William P. Switzer Award in Veterinary Medicine
Cherri Trusheim
DVM ’99
Seattle, Washington
Seattle almost missed something special.
Cherri Trusheim might have owned a bar – she went to bartender school with the intents of opening her own drinking establishment. When her interest in that waned, she took a real estate course and attended carpentry school to prepare to “buy, remodel, sell real estate.”
Fortunately for the people of Seattle, Trusheim had already graduated from veterinary school and was working nights and weekends in her chosen profession.
She eventually discarded those other professions and founded Urban Animal in Seattle. At this unique veterinary clinic, Trusheim has pioneered a different model of option-based, convenient veterinary care since 2012.
“I looked into lots of alternatives to satisfy my entrepreneurial spirit,” Trusheim says. “I just wasn’t sure I wanted to own the problems and struggles we face in vet med.
“We built Urban Animal ‘outside of the box’ and it has satisfied my entrepreneurial spirit. Plus, I believe we are creating our own solutions to those vet med issues and struggles.”
Along with a friend, Trusheim founded Urban Animal in order to help as many clients and pets as possible with option-based care provided by highly trained and skilled veterinary professionals.
The clinic started out primarily with ER and referral veterinarians and staff who were frustrated and burned out.
“We just wanted to help folks with less barriers,” Trusheim said.
“We pride ourselves on being the community’s veterinarian working to create accessibility for all.”
Urban Animal has lived up to that high goal. The clinic has three Seattle-area locations with more than 100 employees. More importantly they serve over 50,000 clients.
Today, Urban Animal is transitioning to an employee-owned company or more accurately a worker cooperative. Trusheim also wants to ensure the practices remain locally owned and community-minded, while providing compassionate and accessible care.
Her goal is that the company will become 100 percent employee owned.
“I believe how veterinary care is delivered should be determined by veterinary professionals and only veterinary professionals,” she said. “This is to the benefit of both pet owners and ourselves as veterinary professionals.”