Rachel Kagan, DVM

As a child, Rachel was very interested in medicine and always wanted to help animals live long and healthy lives. She knew she was too tall to be a jockey, so she decided to become a veterinarian!

Rachel grew up in Sherman Oaks, California, and started working in a veterinary hospital when she was 16 years old. She attended UC Berkeley to major in biological sciences before transferring to Cal Poly SLO, graduating in 1992. She went to the University of California Davis’s School of Veterinary Medicine and graduated in 1997. After a year-long internship in San Diego, she stayed in the area to work. She started work at Carlsbad Animal Hospital in 2003, and she retired in 2021. Rachel always loved client interaction and liked to think of herself as a friend to clients, not just a doctor. At home, Rachel lives with her husband John, a veterinary internal medicine specialist, and their children Cassidy and Nate. They have two dogs, Tucker and Cam Newton; two cats, Jack Sparrow and Booker; two guinea pigs, Patrick and Teddy; a crested Gecko named T Rex; a ball python named DJ; and Sydney the horse. She has been a friend of FACE for many years, donating both time and financial resources to the cause.