Our Doctors
Desi Kelleher, DVM
Desi is originally from Horseheads, New York where she grew up. Desi obtained her undergraduate degree in Zoology at the New York State University at Oswego. She followed that with a Master’s Degree in Nutritional Biochemistry from Cornell University and a Veterinary Medicine Degree from Oklahoma State in 2002. Once she graduated veterinary school she spent her first year completing an equine internship at Fox Run Equine Center in Pennsylvania. Her first two years were spent at her mother’s clinic who is also a veterinarian in mixed Equine/small animal practice. She then moved to Tennessee with her husband who was serving in the military and practiced for two years in a mixed animal practice before moving to Maryland nine years ago. She then worked at a small animal clinic in Reisterstown for eight years before working for Greenbriar Veterinary Hospital in Frederick as the Medical Director.
She and her husband Ryan met while they were both students at Oklahoma State. Desi and Ryan have two children their daughter Rory, is eleven years old, her favorite activities are playing piano, dance, and musical theatre. Their son, Holden is six years old and has been active in soccer, t-ball, basketball, and karate. Both children are very active in the 4-H program in Carroll County. Their home is on three and a half acres and they have a small barn which houses their horses along with their dogs, cats, chickens, and bunnies.
Desi’s hobbies include horseback riding, gardening and she is an avid fitness enthusiast and runs in local 5K races. She is very involved in her community and teaches Sunday school for her church, volunteers for the PTO and helps with the Carroll County 4-H program.
Lauren Hendrickson, DVM
Lauren grew up near Chicago, riding horses and begging her parents for as many indoor pets as possible. Her father helped foster her love of all animals, introducing her to horses, aquarium fish, SCUBA diving, and even bringing home gerbils from the University laboratory where he worked. (To this day, he still maintains they were another researcher’s “pets.”) She obtained her A.B. from Dartmouth College, then went on to earn her DVM from The Ohio State University. She moved to Maryland to pursue a veterinary career in sports medicine for horses. After starting her family, Lauren transitioned to treating small animals.
When not at work, Lauren enjoys spending time with her 3 young children, teaching them about animals and nature. She also likes to hike, learn permaculture gardening, ride horses, keep Tanganyikan cichlid fish, and play with her beloved Welsh Springer Spaniel, Dorothy.
Thomas Ryan, DVM, ABVP
Dr. Ryan a diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners boarded in Avian Medicine is a 1983 graduate of the Veterinary program at the University of Parma in Italy and studied also in Paris London and New York.
Being on a farm in Ireland and living in various countries drew Dr. Ryan to work with a variety of species. As a child, he raised all types of birds, reptiles, dogs, cats and rabbits, fostering his love of animals.
Thirty-two years ago, Dr. Ryan came to Maryland to work with a large, multi-person veterinary practice in Reisterstown. But an urge to strike out on his own brought him to Carroll County and his current location.
He chose to locate his office in Westminster to remain close to many of his clients and patients from Baltimore, Littlestown, Gettysburg, and Frederick, as well as Carroll County. In addition to being one of few Carroll County veterinary hospitals to work with exotic animals, his is the only county facility to use state-of-the-art intensive care unit cages to treat exotic animals. Dr. Ryan is an adviser to various group that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife which includes injured waterfowl and Raptors.
Our Staff
Katie Ritter – Groomer
Katie has lived in Reisterstown, Maryland her whole life and has always had a love for animals. Once she reached 17 she was already volunteering at her local shelter and has worked at various vets, kennels, and grooming shops ever since.
Katie graduated Franklin High School in 2016 and went on to graduate The Virginia School Of Pet Grooming in 2018. Katie has now been grooming for the last 4 years. Katie loves Iced coffee, playing video games in her spare time, and listening to music.
Amber Eurice – Groomer
Amber is a Baltimore native, growing up on a small family farm in White Marsh, MD. Surrounded by animals her entire life, she continually brought home stray cats, amphibians, rats, fish & snakes. Always supported by her parents for her love of all creatures, she was vastly interested in learning & protecting all living things. Currently living in Owings Mills, MD with her partner Nic & her beautiful feline Leia, Amber has groomed dogs & cats for almost a decade & is thrilled to join the FST team. In her spare time, Amber loves being active, such as hiking, skating & yoga. Amber thoroughly enjoys cooking, painting, reading & collects vintage analog media.
Coryn Castellanos
Coryn grew up in Baltimore, MD, and currently resides in Hampstead, MD. Coryn was hired at FST in 2019 and has over 20 years of experience with small animal veterinary medicine. She is currently the Office Manager. She has a passion for all animals large and small.
She shares her home with her toy poodle Gumdrop, her cat Skaddle, two bunnies Chunk, and Romeo, along with her ball python Joey.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband Phil, fishing, gardening, reading, and spending time with family.
Kelsey Brigham
Kelsey has been living in Carroll County her whole life, she grew up on a thoroughbred racing farm when her fascination with animals began. She currently resides in Westminster, where she has two furry children. A 12-year-old Golden Retriever named Casie, and 3 year old Beagle named Cooper. Kelsey was recently hired at FST after serving 6 years at an emergency facility as a Vet Tech. Her hobbies include hanging out with friends and family, riding horses whenever she can and spending quality time with her doggies. Her future plans consist of having her own little farmette with horses, cows, chickens, goats, dogs, one cat and maybe, a pig or two.
