Welcome to Animal Hospital of Statesville
Your Veterinarian in Statesville, NC
Call us at (704) 872-3625

Dr. Cooney was born and raised in Alabama. He attended Auburn University (War Eagle!) where he received a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and ultimately, Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 1991. He practiced for a short time in Hickory, NC, from 1991 to 1995. He began working at the Animal Hospital of Statesville in September of 1995. Dr. Cooney became a partner in 1998 when Dr. Dave Parks retired and became sole owner in 2004. He’s followed his vision of becoming the most highly regarded veterinary hospital in the area by improving and remodeling our facility, hiring skilled doctors and technicians and employing the most up-to-date techniques and constantly striving to meet the high standards he set for Animal Hospital of Statesville.

Dr. Gaither was born and raised on a farm in Iredell County. Pre-college, she worked as a Veterinary Nurse at Animal Hospital of Statesville, until she was accepted at NC State University. There, she pursued her Bachelor of Science in 2001 and went on to vet school where she earned her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 2005. Lucky for us, she decided to return home after graduation, and joined our staff as one of our veterinarians. She is a rather quiet-spoken (though, not always), gentle person, and she is wonderful to work with. Devoted to family, she and husband, Thad, have 2 children – daughter Carson, and son Graham. Dr. Gaither spends a lot of time outdoors with her family and several pets. Hiking is one of her favorite pastimes. She also takes playing volleyball rather seriously, and we fight over her to be on whatever team WE are on!

Dr. Christy was born in North Carolina, and grew up in Salisbury. She graduated from West Rowan High School and then attended veterinary school at NC State, where she earned her DVM in 2005. She’s married to Chad and they now live out in the country in Iredell County. They have 3 dogs and 1 cat. Dr. Christy enjoys working on her farm, and the couple makes goat milk soap (and newer addition, goat cheese) with the help of their pet goats. They also have chickens. She was so excited when her chicks hatched, she could hardly stand it!  She and Chad like to backpack, camp, work with the family business and spend lots of time with their family and friends. Dr. Christy and Dr. Gaither graduated together from NC State. Dr. Christy stayed to work in Cary, NC for 7 years, then moved back to Salisbury to work for 3 years, before settling in this area to work in Statesville. 

Dr. Brett Pendergrass was born and raised in Statesville, NC.  In 2003, he got his undergraduate degree at University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and went on to North Carolina State University where he graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine in 2009.

Dr. Pendergrass and his wife, Elly, have 3 dogs - Siouxsie (a Chihuahua princess), Muggsy (a pocket Pit) and Buster, a Rat Terrier. He says he has no special talents, but I'm sure we'll discover something to add, given time! His spare time is devoted to gardening, fishing, and 'general piddling'.  

Joining us in 2020, Dr. Pendergrass says he joined our team 'because of the high quality services provided and performed here, the opportunity to learn, grow and further myself as a veterinarian, and to work for the BEST practice in my hometown!'  We think we'll keep him!

Angela is a NC native – she grew up in Union Grove. She’s the great organizer and supervisor of all the veterinary technicians here at Animal Hospital of Statesville. From schedules to ordering supplies and pharmaceuticals, Angela does it all. She’s also a great veterinary nurse with great compassion for animals. Angela just always knows what to do. She’s been with AHS since 1994 and her position as a Veterinary Nurse transitioned into Veterinary Nurse Supervisor in 2004.

Melissa is a local, through and through! She was born and raised in Harmony, NC. She and her husband, John, now live in Statesville, and have 2 cats named Tater and Sheldon. Melissa started at Animal Hospital of Statesville in 2005 as a Technician Assistant. She, too, left to attend Gaston Technical College, and returned to work here as a Registered Veterinary Technician in 2008, after graduation. Melissa enjoys reading, doing puzzles, quilting, dancing and watching movies. She loves to sing (at work AND at home) and knows all the words to just about every song. She also plays the piano. Melissa’s mom raised Lhasa Apso puppies, but Melissa didn’t decide to become an RVT until working at Pet Pros in the local mall. After that experience, she knew that working with animals was what she was meant to do. Special Fact: Melissa LOVES comedian Jeff Dunham, and can do great imitations of his characters…

Dena was born and raised in Punta Gorda, FL. She graduated from Charlotte High School and attended Edison College, where she earned her Associate of Arts in Psychology. She came to work at Animal Hospital of Statesville in 2009 as a Veterinary Nurse after having prior experience in the field in Florida. Dena has 2 dogs ( Astlyr and Ragnar (Rottweilers), 1 cat (J.J.) and 2 horses – Sam and Shaker. Another one of our horse lovers here at Animal Hospital of Statesville, she loves to spend time trail riding with her horses. She also loves to hike.

