Title: General Practitioner
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Some veterinarians are made; others are born. "I decided I was going to be a veterinarian when I was 5 years old," Dr. Holly Knor says. "It was pretty much one of those things that God decided for me and said, 'This is what you're going to be!'"
Starting at the age of 14, the future doctor cleaned cages and worked as a receptionist for her vet in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "Every once in a while if I was really lucky I'd get to handle a patient for him," she says. Knor also spent time as an exchange student in New Zealand before attending Colorado State University for both her undergraduate and veterinary studies.
Upon graduation from vet school in 1995, Dr. Knor joined the staff of Alameda East as an intern. "I think our internship program here is an excellent one in that it really prepares you for anything that walks through the door." A year later, she was hired as a permanent staff member and the variety of cases still surprises her. "It's amazing. You'll get one that you think is so obscure that you'll never see anything like that again and Boom! There is another one a year later."
As a general practitioner with a full schedule, Dr. Knor sees an almost overwhelming variety of patients on a daily basis. But her most important cases are those that hit closest to home. "My own dogs are probably my most memorable cases because both of them have recently passed away. Dealing with their different ailments, one a more chronic problem with Kingsley, and then with Keista it was very sudden." Balancing these losses has been the arrival of Dr. Knor's first daughter Emma. Together with husband Brad, cat Kashmir and two dogs Abe and Ben, the family lives south of Denver.
As is the case for all the doctors featured on Emergency Vets, being on television was not part of Dr. Knor's career plan. But the show has provided welcome opportunities to teach pet owners, as well as revisit childhood memories. "While doing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I remembered sitting as a child in front of the parade watching it and thinking 'Oh, it would be so nice to go and watch the parade someday.' I never even remotely thought that I would actually be a participant."
Parades and fan mail aside, Dr. Knor can thankfully concentrate on doing the job she always wanted to do. "I'm thankful that I still maintain a pretty normal life."