Lexi Juico
Lexi Juico is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. She now lives in Finksburg, Maryland. Lexi graduated from Westminster High School in 2017 and graduated from Carroll Community College in May 2019 with her General Associates Degree. She is continuing her education at Penn Foster, striving for her certification as a Veterinary Technician. While Lexi was in high school, she attended the CASE- Animal Science program and excelled greatly. Lexi has been working for Feathers, Scales, and Tails since February of 2018. She started as a kennel technician and was quickly promoted to a veterinary technician. Lexi has had animals all of her life, which lead her to want to be in the field of veterinary medicine. Lexi is the proud owner of a 6-year-old Samoyed named Colten, and a 13-year-old domestic long-haired cat named Tristan. Lexi loves working with all of her co-workers. She is excited about the new changes coming to the hospital, and cannot wait to see what the future holds for the clinic, the team, and for herself.
Jennifer Zirbel
Jen is a lover of lost causes, bringing home injured wildlife and rescuing bugs since she could walk. A self-declared crazy cat lady, 12 years ago Jen left the white-collar world to spend more time with her family and to redirect her focus into surrounding herself with things she feels passionate about, animals.
With a background in customer service and a deep love for all living things, Jen joined Feather, Scales & Tails. The variety of animals seen at the practice, paired with a shared love of rescue and rehabilitation has made the FST team a dream job for Jen.
A Westminster native, Jen, and her family purchased a home in New Windsor with lots of land for all the future animals her husband will tolerate. Jen currently has two boys, 3 cats, and a turtle. She has hopes to one day also have chickens, goats, a pig, and a cat sanctuary.
Bridget Ward
Bridget Ward has lived in Carroll County all her life. Her love of animals she inherited from her grandmother who wanted to be a veterinarian all her life and could never turn a stray away. Bridget has three plus years of front desk experience within the veterinary field. Bridget and her husband have two pit bulls together and enjoy working on and restoring classic cars together in their free time.
Melody Schudel
Melody is originally from upstate New York and relocated to Westminster as a child, where she currently resides along with her 2 teenagers, 3 dogs (Sasha, a lab mix, Eleanor, a corgi and Lavender, a golden retriever) 3 cats (Pitten, Wendy and Pumpkin) and a bearded dragon (Beetlejuice). Melody has had a lifelong love for animals but especially for dogs. She’s never met a dog she didn’t fall in love with.
Jazzmyne Bosley
I was born and raised in York Pa. I have always been an animal lover I have always had dogs and cats my whole life. I went to school for a veterinary technician at YTI York and recently graduated this summer I am waiting to take the VTNE to become a CVT. I did my externship here at feathers scales and tails and fell in love with working with the exotics. I later plan on moving down south and furthering my career into zoological medicine to work with larger exotic animals.
Maya Fornaro
Maya loves everything nature high and low. Growing up with an outdoorsy father, she would camp, hunt, hike and anything in between. Capturing all the beauty that this planet has to offer is her mission. Maya is a native Pennsylvanian, born and raised. She was raised from a family of love for animals, and has always carried an appreciation for nature and its beauty. Maya enjoys adventure, art and you guessed it, her pets! Maya’s care for animals has brought her to our Veterinary hospital. Maya is the mother to 3 cats; Downey, Willow and Storm, 1 dog Oliver, 2 bunnies; Franklin and Lilly, 1 Guinea pig Morty and 1 frog Oswald.
Leah Lee
Leah grew up in a rural area in Baltimore County. She brought home every species of animal from turtles, and snakes, to homeless dogs and cats. She gets her love for animals from her father. She studied Psychology at Baltimore County Community College in 2012. Leah also took veterinarian technician classes at Carroll Community College.
After a car accident in 2017 she lost her left leg and was more determined than ever to do what she could to give back to the community. She found her purpose by giving back to animals and helping owners care for their pets.
Leah has a Cane Corso (Nova) and 2 White Siberian huskies (Ghost and Koda) as well as 4 red eyed green tree frogs and a crested gecko. Leah loves to spend time outdoors gardening, fishing and enjoying time with her son and teaching him that it doesn’t matter how hard it seems at times you can always overcome obstacles as long as you try.
Kate Myers
Originally from Baltimore County, Kate is the Jane of all trades. With experience in surgical technology, the automotive industry and in the culinary arts, Kate found herself in love with the veterinary world and knew it was exactly where she was meant to be. As an animal lover of all kinds, with the exception of scorpions, Kate has never had a quiet house being as she rescued and nurtured every fur or feathered life in need of mercy and care. She resides in Hampstead with her longtime boyfriend, Jimi, along with their shepherd mix, Euphrates 10, their chi-weenie, Chopper 6, their veiled chameleon, Rangus 2, an eclectus parrot named Gemma 4, their sun conure, Vinny 11, four green cheek conures named Bailey 2, Brock 2, Onyx 1 and Olivia 1, and lastly, Killian 3, their foster ball python. Kate is also a talented breeder of conures at her comfortable home-based aviary. In her free time, you can find her riding her V-Twin motorcycle, playing disc golf, creating a culinary masterpiece, or hand crafting parrot toys.
Lilly Tobin
Lilly grew up in Glenburnie, Maryland. She moved to Westminster during her junior year of high school. After she graduated in 2019, she spent a few months in Brisbane, Australia where she explored the city, and traveled to places outside the city including Toowoomba, and Strade. During her time there she experienced a variety of wildlife including koalas, kangaroos and wallabies, dingoes, and giant scary spiders. Unsure of what her next step was when she returned to the U.S., Lilly worked a few different jobs and completed a few college classes, until she decided to pursue a career in the Veterinary field. She is currently enrolled in the Veterinary Assistant Program at Carroll Community College. She owns two pit bull rescues (Row and Noodle), a bunny (Cooper), and a few chickens. She hopes to one day start her own animal rescue, as she is passionate about helping animals in need.
