Dr. Gretchen Cawein practices at Saugerties Animal Hospital in Saugerties, New York. She began her career in veterinary medicine in New York City in 1993 as a receptionist, office manager and kennel aide. She then became a licensed veterinary technician, and then obtained her DVM at Cornell in 2014. Dr. Cawein has also trained in surgery and internal medicine in New York City. She also trained at the New York City ASPCA in Humane Law Enforcement.
Dr. Cawein has worked extensively with small and large animals as well as exotics, in both private practice and at the Wildlife Health Center at the Bronx Zoo. She has also worked in underserved communities in the U.S and in Africa, Malaysia and Indonesia. She worked at an exclusively feline practice in New York City and, later, at a small animal general practice on the Upper West Side, until moving to the Catskill Mountains in the fall of 2018.
Dr. Cawein is a member of the New York Bar Association Animal Law Committee, as well as the AVMA. She is also accredited by the USDA Category II, and is an animal rights advocate that considers declawing and ear/tail docking gratuitous and egregious mutilation. She currently lives on a Christmas tree farm near Woodstock, surrounded by the flora and fauna that make this world beautiful.