Cholette Ness, LVT

I'm Cholette Ness, a licensed veterinary technician. I've been in this field over 23 years.

I grew up in Montana. I am an only child. I spent much of my younger years wondering around the barn on my grandparents cattle ranch talking to the horses and kittens. I have many fond memories of those days. My grandfather driving the pickup slowly through the fields. My grandmother and I in the back tossing out hay bales to the cows. The rumble of the rushing cattle through the shoots. The tiny fire in the snow heating the branding iron. Sitting on the fence watching my grandfather castrate calves and my grandmother draw up antibiotics in a huge metal syringe with a huge metal needle. Sitting on the back of my grandmothers horse during a cattle drive. Holding on for dear life. My grandmother bringing new born calves in the kitchen, in from the freezing Montana weather to bottle feed them.

I admired my grandmother. She was strong and self-sufficient, caring and compassionate. I new from a very young age I wanted to be a veterinarian. I had an innate ability to care for and connect with animals. After attending a couple years at Montana state University, I had enough of the long cold winters. One morning I dug my car out of 4 feet of snow, packed it with all my belongings and drove to Seattle. I worked several years with dogs and cats. Learned wildlife rehabilitation. Moved on to birds and exotics and then eventually to a research lab. After way too many years in research, I moved on to teach a Laboratory Animal Science course at the veterinary technician school.

Research was emotionally damaging. So, I dove deep into animal rescue. It was time to follow my dreams. I traveled and experienced life. I traveled to Mexico to do spay and neuter clinics as often as I could. I hooked up with ASPCA. Worked cruelty cases with fighting dogs and roosters. I went to St Croix twice, after a hurricane, to shelter and take care of the animals. I have even taken care of elephants in India.

The last couple years I've been doing relief work at the local veterinary clinics. I've recently found "home" working with Seattle Veterinary Outreach (SVO). It's been an amazing eye opening experience helping the local homeless communities.

I'm so excited to learn from RWJF to build a Culture of Health and make a bigger impact with Seattle Street Outreach.