1. Jodi Wiktorowski Eugene Animal Hospital. 1432 Orchard St. 541-342-1178. EugeneAnimalHospital.net.

2. Cameron Jones Amazon Park Animal Clinic, 725 E. 25th. 541-485-0161. AmazonParkVet.com.

3. Ashley “Niki” Fadden Animal Health Associates, 2835 Willamette. 541-345-1544. Aha.vet

After she graduated from veterinary school at Washington State University, Jodi Wiktorowski — raised in Buffalo, New York — did what many transplant Eugeneans have done. “I just opened a map and stopped here,” she says. “It feels like home.”

That was in 2003, and since then Wiktorowski (“Dr. Jodi,” as she is known) has made a name for herself at Eugene Animal Hospital treating the four-legged members of families (and even small birds), and Eugene Weekly readers have noticed, voting her Best Veterinarian.

Animals have always been Wiktorowski’s passion. As a kid, she tended to injured birds, some of them brought to her by people in the neighborhood. She also did volunteer work at clinics in high school, and she enjoyed the “homey” feel of those clinics. That homey feel was part of the allure of joining the staff at Eugene Animal Hospital, she says.

“You don’t get that everywhere,” she notes. “It’s like family. I want it to be part of the family.”

Wiktorowski became the sole owner of EAH on April 1, 2015, and has steered the hospital through pandemic difficulties, which included losing two full-time associates. EAH now has one full-time veterinary associate (Jeremy Polk) and two part-time associates.

“It didn’t affect us as much as we thought it would,” Wiktorowski says of the pandemic. “We got busier because everyone got puppies.”

And almost 20 years after opening that map and discovering Lane County, Wiktorowski, who has a farm with donkeys, emus and border collies near Creswell, has no regrets about coming to Eugene. 

“This is what I’ve always done,” she says. “We have rough days, but I love coming to work. We all have lots of love for the animals.”