Welcome to Priest Lake Veterinary Hospital, PLLC
Your Veterinarian in Antioch, TN 
Call us at (615) 361-4646

Ever since Dr. Pennington could remember he wanted to become a Veterinarian. His compassion for healing and helping animals made him realize at the age of 14 that this is what he wanted to do. He was hired on and worked hard in this same clinic in clean-up for 5 years just to learn anything he could before he entered college.

Dr. Pennington did his undergraduate studies at Vol. State Community College and at U.T. Martin and graduated from the University of Tennessee's Veterinary program.

After college Dr. Pennington returned to Priest Lake Veterinary Hospital and is now a clinic owner along with Dr. McCollum.

Dr. Pennington treats all types of pets- he has a special interest in exotic species, and currently owns a number of exotic pets personally, such as reptiles, birds, and pocket pets.

He and his wife have 2 sons who love pets as much as their parents!

A Nashville native, Dr. Kopp may be a new veterinarian on staff at Priest Lake Veterinary Hospital, but he's not new to the hospital, having worked in various roles here prior to earning his doctorate in veterinary medicine at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville (UTK). While at UTK, Dr. Kopp was also honored with seven awards in excellence, including the AVCIM Internal Medicine Award in Small Animal Medicine, the Cardiology Veterinary Student Award, the Excellence in Dentistry and Oral Surgery award, the Community Practice Student Clinician of the year award, the Merck award, the Small Animal Faculty Award of Excellence and membership into Phi Zeta (the veterinary honor society). 

He is also RECOVER certified in both basic and advanced life support having undergone additional training in CPR for both dogs and cats.

Upon graduation, Dr. Kopp has returned to Nashville, and is excited to bring the newest features of veterinary medicine to Priest Lake to help further the care of his patients. He's passionate about every aspect of small, exotic and large animal medicine, including internal medicine, cardiology, dermatology, radiology, oncology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology and dentistry.

In his free time, Dr. Kopp enjoys spending time on his farm, where he and his wife Amy are teaching their young son Grady how to care for their extended family of 25+ chickens, three goats, several rabbits, two horses, four cats, two fish and four dogs.

Dr. Kopp looks forward to helping you care for your dog, cat, rabbit, guinea pig, mouse, rat, chicken, gerbil, sugar glider, hedgehog or ferret!

Dr. Kopp is a proud member of Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians!

A native of Knoxville, Dr Sara Tamas received her BS in Animal Science from the University of Tennessee, then graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984.  She is a proud UT fan!  Dr Tamas practiced in Missouri briefly before returning to Tennessee and founded Village Veterinary Clinic in Mt Juliet which she owned and operated for 19 years.  During those years, she was one of the few veterinarians in the Nashville area who saw exotic pets, so she established a large clientele before selling her practice in 2006.  She is very excited to join the team at Priest Lake and develop relationships with clients and help owners keep their pets healthy. 

Dr Tamas lives in Mt Juliet with her husband Jim and their Irish Setter, Rogan, and three cats.   She has previously owned an African Grey parrot, many turtles and cockatiels, an African Spur-thighed Tortoise and several Bearded Dragons.  She also used to breed and show Longhaired Dachshunds and Giant Schnauzers.  While she enjoys seeing exotics, her area of special interest is surgery and feline medicine, she's definitely a cat person! 
Dr Tamas has two grown children who are artists in the Northeast.  In her free time she enjoys traveling, sailing, snow skiing and hiking.