her extended family.

Alyssa, CVA
Alyssa’s interest in animals developed in the Arlington Heights High School FFA program. In 2018 and 2019 she showed rabbits through FFA. Alyssa started working here in February 2021 as a Veterinary Kennel Assistant. As part of her training, we use the Texas Veterinary Medical Association’s (TVMA) Certified Veterinary Assistant (CVA) program. Alyssa began studying for the Level I portion right away and soon passed the test and became an Exam Room Assistant. Just recently, Alyssa completed Level II of her CVA training and has already begun working on Level III. Alyssa’s favorite aspect of veterinary medicine is the problem-solving involved in pet care. She is always open to learning new methods and techniques to help improve your pet’s health and care.
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In addition to her dogs-Molly the Chihuahua and Luna, a Pit Mix, and cats-Lulu and Charlie, she has personal experience with her Holland Lop rabbits-Jack and Jill, and a backyard flock of chickens. With all her practical experience in caring for her own pets, she understands general pet care. In her off time, she enjoys hunting and fishing with her dad. Her favorite fishing lake, just down the road, is Eagle Mountain Lake. At home, she relaxes with watercolor painting. Her favorite subjects are animals.

Rebecca, Client Care Representative
After a break, Rebecca returned to our team in January 2022 to help part-time in the kennel and with clinic upkeep. She enjoyed her time in the kennel caring for our boarding and hospitalized pets but is glad to be back up at the front desk full-time, helping our pet parents. She’s great at keeping a lot of the behind-the-scenes “paperwork” in order and current.
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Rebecca has 1 dog, Marly, a curly-haired breed of dog that keeps her busy at home. In addition, Marly has 3 cats, Asa, Hephaestus, and Zeus that keep everyone’s lives interesting. Thank goodness for Hill’s CD Stress cat food!! It really helps them live peacefully in their multi-pet household. When not answering phone calls or helping you with your pets, she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter. They spend time together in their vegetable and flower garden and taking walks together. Fresh tomatoes are the best.

Olivia, Director of Client Care/Kennel Supervisor
Olivia began her career in the pet care field working at Doggy Day Care. She loves working directly with the dogs and hopes, someday, when she is “old” to have her own Doggy Day Care. After leaving the Doggy Day Care business, she came to work at Ridglea West Animal Hospital as a Kennel Assistant with the intention of becoming a Certified Veterinary Assistant. However, an opportunity opened to become a Client Care Representative at the front desk and she gave it a try. The rest is history. She is now a key member of our Client Care team. She stays connected to the kennel as a supervisor, teaching and training those beginning their careers as kennel assistants. Her favorite part of her job is getting to know all the pets and their parents.
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Olivia shares her home with Prince, an Anatolian/Pyrenees cross. He is the Love of her Life. Look for him picking out a special toy at the pet store or in the Braum’s drive-thru waiting for his pumpkin spice ice cream cup. Clover and Honeybun are Holland Lop brothers and Khalessi is a Diablo Blanco Leopard Gecko. Though Toulouse and Valkyrie are officially listed as “cats” on their medical records, Olivia really believes that they are raccoon/monkey crosses. This is based on all the trouble the two of them can find to get into. Finally, Khloe makes up for it as the “best cat in the whole world”. When not at her desk, Olivia enjoys sleeping, gaming, tattoos, makeup, hunting for Squishmallows, and collecting and using anything that is PINK, preferably with glitter.