Erin’s Veterinary Clinic
Pets in town. Farm calls on the road. Muddy boots almost everywhere.
Caring for Ashby Lake—One Animal at a Time
Erin’s Veterinary Clinic is a busy mixed-animal practice serving the pets of fictional Ashby Lake, Ontario, as well as farms throughout the surrounding rural community. Dr. Erin Kelly buys into Dr. Dennis Barnes’s established practice rather than opening a clinic of her own, gaining both a veterinary partner and the large-animal work she has always wanted.
The clinic’s weekly rhythm is divided between three days of in-town pet appointments and two days of farm calls. That makes it more than an examination room: it is the working centre of a network of barns, farmyards, anxious owners, familiar animals, emergency calls, and long drives along Ashby Lake’s rural roads.
At a Glance
Type: Mixed-animal veterinary clinic
Community: Ashby Lake and surrounding farms
Veterinary Partners: Dr. Dennis Barnes and Dr. Erin Kelly
Staff: Jeff, veterinary technician; Dee, receptionist
Weekly Rhythm: Three clinic days and two farm-call days
Location: 18 Oak Street, Civic District, Ashby Lake
Residence: Erin’s three-room apartment is upstairs; her office is on the clinic level
First Appearance: Nothing Too Fancy
At the clinic, no day is ordinary—and no amount of planning survives the arrival of a frightened cat, a farm emergency, or Adrian Blake.
A Practice Built for Town and Country
Inside, the clinic is practical and busy: reception and a waiting area, examination and treatment spaces, animal holding, supply storage, and the equipment Erin and Jeff prepare for farm calls. The soundtrack is telephones, kennel doors, claws on hard flooring, nervous panting, cats objecting from carriers, running water, and vehicles pulling into the lot.
Dr. Barnes has already built the town-based pet practice when Erin joins him. Her arrival strengthens the clinic’s rural reach, allowing her to split her time between routine appointments and the unpredictable work waiting in barns and farmyards beyond town.
The People Behind the Practice
Dr. Erin Kelly
Veterinary partner and large-animal veterinarian
Capable, guarded, hardworking, and far more comfortable solving other people’s problems than admitting when she needs help.
Dr. Dennis Barnes
Veterinary partner and established town veterinarian
The veterinarian whose existing practice Erin buys into, preserving the trusted clinic he built while expanding its large-animal work.
Jeff
Veterinary technician
Jeff helps with treatment, equipment preparation, animal monitoring, inventory, restraint, and the unglamorous work that keeps a busy practice moving.
Dee
Receptionist
Dee is at the centre of the clinic’s calls, appointments, files, arrivals, and waiting-room logistics.
Erin’s Office and Upstairs Apartment
Erin’s sunlit office is on the clinic level, a working refuge filled with clinical notes, farm-call schedules, and practical furniture. Directly above the clinic is her home: a tiny three-room apartment with scuffed wood floors, an old-fashioned kitchenette, and a crooked bathroom mirror.
The arrangement is practical, affordable, and unmistakably Erin. She has built a life as close to her work as possible—functional, worn, private, and difficult to leave behind at the end of the day.
Erin’s Veterinary Clinic FAQ
What kind of veterinary clinic is it?
It is a mixed-animal practice serving household pets in Ashby Lake and farms in the surrounding rural community.
Who owns and operates the clinic?
Dr. Dennis Barnes operates the established practice, and Dr. Erin Kelly buys into it as his veterinary partner.
Where is Erin’s Veterinary Clinic?
The clinic is located at 18 Oak Street in the Civic District of fictional Ashby Lake, Ontario.
Which Ashby Lake book first features the clinic?
The clinic first appears in Nothing Too Fancy, the first book in the A Little Bit Ruined series.
Is Erin’s Veterinary Clinic real?
No. Erin’s Veterinary Clinic is a fictional location in Tasha Zima’s interconnected Ashby Lake romance novels.
Featured in A Little Bit Ruined
The clinic first becomes part of Ashby Lake in Nothing Too Fancy, where Erin’s muddy-boots veterinary life collides with Adrian Blake’s polished persistence. Their story continues in Nothing Too Tame.