Dr. Van Pennington

DVM

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 the clinic owner.
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!

Dr. Logan Kopp

DVM, Gold Level Rabbit Friendly Veterinarian

A Nashville native, Dr. Kopp received his Bachelor of Science degree from Lipscomb University and his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from 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).

Dr. Kopp loves every aspect of small animal medicine, including internal medicine, cardiology, dermatology, radiology, oncology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, and dentistry.

He has a very special interest in exotic small mammal practice, specifically rabbits, though he loves getting to help guinea pigs, mice, rats, gerbils, sugar gliders, hedgehogs, and ferrets to live better and healthier lives.

Dr. Kopp is proud to be the only GOLD level rabbit friendly veterinarian in North America having been certified by the Rabbit Welfare and Association Fund and is proud to be featured on the House Rabbit Society Website as a rabbit veterinarian.

Dr. Kopp also is an Associate Editor on VIN (Veterinary Information Network) where he helps veterinarians throughout the world with the rabbit cases. In March of 2023, Dr. Kopp taught an eight hour continuing education course to over 90 veterinarians throughout the world on the "Basics of Rabbit Medicine". Dr. Kopp taught his course again in May of 2024 to over 80 veterinarians throughout the world. He spoke at the AEMV/ARAV convention in New Orleans in August 2024 about the "Diagnosis and Management of Common Rabbit Emergencies for the General Practitioner" and "Hydrochlorothiazide and Potassium Citrate - Their use in hypercalciuria and urolithiasis". 

Dr. Kopp is one of the only (if not the only) general practitioners in Nashville working directly with Nashville Veterinary Specialists to use their CT machine to allow for more advanced imaging of exotic patients.

Dr. Kopp is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Tennessee Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Feline Practitioners, the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians, the British Veterinary Association, and he subscribes to multiple other journals as well allowing him to be up to date with the most current evidence-based medicine.

He also has been one of the most vocal advocates of promoting the RHDV2 vaccine for rabbits appearing on NewsChannel 5, writing an Op-Ed in the Tennessean and being featured in Scientific American.

When not doing clinical medicine or surgery, Dr. Kopp guest lectures at Lipscomb University in their pre-veterinary program and has developed the veterinary extern program at Priest Lake Veterinary Hospital.

In his free time, Dr. Kopp enjoys spending time on his farm, where he and his wife are teaching their young son how to care for their extended family of chickens, goats, house rabbits, horses, cats, and dogs.