Meet Dr. Marlene Anschultz of A-Z Veterinary Services

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Marlene Anschultz.

Hi Dr. Anschultz, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today. 
I have always worked in the veterinary industry for as long as I could have job. I was a technician for 12 years prior to attending veterinary school. After veterinary school, I worked relief shifts at over 100 different hospitals in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. I got really skilled at recognizing what a team needed or how a particular hospital runs. It was like having your first day at work as your every day. I really enjoyed the chaos and variability it provided. No two days were ever alike. But from all this moving around, I had clients who would follow me from hospital to hospital to see only me. So eventually, these same clients were begging me to just come to their homes instead of always trying to figure out what hospital I was at that particular day. That manifested into my own mobile practice where I brought the clinic to you. As mobile and in-home veterinary care usually goes, I found myself doing a lot of hospice and end-of-life care and/or euthanasia. I quickly realized that this was the most important gift I could ever give any pet owner. The ability and art of providing a beautiful and graceful passing for a loved one is everything and something I never realized needed to be done so much better. 

I now use my expertise and experience to not only help owners say goodbye to their treasured furry loved ones, but I teach, speak all over the country, and provide insight into this moment that everyone fears as the worst day of their lives as pet owners. I make saying goodbye to your dearest friend a cherished and peaceful moment. I allow pet owners to take control of the goodbye, giving back to a lifelong of devotion and love. There is no better way to close a chapter of the time spent with a beloved pet than with grace, compassion, and honor. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Every journey has its tribulations. As for mine, it was just trying to raise 2 kids, build a practice, and maintain my sanity, all while making sure I didn’t lose anything along the way. Oh, and keep my beautiful marriage intake as well. I was able to, once my kids were a bit older, implement Acupuncture training into my arsenal of skills, and after 2 years of schooling, that is a huge benefit to patients that is now provided. 

In my free time I volunteer for a wildlife preserve in South Africa, helping to increase the white Rhino population and other species that are declining at rapid numbers. So, finding time to fit this in is a huge challenge that is well worth the effort and tribulation. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
A-Z Vet Services has morphed a bunch over the 14 years since it has been established. It started as a full-service mobile veterinary provider that could do everything from surgery to wellness and everything in between. To now, it mostly provides peaceful end-of-life care, hospice, full acupuncture, and some wellness care. The thing that sets Dr. Marlene apart is that she has been modifying and on the front lines of changing the idea of pet euthanasia. Teaching other doctors how to make the entire experience beautiful and graceful and speaking all over the country informing doctors that it doesn’t need to be done on a sterile table but with love and gentleness in a way you would want your beloved pet to expire. Changing the whole stigma of ‘the dreaded day’ to the most graceful, beautiful way to have a beloved friend exit this earth is what I have aspired to as my life’s work. 

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, and like most little girls, I dreamed of horses and ponies day in and day out. I got my first horse at the age of about 7 after a year of taking lessons every possible free moment my parents would allow. Most of my most cherished childhood memories are at the barn, going straight from school until sundown, spending the nights on the weekend in the tack room camping out with barn friends, and waking up to the sunrise with the horses nearby. SO many memories of long trailsides, caring for the horses, knowing every horse in the barn names and quirks. I think this is where I learned so many attributes that make me a great veterinarian. Problem solving, listening with every sense you have, strong work ethic, and most of all, compassion no matter what the situation or condition. These are all things I acquired during these childhood memories and take with me into my career as a veterinarian on a daily basis. 

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://facebook.com/A2zveterinaryservices.con
• Other: Booking in-home euthanasias: CodaPet.com