Pet owners in and around the Paulette community now have a veterinarian next door. Located just up the road from Paulette Elementary School and only eight minutes from Halls, Thunder Road Veterinary Services, LLC celebrated their grand opening last month during a ribbon cutting and open house with family and friends. There were free prizes, raffles, discounted merchandise, facility tours of the new veterinarian clinic and a food truck.
Doc Williams, business owner and veterinarian at the clinic, has always had a love of animals. He was the kid that brought home animal skulls, turtles and snakes to his mother’s dismay. He remembers watching cattle give birth as a kid and being the first one every morning to see and spend time with the class gerbil in kindergarten.
Williams went to LMU as an undergrad studying optometry before switching to wildlife management and graduating with honors. He spent a summer volunteering with the US Fish and Wildlife Services. Then he began working with the UT veterinary school where he decided he wanted to become a veterinarian.
Graduating vet school from the University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine in 1993, Williams decided to join the Army. As a young vet he was the first on the scene in New Mexico during the wild horse epidemic and has practiced medicine around the world. Williams spent a year and a half overseas at the North Korean DMZ before returning to the United States to complete a tour at White Sands Missile Range.
Saving every dime from Uncle Sam, Williams and a former classmate decided to open the first 24-hour, seven days a week small animal hospital in Middle Tennessee. Within 10 years it grew to two hospitals, 80 employees, 10 veterinarians and around 25,000 clients.
Wanting to move back home and practice medicine, Williams bought a place in 2005 in Union County and made the move to full time in 2008 just before the economy fell out. He hung his shingle and started making house calls only. In 2011 was called by LMU asking for help setting up their veterinarian program.
Williams dropped what he was doing and was hired as the attending veterinarian for the university. “During that course of tenure at the university, my mother developed Lou Gehrig’s and that was when I made the decision to change direction and get back home,” said Williams.
Williams started doing relief work for other veterinarians when they were away before deciding to buy a building and open his own practice in the Paulette Community in August of 2018. The building Williams purchased has been completely remodeled and improved with a grooming facility and full-service climate-controlled boarding for pets that includes air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter, optional cage sizes from small to large runs, and a 24-hour video surveillance system.
There is a fence in the back where animals are walked twice a day. There is also an on-site laboratory for lab work and an in-house and online pharmacy. Williams will soon add landscaping and will be replacing the temporary sign out front completing the transformation of the former building.
The clinic mostly sees small animals such as cats and dogs but treats larger animals on a case-by-case basis.
“We do a lot of preventive medicine instead of ‘fire engine medicine’ here,” said Williams. “Dogs can have breathing issues, dental disease, skin disease, arthritis and heart problems just like humans. And many of these issues can be prevented.
“Treating your dog for heartworms and other parasites not only protects your pet but your family as well.”
Williams is proud to offer his products and services at an affordable rate and has a meet-or-beat guarantee on just about everything they do. You can even get free shipping on your pet food directly to your home.
Williams recommends bringing your adult pet in for an exam once a year unless health issues require more visits. It's recommended puppies and kittens are examined no later than six to eight weeks old. It would be ideal to examine the mother before breeding.
Williams plans to open two more locations in the future, one in Maynardville and another in the Halls area. The Paulette clinic is located at 1545 Maynardville Hwy. and is just eight minutes from Halls. The clinic is open to the public Monday and Tuesday 8 to 5, closed Wednesday, open Thursday 11 to 7, Friday 8 to 5, Saturday 8 to noon and closed on Sunday. You can reach the clinic by phone at (865) 274-3629.