Dr. Elly Burnett was born in Canberra, Australia and moved to the Midwest before the age of two. She spent her early years growing up in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin playing outside and trying to make friends with the birds and squirrels. From an early age, Dr. Burnett loved horses and wanted to grow up to be an equine veterinarian. As soon as she was old enough, Dr. Burnett started to volunteer cleaning barns in exchange for riding lessons. After graduating from high school, she got a job at an equine veterinarian’s office on the weekends and overnights cleaning the hospital and caring for sick horses. At the same time, she began to attend community college to start her pre-veterinary studies.
The first summer home from veterinary school, Dr. Burnett knew she needed to find a job working with small animals to broaden her experience. A local all-cat clinic was hiring, and she applied for the job and was hired. Although she had grown up with cats, she had no experience handling them in the clinical setting. She began to look forward to dealing with the most scared and fractious patients, slowly gaining their trust through low-stress handling techniques.
Dr. Burnett was hired prior to graduation by Dr. John Calhoun of Idaho Veterinary Hospital in Nampa, Idaho. There she began practicing on cats, dogs, rabbits, ferrets, parrots, birds of prey, lizards and snakes. She was able to gain experience in soft tissue surgery, canine reproduction and some orthopedic surgery. Dr. Calhoun was a tough and fair mentor and pushed her to gain confidence over the course of their three and a half years of working together. In 2012, Dr. Burnett gave birth to fraternal twin boys and relocated to Tigard in order to be closer to family.
She began working at a corporate practice in the area and quickly moved up to the role of Chief of Staff. She began working long days and, realizing she had gotten caught up in the corporate machine, decided to step back and move to private practice part-time in order to spend more time home with her family. It was in private practice that Dr. Burnett finally realized the way she truly loved to practice veterinary medicine—she had craved a more personal, human touch with her clients and patients.
As Dr. Burnett has gone through school and beyond, her dream had always been to own a practice where clients feel like family the moment they enter the front door. She has worked to develop relationships with her clients and their families in order to facilitate the most effective communication to help their pets get the best care possible. She enjoys working with clients to find creative solutions to fit every budget for their pets to receive the best possible care. When her clients are with their pet at Hearthstone Veterinary Hospital, she wants them to feel as though they’re visiting a trusted family friend.
