Doctors
Dr. Lara Houston - VMD
Dr. Houston grew up in Pennsylvania and is a 2000 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. She has practiced in Florida, Pennsylvania, Delaware and here in Colorado for the past 6 years. Dr. Houston was married in 2007. She and her husband welcomed their first son, William, on Thanksgiving 2008. In 2010, they welcomed their new daughter Elizabeth into their family. They also share their house with a Peke and Pom named Ranger, and three cats. Dr. Houston loves to travel and has been to several countries in Europe as well as studied abroad in Madagascar and Ghana. She joined our team in 2006 and bought the practice in 2010.
Dr. Lisa Chase, DVM
Dr. Lisa Chase graduated from Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2008. She went on to complete an internship in medicine and surgery through Veterinary Specialists of South Florida. She practiced at a few different clinics before finding her home here at Bouton. She finds great joy in helping pets and their human families. Her mission in medicine is to relieve pain to help pets live a better life. To that end, she became certified in veterinary medical acupuncture. She lives in Castle Rock with her husband Gabe, daughter Gwendolyn and her two cats, Kuro and Shiro. Outside of veterinary medicine, Dr. Chase enjoys road cycling and several indoor hobbies including sewing, various crafts, reading and playing the ukulele.
Dr. Kathleen Miller, DVM
Dr. Kathleen Miller graduated with her DVM from Iowa State University in May of 2016. She is from Omaha, Nebraska and received her B.S. in biology from the University of Oklahoma. She first practiced veterinary medicine in Austin, TX before making the move to lovely Colorado. Dr. Miller has three dogs, Gracie, Mac and Pete; she also has two Kenyan sand boas, William Snakespeare and Severus Snake. She enjoys spending time with her husband, running, hiking, reading, and travelling.
Technicians
Monica Anthony - CVT, AAS
Monica has been with BVH since 1988. She attended the University of Colorado, Denver before going to the Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology. She lovingly refers to her home as the Anthony Ark. She and her husband, Jim, care for their grandson Cristiano. She also has three more grandchildren in South Dakota who she travels to visit as often as she can. They also have four dogs ; Gracie, Sierra, Chai and Diego along with four cats - Jack, Rafael, Tia and Maya. The Anthony's have built a straw bale house using solar and wind energy in the Canon City area, and like to spend their free time there.
Beth Reade - CVT, AAS
Beth is originally from Wilmington, Massachusetts. She has a busy family consisting of two girls - Jessica & Sarah and her husband Lupe. Beth spent four years in the Air Force as a Jet Engine Mechanic. Several years were then devoted to her girls before she pursued a Veterinary Technology Degree. Beth enjoys painting, gardening, hiking, photography and sight seeing. She has two dogs - a Beagle named JT and a Lab Mix named Olive along with a cat named Boy. Beth graduated from the Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology and joined our staff in 2000.
Melanie Schappa- CVT, AAS
Sally Lotspeich - CVT, AAS
Sally was born in Cedar Rapids, IA and moved here at age 11 with her family. She attended Colorado State University for 2 years studying journalism before discovering the veterinary world. she graduated from the Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology in September of 2007 and started with our team shortly after in October. After 9 years with Bouton, Sally decided to further her education by working for the Ophthalmology Specialty at VRCC. A year later she is back with our team and welcomed a baby boy named Finnegan into the family in May of 2018. They have 2 dogs and love spending time outdoors in the beautiful Colorado weather.
Cat Sawyer - CVT, RVT, AAS
Cat is a true Colorado native, born in Grand Junction and raised in Arvada. She graduated from the University of Denver in 2003 with a BA and then decided to pursue a career in veterinary medicine by graduating from Bel-Rea in 2005 and started working at Bouton that fall. Although she worked outside of the industry for a few years, the animals just kept pulling her back in! In 2013, she moved to New Orleans and worked in a very busy small animal and exotic practice and learned to treat many different species. After getting married in New Orleans in 2016 she and her husband Edward moved back to Colorado with her horse, Genesis, two cats and a tortoise in tow! They quickly adopted a dog named Savannah, a gecko, and a miniature horse named Dakota. They also welcomed their first child in August 2017, a very happy boy named Evan.
