Dr. Kristen Hitt has been practicing Veterinary Medicine in the northern Virginia area for several years. Prior to attending vet school, Dr. Hitt was a registered nurse at a local hospital. Using her nursing skills while caring for a stray dog injured by a car, she realized that her dream job would be to combine her long love of animals with medicine. With the love and support of her family, Kris went to school at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and earned her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine and she became “Dr. Hitt”. As a student, Dr. Hitt was awarded the American Animal Hospital Association’s Student Achievement Award for outstanding achievement in Small Animal Medicine. After graduation, Dr. Hitt worked at a practice in Falls Church and did relief veterinary work for hospitals in Centreville, Chantilly, Clifton, Upper Marlboro and Germantown as she worked toward her goal of opening her own dream hospital, Mainstay Veterinary Practice.
Dr. Hitt has a strong interest in surgery and has completed multiple continuing education courses in ultrasound. She also believes in ‘giving back’ and started a feral cat program in Falls Church. She has traveled to Kentucky, and most recently to North Carolina, to perform surgeries on rescued puppy mill dogs and animals from low socio-economic areas and she has donated her time to the Animal Welfare League of Arlington.
While not busy helping animals, Dr. Hitt enjoys spending time with her husband and their dogs, Dibs and Moxie, her ‘mutt’ herd of horses at their family farm. Of course, she also enjoys any time she has with her four children, but that time is dwindling as her nest is officially empty. In addition to vet medicine, Dr. Hitt loves traveling, scrapbooking, organizing, and diet coke. She resides in Fairfax with her husband and dogs.
Q & A With Dr. Hitt!
What is your Favorite?
- Food: Pizza
- Candy: Licorice, Milk Chocolate
- Drink: Diet Coke, Mojito
- Movie: Pride and Prejudice
- TV Show: Law and Order, CSI
- Book: Anything by Jane Austen
- Music: 80s!
- Holiday: Thanksgiving
- Hobby: Needlepoint, scrapbooking, gardening
- Superhero: Wonder Woman
What is the Most Rewarding Part of Your Job?
Helping my clients strengthen their bonds with their beloved pets who are family members and ensuring that they have the best quality of life possible
What is the Hardest Part of Your Job?
When financial constraints limit successful (or possibly successful) medical care
What is One Medical Case that you Remember like it was Yesterday?
I remember removing a bleeding liver lobe in a small dog that would have died when the owner could not afford the specialist. The cancer was contained in the one lobe and the dog lived several more years!
What’s your Favorite Activity Outside of Work?
Walking with my dogs at my farm on the weekends
If you could spend a day with any famous person in the world, dead or alive, who would you choose and why?*
Can I say….Jamie Fraser? LOL
Tell me about the moment you chose to become a doctor.
Animals have always been a part of my life, but I didn’t consider being a vet until I was a registered nurse at a hospital. I considered going to medical school and considered the nurse practitioner route, but I had some reservations. One weekend, a stray dog was hit by a car near our farm. I rushed him to the vet for emergency surgery. I had mentioned to the vet that I was a nurse and she said, “Great, you can help!” I monitored anesthesia and she did the surgery to save the little dog. At that exact moment, I knew that becoming a vet would combine my love of medicine with my love of animals. My husband encouraged me to apply to vet school and I have never looked back. I was the only married vet student with children and could never have succeeded without the support of my family. It took a village and I love my job every day!
If you could only pick TWO types of cases in veterinary medicine to work on for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Surgery and Dermatology