Lauren is a local girl – a Troutman native, who attended South Iredell High School. She is a Registered Veterinary Technician, having graduated with her Associate of Applied Sciences degree in Veterinary Technology. She is another college intern who we recruited to be part of our team after her graduation in 2012. Lauren says she loves it at Animal Hospital of Statesville. She says she has always loved taking care of animals. “Getting to take care of each and every animal and THEIR caregivers….There could not BE a better job!” Lauren exudes enthusiasm and energy. She’ll do anything for anyone. While she loves animals, she definitely is also very much a people person. There are many clients (and staff members) willing to adopt her, if her parents don’t want her anymore (which is highly unlikely). Lauren and husband, Kyle, recently adopted Cabela - a Golden Doodle puppy. Lauren’s nickname here is “Squirrel” for her ability to change thought processes rapidly, if you know what we mean!

One of our many Statesville natives, Austin recently joined our AHS team as a Veterinary Technician. She graduated from West Iredell High School and later attended Gaston College where she graduated with High Honors from their Veterinary Medical Technology program. An experienced Veterinary Technician, Austin will be an invaluable member of our AHS team, and we are happy that she joined us! 

Austin and her fiance have 3 pets - Annie (tori cat), Maverick (lab mix) and Sully (German Shepherd mix).

Austin enjoys hiking and running 5k's and mud runs!

Paige is a North Carolina native, born in Winston-Salem. She grew up in Mount Airy, NC and graduated from North Surry High School. Paige is a recent graduate of the Gaston College Veterinary Technology program. As an intern at AHS, we realized she’d be a great asset to our technician team, and she was hired in 2014, shortly after finishing the Gaston College program. Paige and her fiance, Chase, have 3 horses and 1 dog. She’s a barrel racer, and enjoys any outdoor sport. Friends and family are very important to her, and spending time with them is a priority. Paige brings a laid-back personality and a great work ethic to the team at Animal Hospital of Statesville, and we’re happy to have her as part of our work “family”. Little-known-fact: She can talk really fast like the disclaimers at the end of radio ads! REALLY fast!

Our 2nd Floridian, Ashley grew up on a small farm in Eustis, Florida. She graduated from Eustis High School in 2014 and later, moved to this area and attended Mitchell Community College where she studied Science and Biology. Ashley is a Licensed Esthetician - in other words, she is a skin care expert!

Loving pets as she does, Ashley has always dreamed of working in the veterinary field. She feels truly blessed to have this opportunity to pursue her dreams with Animal Hospital of Statesville. Planning to study with the Penn Foster program for veterinary technology, she hopes to learn everything she can about her chosen career path.

Ashley's 3 pets keep her busy. MAC and Juno are Rat Terriers, MAC being a senior, and Juno, a mini. Kenan, a Siberian Husky rounds out her furry family. When she isn't caring for her own pets, she pet sits. Music, art, hiking, traveling, drawing, modeling, horseback riding, going on adventures and sports are her many diverse interests. 

Ashley just jumped into life here at Animal Hospital of Statesville, and we're enjoying getting to know her. She has joined our team as a Veterinary Assistant. Our experienced techs and assistants will do their best to help her develop her skills and achieve her career goals.

Michelle came our way via the CVT Certification program at North Iredell High School.  Another one of our local girls, she was born and raised in Statesville and the Iredell  County area.

Michelle loves animals. She has 5 critters - a Pit/Heeler mix named Junior, a Labrador Retriever (Gus), a Lab/Golden Retriever mix (Mauney), one cat (Cali), and a horse named Phillip. As one might imagine, she loves to ride horses. She also collects records, and enjoys listening to music. 

Now one of our Veterinary Assistants, Michelle gets to use what she learned in the CVT program, including what she learned at the Animal Hospital from her internship with that program. She is currently enrolled in the Penn Foster Veterinary Technology online program. 

 We love our local ladies! Jennifer was born and raised here in Statesville, and attended West Iredell High School. 

Jennifer and her soon-to-be husband, David, have 2 children, Skylar and Bryson. Add to that 3 pets - a Great Dane (bigger than Jennifer), 'Val', a Yorkie (smaller than Jennifer) 'Turner' and another little one, 'Rio'. Jennifer loves to cook, and actually, took care of our staff's breakfast and lunch the other day! Yum!  We're going to like having her around!  Her busy life revolves around her kids' sports. Cheerleading competitions and baseball consume her weekends most of the time.

Jennifer came to us with experience from the emergency clinic that was, at one time, in Troutman. She is a Veterinary Assistant, currently training to be one of our Veterinary Nurses.  She says she came to AHS by a stroke of luck. We think we are the lucky ones!  Jennifer is spunky and fun to work with and we are happy to have her!

