Our Mission
2 Tails Veterinary Services LLC is a mobile veterinary service. We come to your house, farm, ranch, barn, operation facilities, or even just meet you in a pasture to provide excellent, compassionate, educational veterinary services. We believe that optimal animal health requires smart, compassionate vets and dedicated owners, but also that veterinarians should share their expertise to empower owners and animal caretakers to provide the best possible healthcare to their pets. By focusing on client education and preventive healthcare our goal is to be proactive in keeping your animal healthy, not waiting for disease to strike. Our motto is "Cultivate Wellness" because we know that when the team involved in any animal's healthcare work together we can cultivate happier, healthier animals and a more fulfilling life for the people that love them.
Who We Are
Dr. Julie Stafford is a veterinarian with a passion for the outdoors. After spending five years in a clinical veterinary setting, she decided to take her skills to the road as 2 Tails Veterinary Services with a sprinter van that travels a 12,000 sq mile swath across Alaska. As a vet, she focuses on education and preventive health; believing that teaching clients animal wellness is the best antidote to illness.
Dr. Stafford is passionate about many fields of veterinary medicine but is especially tenacious on communication within an animal healthcare team because it is paramount to providing the best veterinary care. While often overlooked, communication is of the utmost importance in the care of our animals; if a veterinarian prescribes a medication to be given every 6 hours but the owner works 12 hour shifts, the treatment plan is doomed from the start. If a client doesn't mention the patient is drinking more water than she used to and is a ravenous eater then the vet may not catch an underlying cause for a resistant infection. Because animals can't speak for themselves, a veterinarian is dependent on information from clients to know what the issues with a patient are, in return clients must trust that a veterinarian has the animal's best interest at heart and is willing to listen and discuss any problems that they may have in following the recommended treatment plan.
Aside from communication, Dr. Julie has a keen interest in leadership and management of the veterinary profession. She served as president of the Alaska Veterinary Medical Association during the 2018-2019 term. She was honored with the World Small Animal Veterinary Medical Association's Next Generation award that was awarded due to her dedication to the health and wellness of veterinarians. Issues such as burn-out, depression, and suicide run rampant in the veterinary profession and Dr. Stafford has worked to de-stigmatize these issues and promote wellness within the profession. You can read more about Dr. Stafford's award in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
At the start of 2022, Dr Stafford adopted River from the Mat-Su Animal Shelter. River is 60 pounds of wiggly happiness.
Meet the Team
Practice Manager
Melissa Wolf
Melissa joined the team in early 2021. She works remotely handling appointment scheduling, client communication, social media and more.
She is the Alaska Representative for Whippet Rescue and has fostered for Greyhound Pets of America. She has served on the board for the Alaska Hound Group Association and volunteered for Anchorage Animal Control and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Her own dogs have competed in AKC events and been certified therapy animals.