Joanna

Joanna joined Patton’s Client Relations team in April 2018 after being a long-time client. She decided that, “Finding a job where I could transfer my prior customer support experience [of over 35 years in computer support] and combine it with my love of animals seemed to be the perfect combination.”
Joanna has been a volunteer at the Maryland Zoo since August 1999. She is both an animal handler who helps to educate the public about animals at the zoo, and she also volunteers her time in the Commissary preparing diets for some of the animals. Joanna handles birds of prey, reptiles, small mammals and even a tarantula!
Joanna currently has four cats: Charlie “the nanny” adopted from the SPCA in 2001. Charlie takes care of any other cats that come into her home. Max “the boss of the house” who came home from the Maryland Zoo with Joanna on a rainy night in 2006. Rocky, a feisty girl who she found on the roadside hit by a car in 2009, and Chuck, who despite being blind, is the “best fly catcher in the house.” Chuck was found with his brother, Bob in 2013. Both were ill, and Bob has since passed away, but Chuck is doing well. She clearly identifies with Ernest Hemingway’s quote, “One cat just leads to another.” Joanna also has three budgies that she had adopted from a rescue and from a friend who could no longer care for one of them.
Joanna, like many of us in the veterinary field has always loved animals. She says, “Growing up there were always animals in our home…there was even one time when my parents allowed me to bring home an aquarium full of newts! It seemed only natural to gravitate to volunteer activities such as the zoo and wildlife rescue.” Joanna’s previous co-workers feel she has found her dream job, and we would tend to agree! We are so happy to have her as part of the Patton Veterinary Hospital team!