DVM/Practice Owner
Dr. Downie is a Colorado native and graduated from Bear Creek High School, and has harbored a passion for animals since childhood. She rode horses for Westernaires and ran a small rodent breeding business out of her bedroom when she was a teenager! She always had dogs, but didn’t have her first cat until college because her family was allergic.
She is proud to hold her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Colorado State University, graduating in 2003. She pursued the small animal track at CSU. After school, she completed an internship at Oradell Animal Hospital in New Jersey. Following her intern year, she moved into New York City and practiced emergency medicine, then at a feline-exclusive practice in Brooklyn before settling into a high quality Upper West Side small animal practice, Westside Veterinary Center.
After some time in New York City, her growing family made it harder to stay in the city so they came back to CO. Dr Downie was struggling to find a practice where she could balance being a new mom as well as a private practitioner; she was worried about the long hours that she worked at her previous job. She also wanted to work for a private practice, not a corporate practice. She had many interviews, but 6 months later hadn’t decided on the right place. This is when she was approached by a group of people starting a new humane society serving Littleton and Englewood, and she joined this group and helped open up the spay-neuter clinic for this new animal shelter, The Humane Society of the South Platte Valley.
After working in shelter medicine for some time, she started to miss certain aspects of private practice, such as having her own clientele. Dr. Downie later acquired Redstone from a retiring veterinarian, where she integrated private practice with her passion for shelter medicine. Under her leadership, Redstone has developed a partnership with the Humane Society, offering reduced-cost services for shelter pets and complimentary wellness exams for new adoptions. This collaboration enriches the practice’s community role and enhances animal welfare in our community.
Professionally, Dr. Downie enjoys dentistry, surgery, internal medicine, and managing chronic conditions. She enjoys working with both dogs and cats, but does particularly enjoy being a detective in some of the tough internal medicine cases with older cats (throwback to her New York City days!) She truly has a passion for meeting and serving all of the people in our community while she helps them with their furry family members.
Outside of work, Dr. Downie enjoys tennis, skiing, and long walks with her dogs. She also supports her children’s many sports endeavors and serves as Vice President of the Humane Society of the South Platte Valley’s board.