Dr. Hannah Burnett - Owner/Veterinarian

Although she had always been fascinated with science and medicine, Dr. Hannah Burnett was ultimately inspired to take the leap into veterinary care by her childhood cat, Carla. When Carla fell ill and needed medical attention, Dr. Burnett took her to a veterinarian—little did she know that she herself would become hooked! Dr. Burnett hasn’t looked back since; she’s the proud owner and chief veterinarian here at Hometown Veterinary Clinic. Dr. Burnett grew up right here in Jacksonville and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Medical Science from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville before earning a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Dr. Burnett has extensive training in shelter medicine and was able to put her skills to work to help hundreds of animals at various shelters throughout Mississippi, Illinois, and South Carolina. After helping pets at a practice in Springfield, Dr. Burnett was thrilled to purchase Hometown Veterinary Clinic in April of 2017—she’s been tending to the area’s pets and animal parents here ever since. As a veterinarian, Dr. Burnett is particularly fond of feline medicine and also remains passionate about creating a low-stress environment in the clinic in order to make office visits easier for everyone. Their brand new clinic was created from a local building in the historic neighborhood with this idea in mind and provides a calm, home-like atmosphere to ease patient (and owner!) stress. In October 2019, Hometown Veterinary Clinic moved to a new facility at 605 W. State St. The new clinic has separate dog and cat waiting and exam rooms for less stressful interactions between animals and a comfortable atmosphere. Dr. Burnett is most passionate about soft-tissue surgery, dentistry, and pain management. Dr. Burnett continues to expand her skills and knowledge in order to continue to remain as current and up to date as possible with updated equipment and technologies to provide Jacksonville with the highest level of patient care. Dr. Burnett’s surgeries always receive the highest level of pain management possible and small incisions for the easiest and least painful recoveries. Most of all, Dr. Burnett loves interacting one-on-one with the pet owners (and their fur babies) of her hometown on a daily basis! Dr. Burnett also enjoys working with Morgan County Animal Control performing surgeries for shelter pets and working with the officers on abuse and neglect cases. Aside from her interests in veterinary medicine, Dr. Burnett likes practicing her photography skills, playing piano, working on renovation projects in her 1920s-era home, camping, traveling (her favorite trips so far have been to Maui, Oregon, California, and Colorado’s Rocky Mountains!), and spending quality time with her family. She has a young son who you may see shadowing Dr. Burnett in the clinic after school, a lovable Pomeranian named Austin, two mischievous cats, a blind cat named Bolton and an orange tabby named Drogo, and a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix, affectionately named Buddy, after one of her favorite patients. She also has a few rescue clinic cats who spend their days here at the hospital: Scarlett, whose favorite pastime is causing trouble behind the scenes and charming clients with her one-eyed cuteness; Juliette, who mostly prefers to stay out of the limelight; Jasper, an orange boy with the best personality and desire to be in the middle of everything, and the clinic’s addition, a mischievous snow white cat named Jellycat, who garners all the attention with her tiny adorable size and heterochromia (one blue eye and one green eye!). Don’t be surprised if you any of the cats visiting you in the exam room! Bean originally came from Krystle's house after having a common urinary issue predominantly in male kitties called stress cystitis. Hoping a change in scenery would help with his issues, he was slowly welcomed by the other clinic cats. Bean now thrives at the clinic, constant pets and love by the girls, extra snacks and cheese make his days a lot easier. If you ever spy the cute orange and white kitty with the half stache, you've met the Bean, himself.

Kateland - Assistant

Kateland was raised in Harristown, IL, and recently had the opportunity to move in with her grandmother in Winchester, IL, working as a tech assistant at Hometown Veterinary Clinic. As a child, Kateland found joy in illustrating her family and pets. Although her parents and twin brother were consistently penciled in stick figure form, her dog always had more attention to detail. As she began to learn more about the anatomy of the animals she was creating, a cat with exaggerated features, such as abnormally large eyes and the fluffiest tail, transformed into the common house cat. Kateland grew up with a sizable amount of animal contact through the many animals her family had adopted, caring for her own pets, and walking or dog sitting the neighbor's dogs. Her pets in the past include a hamster, a squirrel, a turtle, fish, baby bunnies, and two ferrets, to multiple large dogs. She has a white cat named Ollie, who has the distinguishable characteristic of one blue eye and one green eye. Kateland started her college journey to become a veterinarian at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, IL, where she initially interned at Hometown Veterinary Clinic. She then graduated from UIS of Springfield with a bachelors in Biology, minor in Chemistry and Art. She will be attending Mizzou College of Veterinary Medicine starting in the fall 2022 and hopes to return to Jacksonville once she graduates with her DVM. Her lifelong dream is to open up her own practice as a veterinarian like Dr. Burnett has done for herself and create memorable art works of her future patients for her clients.