Ximena Salgado-Santamaria
Ximena (pronounced Hee-meh-nah) recently moved to Denver to pursue a graduate degree in Social Work at the University of Denver. She has been an animal lover her whole life and a technician for the past 4 years. Originally from Florida and then New England, Ximena is excited to serve animals in a new part of the country. Even as she switches careers she is determined to continue working with animals as a tech and also with animal therapy as a social worker. She loves Harry Potter and can talk about it for hours. She lives with her husband, her adorable dog Obi, and two crazy cats Sky and Peter.
Elina Miller, CVT
Elina first joined BVH in 2009 after graduating from Bel-Rea. She is originally from the Milwaukee area and moved here in 2007 for school. Once here, she realized Colorado would be her forever home. She decided to finish her bachelors in technical management and left our team to return to school in 2015. After graduation she pursued her interest in shelter work and medicine and gained a great deal of knowledge at Foothills Animal Shelter. Despite her love for animal rescue, she rejoined our team here at Bouton in September 2018. She recently bought a home where she lives with her boyfriend and five dogs, Willie, Cotto, Clementine, Bane and Jaakko, two of whom she rescued while at Foothills.
Veterinary Assistant
Larae Hunt
Larae joined our team at Bouton in 2018. Originally from Arizona, she moved here in 2017 and now most of her family are also living in our beautiful state. Before working with us she spent a year at Foothills Animal Shelter where she gained lots of experience in shelter medicine. While there she adopted an adorable Pit Bull named River (shown in her picture)! She enjoys all the best parts of Colorado including hiking, fishing, shooting and camping.
Our Wonderful Kennel Staff
Rhonda Meredith
Rhonda is a Colorado native. She graduated from Lakewood High School and went on to get a Dental Assisting Degree at the Colorado College of Medical and Dental Assisting in Denver. Her and her husband have 3 adult children and 5 grandchildren. A black cat, Milagro, was rescued here at Bouton and became a part of the Meredith family that very same day. Rhonda enjoys traveling and scrapbooking. Her family's plans are to go on a cruise every 2 or 3 years until she can't travel anymore. She joined our team in 1998.
Kristina Salazar
Kristina joined our team in 2007 and graduated from Bear Creek High School in 2008. She has 3 dogs: a princess Chihuahua named Bella, a Chi-Pom called Romeo that she rescued in 2013, and she recently added a new addition, Ruby (a Sheltie). Kristina has 2 older brothers, who support her love of animals. She has aspirations of becoming a dog groomer very soon. Kristina enjoys snowmobiling, arts and crafts and spending time with her family.
Heidi Smith
Heidi is a Colorado native and a graduate of Bear Creek High School. She has always had an interest in caring for animals. While still in high school she worked here at Bouton. She went on to work at another animal care facility for a number of years before rejoining our team in 2013. Heidi and her husband have an adorable dog named Ozzy that they adopted in 2018. She enjoys musicals, travel, and paper crafting.
Jessica Nicholson
Chie Meredith
Chie (chee-ay) comes to us all the way from Fukuoka, Japan. She came to Colorado to study English and ended up meeting her future husband! Chie has always had a passion for animals and grew up having dogs as part of her family, and has enjoyed fostering retired greyhounds for several years. Chie and her husband Erik have two beautiful daughters and one wild Chihuahua/Jack Russell Terrier mix named Pinot. When not at work, Chie enjoys traveling around Colorado and spending time with friends and family.
Morgan Hein
Morgan is another Colorado native. She joined our Bouton team in the summer of 2018. She is currently a student at Columbine High School. Morgan hopes to attend Colorado State University after graduation. She has three loving dogs at home. When not at work she enjoys baking and hiking in our beautiful mountains.
Emily Vital
Emily is a Colorado girl as well, and is currently a senior at Heritage High School. She joined Bouton in October 2018 and has always loved animals. Emily grew up with lots of pets and farm animals when visiting her grandparents ranch and has even worked at a petting farm! She also started her own non-profit organization to raise money for local animal shelters. At home she has a Aussie/Border Collie named Thunder and four Parakeets named Iceburg, Snow, Limon & Blue. She doesn't know what she wants to do after high school yet but she knows it will be working with animals. In her free time she likes to meet up with friends and spend time with her family.