Story came to us in an unconventional way. You see, Dr. Gaither is her aunt. Story was interested in veterinary medicine, and would come to shadow Dr. Gaither to see if what she THOUGHT she wanted to do was REALLY what she wanted to do. Apparently, we didn't scare her off! A Statesville/Olin native, Story graduated from North Iredell High School. She currenty attends North Carolina State University as an Animal Science and Poultry Science major, with the intention of going to vet school in the future. She's covering all her bases in the vet field, having worked in our Resort & Spa facility for 3 years, as well as currently being a veterinary assistant. We're so happy to have her with us, as she is a hard worker and quick learner! You can be sure she is absorbing lots of knowledfge while she is with us, learning from both our technicians and doctors.

Story has 4 pets - Willo, a Blue/Red Heeler; River, a black Lab; Sadie, a tiny Yorkie, and Nellie, a kitty! She loves to hike and cook in her spare time. We haven't been her 'guinea pigs' yet, but it's about time to give her cooking the taste test! We'll miss her when she goes back to college, but we know, with her ties to AHS, she'll be back!

Sarah is another of our Statesville natives – born and raised here, and graduated from South Iredell High School. Sarah was one of our high school interns who was eager to learn and help and subsequently applied for employment here. She is now attending NC State University, majoring in Poultry Science and aspires to graduate from their College of Veterinary Medicine. In the meantime, we’ll teach her all we know! We are happy to have her with us during her college breaks and she seems happy to be back with us!  Fluent in Spanish, she’s been a valuable addition to our veterinary assistant/technician crew. 

Sarah has two dogs, a Pug, named Toby and a Boxer mix named Thor. She doesn’t have any horses, but she loves to ride. Her favorite pastime is watching movies – especially Harry Potter and Captain America.

Kay Leigh is another Statesville native (we get a lot of great folks from our own 'backyard')! She grew up in Union Grove and attended high school at North Iredell High School. She went on to get her Bachelor's degree in History at UNC Chapel Hill and is an ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor. Key Leigh is married to Kurtis, and together, they have 4 pets - Elmer the Basset Hound, Callie the Heeler/Lab mix and Peyton, a Shih Tzu mix. They also have one cat named Ash. An avid fitness 'junky', she loves to lift weights and spends lots of time outside. She also loves to read. Spending her rare free time with her hubby and pets is also important to her.

Laura was born and raised in Statesville, NC, where she graduated from Statesville Senior High School. She has a daughter, Brandi, and two grandsons, Brycyn and JJ, for whom she has a very big, soft spot in her heart. Her Boxer, Kendra, rounds out her family. Laura started with the Animal Hospital of Statesville in February of 1986 as a Client Services Representative. In 2001, she was promoted to Business Administrator. In 2002 and 2003, she attended the Levels 1 and 2 AAHA Veterinary Management courses at Webster Veterinary University in Charlotte, NC. When Laura was 19, she was searching for a job that she enjoyed. Her mother knew the owners of Animal Hospital of Statesville at that time.

Jada grew up in Troutman, NC and graduated from South Iredell High School. She now lives in Statesville with her husband, Erik, and their 3 children, Briana, Steven and Wesley. Adding grandchildren Gracie and Oaklee has made her life complete! The family's pets include 2 dogs (Chopper and Hannah), and a cat (Missy). Jada started with the Animal Hospital of Statesville in June of 1998. At that time, she was a Kennel Assistant, but later became the Kennel Manager. In March of 2002, Jada went back to school to receive her Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) degree. She continued to work part-time as a Client Services Representative. Jada returned to her full-time position in January of 2004 and was promoted to Client Services Director. Jada is a dynamo – very active in organizing the local Bark for Life, and active also in her church and other community outreach events. Family is of utmost importance to her, and she spends as much time as possible involved with her children’s activities and spending time with her husband. Small but mighty – That’s our Jada! 

Kyle was born in Dallas, TX, but grew up in Upper St. Clair, PA where she graduated from high school. She attended college at Maryville College in Maryville, TN, majoring in Sign Language Interpreting, but later transferred to the University of Tennessee, where she majored in Deaf Education. Kyle has 2 sons, Mark and Dan, and 3 stepsons, Jodie, Derek and Shane. Kyle and husband Roger have a total of 8 grandchildren! They live very happily in the countryside near Albemarle, NC. Kyle and Roger have lots of cats – too many to name (but they all HAVE names!). She is teased about being the Crazy Cat Lady at work. Her inside cats are Marlin, Purrkins, Fiona, Mouse, Pixie, Flash and Willow. Her white German Shepherd, Cailin, goes just about everywhere she goes, including fishing, camping and photographing. 

