Matthew J Carter, DVM, MRCVS

Dr. Carter is a 1995 graduate of UC Davis.  He purchased Central Animal Hospital in April 2002.  Before settling in Petaluma, Dr. Carter worked overseas in London, England; the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley.  Dr. Carter is the current President of the Redwood Empire Veterinary Medicine Association, serves on the Petaluma Animal Services Advisory Committee and is currently teaching one of the veterinary technician training courses at Santa Rosa Junior College.  He lives in Petaluma with his wife Jennifer, cats Mylo, Figaro & Cosmo and dogs Sadie and Oscar.

Jennifer Carter, Practice Manager

Jennifer runs the day-to-day operations of the hospital.  She is a recent convert to the field of veterinary medine, having previously worked as an auditor and consultant for Deloitte & Touche.  "The best part of this job is meeting all the people and pets that come through the door each day.  We feel like we have a large, extended pet family!"

Sharon, Customer Care Team Leader 

Sharon is one of the friendly faces at our front desk!  An avid animal lover, she has five "weiner" dogs (Donner, Pepper, Rocky, Abby and Bailey) at home and pays extra-special attention to the smaller dogs that stay with us.  She loves getting to know our clients and their pets and is always willing to listen and answer questions.  She lives in Petaluma with her husband Jerry and has two adult sons, Jeremy and Randy.

Parris, Customer Care Specialist

Parris joined the Central Animal Hospital team in 2006 after several years of customer service in the insurance industry.  Parris will always make extra effort to make sure our customers have a positive experience at the front desk.  A Petaluma native, she still lives locally and shares her home with her two birds, Zouma and Macu.

Shannon, RVT, Veterinary Nurse Team Leader

Cathy, RVT, CLS, Veterinary Nurse

Cathy joined our team in 2005.  She has a BA in Biology from UC San Diego and is a licensed Clinical Laboratory Scientist.  She became a Registered Veterinary Technician in 2007.  She worked for many years in human hospital labs and university research labs, spent several years "at home" raising her 2 children, and is thrilled about her transitioin to animal health care.  She lives in Novato with her husband Gary, kitty Coconut, and dog Kiera.

Diane, Veterinary Nurse 

Before joining our team, Diane worked with horses after leaving a technology career. She began at Central Animal Hospital in Customer Care department and then moved into training as a nurse. Diane is also a published author of  a book written for young women called "The Sacrifice" and is currently working on her second novel.

Kris, Hospitality Team Leader

Kris left the corporate world in advertising and the music industry to pursue her dream of working with animals.  She spent 5 years working at a large animal clinic before joining our team in Dec 2005.  Kris lives in Petaluma with her 2 Chesapeake Bay Retrievers (Elsa and Romona), her poodle Charlie, a special assortment of felines and a number of rescued turtles and tortoises who live in her garden.