Dr. Lindsey Thomas and Dr. Valerie Carril had known each other for more than a decade before they became business partners. They had also seen the same change in veterinary medicine: independent hospitals were being absorbed into larger groups, appointments were being compressed, and clinicians were being asked to think about production alongside care.
A clinic that began with a shared frustration
Healing Paws began as their answer. Instead of accepting that pace as inevitable, they decided to build a hospital where the people in the exam room could shape the experience. The idea was simple but demanding: protect time for conversations, give the team room to practice medicine thoughtfully, and keep ownership close to the community being served.
The two-year road to opening
The doors did not open overnight. The founders have described a two-year process involving zoning, construction, inspections, and the thousand small decisions hidden inside a new medical facility. Friends and relatives helped assemble cabinets and build the front desk. Friday work sessions sometimes included pizza and children underfoot.
That history is visible in the identity of the practice. Healing Paws is polished, but its origin is personal. When the clinic opened in February 2025, it was reported as the first new veterinary clinic in Mount Kisco in about four decades—a striking milestone for a business created by two local clinicians rather than a national chain.
Why the story matters
For pet owners, independence can mean knowing who is accountable for a difficult decision. For veterinary staff, it can mean working in a place where culture is not set several states away. Healing Paws has made both ideas central to its public story.
The clinic is still young. That is precisely what makes it worth watching: it is a real-time example of experienced professionals taking what they learned inside larger systems and using it to build something smaller, more local, and more deliberate.
