Dr. Chris Peterson grew up in Plymouth, Indiana where her parents still reside. As a child she enjoyed outdoor activities such as horseback riding, basketball, and tennis. As a 10-year active member of 4-H, she spent many hours training her horses and her dog. Chris also participated in band and choir and still enjoys singing and music.

She attended Purdue University and did her undergraduate work in the Engineering Department before being accepted to Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She spent one summer earning her horseshoeing (farrier) degree from the Michigan Horseshoeing School.

Chris graduated with her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in 1991. She then spent a year in the western suburbs of Chicago practicing Small Animal Medicine.

Chris lived for more than four years in Oregon, where she spent more than three of them practicing at the Springfield-Eugene Emergency Veterinary Hospital. She grew to love Emergency Medicine and Surgery. She took advantage of off time to travel in Washington, Oregon, California, and even Hawaii where her sister was stationed in the military. She is a member of the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society.

Longing for the green grass of home (and, yes, family…), Chris moved back to Indiana. From 1996 until she opened St. Francis Pets, she ran her own business — Veterinary Relief Services — where she filled in for doctors who were sick or on vacation all over Northern Indiana. Chris really enjoys teaching and spent seven weeks teaching at Purdue’s Small Animal Clinic while one of their veterinarians took maternity leave.

Being solidly based in Bremen and ready to stop travelling so much (as relief work required), the idea for St. Francis Family Pet Health Care was born.