McAfee Animal Hospital in Valparaiso has been providing pets and their owners with superior services since it was first founded in 1943. Dr. Dani Walker, a veterinarian at McAfee Animal Hospital, has contributed significantly to the hospital’s legacy. She has been working at McAfee Animal Hospital since first graduating from veterinary school in 2005. She has been passionate about helping care for animals since a very young age.
“I've always liked science and medicine," Walker said. "My parents had a very significant influence on me in that regard. My mom was a pediatrician while my dad did research and was a medical school professor. The loving compassion they had for others inspired me to go into the veterinary field. When I first graduated, I interviewed at several clinics throughout Michigan and Indiana, but none of them were as good a fit for me as McAfee was. It felt like home.”
Walker is a native of Farmington Hills, Michigan, a town about 23 miles northwest of Detroit. During high school, she worked as a kennel attendant at a local veterinary clinic before pursuing an undergraduate degree in physiology at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). While there, she volunteered in the vet school's radiology department and assisted with birthing sheep in a sheep animal husbandry class.
After studying at UC Davis for a year, Walker returned to her home state to complete her undergraduate studies at Michigan State University (MSU). While at MSU, Walker did research on exercise physiology and participated in a wildlife center internship. She also studied abroad at Universidad del Bucha's medical school in Mexico.
In Walker’s view, each of these opportunities ultimately helped her become a more well-rounded veterinarian. She has several pieces of advice for young people who are preparing to make their foray into the veterinary field.
"I always tell aspiring veterinarians to try their hand at as many different aspects of veterinary medicine as possible," Walker said. "I was exposed to many aspects of the field before I started veterinary school, and that helped me identify my interests and see my career path more clearly. Also, I would recommend students apply to medical schools in states where they registered as residents. They’ll have a significantly higher chance of getting into those schools. However, if they would rather attend veterinary school out-of-state, they should familiarize themselves with their school of choice’s rules regarding out-of-state students.”
Upon graduating from MSU with her physiology degree in 2001, Walker went on to attend the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine in West Lafayette. After receiving her degree in 2005 she became a member of the McAfee Animal Hospital family.
Walker first began working at McAfee Animal Hospital just after the practice had moved into its current building, which was newly constructed at the time. Walker has enjoyed seeing the practice’s meteoric growth over the years firsthand. During the two decades Walker has worked at McAfee Animal Hospital, she has cared for animals like dogs and cats as well as exotic animals like reptiles, birds, small mammals, and rodents. She particularly enjoys working with rabbits and has a special place in her heart for them, having been a rabbit owner herself in the past.
Walker is pleased to have been part of the McAfee Animal Hospital’s positive and uplifting culture for all these years and looks forward to continuing the practice’s good work alongside her colleagues for years to come.
"My favorite part of working at McAfee is the great working relationship between the staff and doctors," Walker said. "We bounce ideas off each other, so we're constantly learning together. The teamwork is truly wonderful, and it sets McAfee apart from other clinics. I've seen doctors at other clinics be extremely competitive with each other, but there's nothing like that at McAfee. We're all focused on doing whatever is in our patients' best interests."
In her free time, Walker enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with her parents, who recently moved to Valparaiso. She has been playing the piano since she was 7 and occasionally likes to unwind by playing some tunes.
If you want to learn more about the services McAfee Animal Hospital has to offer, check out mcafeeah.com.