Elly was born in Winston-Salem, NC and grew up in Statesville, NC. She graduated from North Iredell High School, where she concentrated on her interest in Art. (She painted all the little cats and dogs in our lobby!) Elly attended Penn Foster College, where she earned her Veterinary Assisting diploma and Teacher Aide Diploma. Elly and husband Brett live with their dogs Sam and Siouxie and a herd of beef cattle. Elly is our “Jack of all trades”. She worked as a Kennel Technician and cross-trained as a Veterinary Nurse. She’s now on to Client Services Representative. Her varied experiences since starting with us in 2007 make her invaluable. Elly is generally quiet, but sometimes surprises us with periods of orneriness. She is an appreciated “clean freak”, and is super-motivated and organized! Elly is a quiet whirlwind! 

Bridgett jumped right into our team at the Animal Hospital of Statesville! She is a local - born and raised in the Statesville area. Bridgett graduated from North Iredell High School.  Married to Steven, they have 2 Shih Tzus, Chloe and ZipTie, as well as two cats, Cleo and Cracker. 

Bridgett loves to read.  She's an avid home remodeler, too! On the more adventurous side, she loves to go drag racing with her husband and hang out with family and friends. 

Bridgett has a passion for animals. She was happy to accept a position here in order to share that passion with others.  Bridgett is a 'ham' and keeps us laughing.  She has a hilarious sense of humor and not a shy bone in her body!

Jessica came to us from distant Johnson City. Not Tennessee, but New York!  That makes her a reliable winter-storm employee, right? She was born and raised in Upstate New York, which includes, we learned, most of the state except for New York City and Long Island. 

Jessica is married to Devin, and they have 2 daughters and 8 pets. Her furry family consists of 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 Guinea Pigs, 1 hamster, some fish and a bearded dragon.  Her love of animals is obvious! 

Their daughters keep Jessica and Devin busy, as the girls play travel softball. Softball, hunting and animal rescue are what Jessica is passionate about. She says that being able to help animals who have no 'voice' is very important to her.

Jessica has jumped right into being a Client Services Representative and we're glad she's a part of our team!

Bethy was born and raised in Statesville, NC. She attended North Iredell High School and graduated in 2008. Bethy and fiance Zack have 2 Corgis (Cinch and Leroy), one Australian Shepherd mix (Yuma) and one Pit Bull, Bex. In her time away from work, Bethy is usually in the barn. She loves to be outdoors and participates in rodeos, where her favorite event is breakaway roping. Bethy is also a trained human hair stylist at a local salon, Urban Roots. She has performed her magic on several staff members, as well as being one of our chief groomers of pets in our Spa! She manages our Pet Spa and Resort facility. Bethy likes working at Animal Hospital of Statesville because she enjoys being with animals. 

A Statesville, North Carolina native, Kayla graduated from Calvary Christian Academy and trained as a cosmetologist at Mitchell Community College.  She has 6 pets – 2 Chihuahuas (Peanut and Mios), a Dalmatian named Hoss, Dixon – a Bulldog, a cat named Spooky and a snake named Kodax.  She joined our kennel technician staff because she heard we were hiring and it was a way to do one of the things she loves to do – spend time with all kinds of animals! Her family has always used Animal Hospital of Statesville for their veterinary care.  Kayla loves fishing and horseback riding in her spare time.

Kaylee was born here in Statesville, but lives in Harmony. She is currently attending North Iredell High School where she is in the Vet Assisting class. She did her internship for that class here at Animal Hospital of Statesville, and now she is working with our team as a Guest Services Technician, as well as helping out the Veterinary Technicians when she can. 

Kaylee loves to play with and care for animals. She has 2 of her own - an American Shorthair cat (Oliver) and a German Shepherd Dog named Valorie. 

Though Kaylee recently graduated from high school, she has some big plans to stay with Animal Hospital of Statesville to help further her veterinary-related career goals. She graduated high school with her Veterinary Assistant certification. We're happy to have her with us - she's got a great personality and is a hard worker!

A North Carolina native, Barry was born and raised in Salisbury, NC. He attended North Rowan High School. Since his high school graduation, Barry received an Associate Degree in Business and graduated as a Veterinary Assistant from Penn Foster's online program. He has been a stay-at-home dad for 12 years!  

Barry first came to us 3 years ago as an intern in his Veterinary Assistant program. He's back with us as a Guest Services Technician, so you might guess we didn't scare him off too badly! Barry and his wife, Leigh, have one son. Their family is rounded out by 3 cats and 2 dogs. Barry said he grew up with dogs - had never had cats before. When their dog, Roy, passed away, their son wanted a cat. Leigh wanted a cat, as well. Barry said no - he was a dog person. Happy wife, happy life won him over to the idea of a cat in the family. So, today, 7 years later, they have 3 cats!  

Barry is an artist, loving painting and drawing. Playing music and video games are other pastimes he enjoys. He's an avid baseball fan. We're glad to have him back.

Although Kyrsten grew up in Statesville and graduated from South Iredell High School, she was born 'way up north' in Taunton, Massachusetts. Kyrsten has joined us as a Guest Services Technician. She has one young son, and loves being outdoors or at the park playing with him.