It’s hard to imagine a career path more direct and sure than the one Haley Davis has followed to her position as associate veterinarian at Brownsburg Animal Clinic.
Of her lifelong desire to be a veterinarian, Dr. Davis says, “It has always been there. From the time I was as young as I could be, I’ve known this is what my job’s going to be.”
Dr. Davis grew up in Brownsburg and Indianapolis, the middle child of five. Most of her family still lives in the area.
The family pets were mainly cats, but she also had some rats and guinea pigs that led to her continuing affinity for rodents.
As a child, when she played at being a veterinarian using toy medical instruments, her patients were stuffed animals. “Our cats were not as tolerant of my exams and treatments,” she recalls.
Throughout her childhood and adolescence, her entire family understood and supported her unwavering career goal. With an eye toward her admission to vet school, her father encouraged her at age 14 to start looking for opportunities to gain relevant work experience at area veterinary clinics.
In addition to exploring a practice where her cousin worked as a veterinary technician, Dr. Davis began volunteering regularly at Brownsburg Animal Clinic at age 15 before being hired the following year to work at the clinic after school and on Saturdays as a kennel assistant.
At that time, Dr. Davis was an honor student at Cardinal Ritter High School in Indianapolis and a volunteer at Morning Dove Therapeutic Riding Center in Zionsville.
“I started at Morning Dove as a side walker, with my focus on the rider,” she recalls. “I eventually became a horse leader, grooming, saddling and leading the horse through the exercises.”
At IndyHumane—formerly the Humane Society of Indianapolis—Dr. Davis volunteered as a dog-walker and playmate to the shelter animals, “trying to show them off to people” she hoped would adopt them.
In a departure from animal-related work, Dr. Davis also volunteered “a lot” at Noble, Inc., a non-profit agency that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, offering summer camps, school-to-work transition programs, employment services, community living and advocacy through The Arc of Greater Indianapolis.
As expected, Dr. Davis’s next step after graduation from high school was to study veterinary medicine. She began as an undergraduate Animal Science major at Purdue University, completing her bachelor’s degree in 2021.
While an undergraduate, Dr. Davis worked in an animal behavior laboratory, helping research and author two papers exploring the impact of environmental changes on the natural behaviors of research rats and mice.
In her work as an assistant in the Oncology Department at Purdue’s veterinary teaching hospital, she developed relationships with patients in long-term treatment and with their owners. “In the Oncology Department, I learned how to get to know and help seriously ill patients and their people get through their worst experiences.”
Also as an undergraduate, Dr. Davis’s work at a veterinary emergency hospital in Indianapolis presented further learning opportunities. “It taught me how to deal with chaos, react quickly to acute emergencies and support pet owners in their most difficult circumstances.”
Upon admission to Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Davis eagerly immersed herself in her coursework. “I love the science behind veterinary medicine,” she says. “I like solving the puzzles.”
Among her favorite rotations while in vet school, Dr. Davis cites her work in shelter medicine at IndyHumane and Priority 4 Paws.
“I like dealing with the individual animals but also addressing their needs as part of the shelter population as a whole,” she says.
“Since shelter budgets tend to be tight, my shelter medicine rotations also helped me learn how to offer the best care possible when funds are limited.”
Dr. Davis continued volunteer work while in vet school, becoming certified with her dog Siri as a Pet Partners therapy team. “Although she wasn’t asking for a job, I wanted to get Siri mentally engaged. She loves people, and I see her come alive during her therapy work—mainly supporting former addicts in recovery settings.
“We hope next to get involved in library programs where kids can practice reading to Siri.”
Dr. Davis adopted her dog Enzo after getting to know him as a canine educator at Purdue. “We have dogs donated every year by breeders and research labs to live at Purdue and act as our first patients. We take care of them and learn how to do physical exams and non-invasive procedures.
“At the end of the year, they’re adopted out. After working with Enzo that year, we bonded, and I adopted him.”
Dr. Davis’s two cats—Howie and Link—have both been blood donors at IndyVet Emergency and Specialty Hospital in Indianapolis and Purdue Small Animal Hospital in West Lafayette. “They’ll probably return there soon for more volunteer blood donation work of their own.”
Rounding out her personal menagerie are a half-dozen pet rats. “Some are retired lab rats I adopted after their research work was finished. Now they’re just chilling as happy and healthy little gremlins.”
In her final year before graduation, Dr. Davis returned to Brownsburg Animal Clinic to complete a three-week externship. As an extern, Dr. Davis shadowed clinic veterinarians to get a feel for what it would be like to start her own work as an associate veterinarian in a few short months.
“Obviously, the veterinarians were doing their own exams and managing cases, but they let me do my own physical exams first and come up with treatment plans,” she recalls. “Before, when I’d worked there as a veterinary assistant, I was taking histories, drawing blood and playing more of a supporting role. As an extern, I realized, ‘Hey, I’m getting to do doctor things now!’”
A few months later, in May 2025, Dr. Davis completed her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Purdue. Less than a week later, she joined our staff as an associate veterinarian.
In her time away from the clinic, in addition to her continuing volunteer work, Dr. Davis is an avid reader of fantasy fiction and enjoys classes in aerial silks where she’s learning to perform acrobatics while hanging from fabric. “I took aerial silks classes intermittently at a studio in Indianapolis while in school and I hope to get back to it weekly as a way of keeping physically active.”
In her full-time work as a veterinarian, Dr. Davis is now in charge of her own cases. “It’s been an adjustment to be the main person in charge of a case, but that’s what I’ve been preparing for all my life. All the doctors are super-nice when I ask questions, and all the animals and their owners are teaching me something new every day. However much I learn, I don’t feel there will ever be a point when I will know everything.”
Through her many years growing into veterinary medicine, Dr. Davis has come to appreciate bonding with animals as the most rewarding aspect of her chosen career.
“When you feel like you’ve earned their affection and trust—especially cats, who make you work for their affection—it all feels so worthwhile,” she says, adding, “Building that bond with the owners means a lot, too—especially when they seek you out and choose you to care for their animal.”