Meet Your Trusted Veterinary Team at Shallowford Animal Hospital
Our veterinarian and staff are dedicated to performing the latest, most advanced veterinary medicine while always treating your pet with the utmost compassion and care. Get to know our incredible team of veterinary technicians, assistants, receptionists, and more!
Dr. Kristopher Eads, DVM, Owner
Imagine being a physician who daily practices dentistry, surgery, ophthalmology, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, pathology, parasitology, pharmacology, neurology, epidemiology, and psychology, and encounters infectious disease, sometimes all before lunch! This is the average day for Dr. Kristopher Eads, and he wears many hats in his practice.
Dr. Eads’s career as a veterinarian began when he operated a mobile veterinary service, Blue Ridge Mobile Veterinary Services (BRMVS), focusing primarily on large animals such as cattle and horses. He also worked as a relief vet for some small animal practices during this time. Dr. Eads wanted to have his own, standalone, non-mobile practice, so he purchased Shallowford Animal Hospital from a retiring Dr. Hermann in September 2016.
Every day is different but always exciting and often presents Dr. Eads with mysteries that need to be solved: “Unlike people, you can’t ask pets what hurts or how they feel.” This makes veterinary medicine extremely rewarding! There are many ups and downs at the practice, often taking place simultaneously.
“We routinely encounter the high and excitement of a new puppy or kitten in one room and the next room over, we are consoling a crying owner that’s saying good-bye to a beloved family member. Some days you have an emergency with a pet hit by a car and a worried owner, followed by a dog waking up from surgery howling. You just never know what to expect, but I wouldn’t change it for anything," says Dr. Eads.
For Dr. Eads and his staff, it’s all about “the dedication we have to our clients and their pets, and we strive to exceed their expectations. We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional veterinary care, and we all share a love for what we do.”
Dr. Ruth Gillis, DVM
Dr. Ruth Gillis is the proud mother of 2 children, and 3 grandchildren, all whom reside in Maryland.
Dr. Gillis earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science degree from Tuskegee University. In 1985, she began practicing small animal medicine in upstate New York for 19 years. She moved to Winston-Salem, N.C. in 2001 and purchased Forsyth Veterinary Hospital in 2005. She retired in January 2023 from full time practice and now works with us part time and is accepting appointments on Thursdays.