Dr. Cindi Welch grew up on a small farm, and at an early age, she started following the local veterinarian around when he came out to take care of a sick cow or horse. She was the one who took care of the cats and dogs when they got sick, and growing up, she had nearly every type of pet you could imagine. Her grandmother once discovered her putting out sugar water in her bedroom because she thought a housefly seemed a little weak and might be hungry! Her love of science combined with her desire to help pets live better lives led her, naturally, to a career in veterinary medicine. She was valedictorian of her high school class and attended Angelo State University. When the advisor for students who wanted to become veterinarians tried to tell her that the profession involved not only taking care of kitten and puppies, but also large animals, implying that she probably didn’t expect to work that hard, she realized maybe she didn’t need an advisor and proceeded on her own to reach her goal of becoming a veterinarian. Prior to attending the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University, she attended Baylor University and obtained a master’s in aquatic biology, publishing a thesis based on original research on mayflies in Lake Waco. Dr. Welch has worked at our hospital since 1992, and she was originally hired as the director of emergency services. She completed her emergency and critical care residency in 2001 and has been the medical director at I-20 Animal Medical Center ever since. Dr. Welch’s interests include emergency and critical care medicine, internal medicine, ultrasound and endoscopy. Veterinarians from all over North Texas refer patients to her when pets have multiple complicated, serious problems that require careful management and when they struggle to find diagnoses. Her primary objective is to encourage the comfort and well-being of her patients, and she understands the deep connection people have with their pet families. When she has critical patients in the ICU, you can often find her petting and talking to her patients. She believes giving a patient TLC (as she says, “the will to live”) is just as important as any medicine. Dr. Welch is a self-admitted workaholic, so what little spare time she has is spent with her family. She has two dogs (a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Miti, and a miniature Dachshund named Truffle who is a rescue), four rescue cats who take their current cushy situation for granted, and a flock of very spoiled chickens. Dr. Welch can be contacted at I-20 Animal Medical Center at 817.478.9238. Her wonderful assistant, Carey, is familiar with her patients and can be contacted when Dr. Welch is unavailable.