On a warm April morning, Taylor Gaines ’13, has a short visit with one of his regular patients, who is typically anxious and standoffish. This is the reason why Gaines goes directly to this family’s home for checkups.
Before the treatment, Gaines collects some information from his clients and sets up his supplies, while the patient sits comfortably on the couch in the living room, purring. Gray with white patches, Poe is a cat who has arthritis, and today she will be getting her regular treatment to manage it. Gaines, a vet who does home visits, will give Poe her second dose of Solensia, which numbs the feeling of arthritis, and he also plans on trimming her nails.
Gaines picks Poe up and wraps her in a swaddle blanket for more control and so Poe will feel more at ease. Gaines quickly gives her the shot, to which she responds with a hiss, but after this, nothing more painful will take place.
Poe doesn’t seem too happy about Gaines trimming her nails, but she doesn’t make much of a fuss. As soon as her treatment is all done, Poe continues her day as normal and runs over to eat from her food bowl.
Gaines talks with his clients about helping Poe maintain a consistent weight, and from there the visit wraps up. Gaines will see Poe again soon.
Take the time to figure out what you love
Gaines did not begin his UMBC career thinking he’d be swaddling cats as part of his living. Originally, he majored in biochemistry and molecular biology to combine his favorite subjects from high school. Later, he added a minor in statistics, but it wasn’t until his senior year that he realized he wanted to be a veterinarian.
“In my junior year, it finally dawned on me what biochemistry was—the chemistry of living things. That led me into veterinary medicine, and my interest in how the chemicals in the medicines we use are interacting with the body,” he said.
““I like the problem-solving aspect of veterinary medicine. I always say, I could probably be an auto mechanic or something similar, too…. Figure out a problem and try to solve it—work within constraints, people’s budgets, and things like that."
After his junior year at UMBC, Gaines signed up for an organic chemistry summer research program at Texas A&M University that focused on drug design. But as he worked through the program, he found himself spending his mornings at Texas A&M’s veterinary school, talking to people about their experience, “And I said, ‘Okay, this is what I actually want to do.’ I didn’t go to college with an idea of what I wanted to do,” says Gaines. “I didn’t find it until I had one year left of undergrad.”
Gaines channeled this newfound understanding, and after UMBC, he graduated from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine with a doctorate of veterinary medicine and a master’s of public health. “I like the problem-solving aspect of veterinary medicine. I always say, I could probably be an auto mechanic or something similar, too. It’s the same job,” says Gaines. “Figure out a problem and try to solve it—work within constraints, people’s budgets, and things like that. That’s just a fun challenge, and you get to help people out, and they’re appreciative. I like all that stuff—it’s a very fun job.”
Gaines remembers how helpful the professors at UMBC were in fostering his success and helping him to figure out that he wanted to become a veterinarian. “I was able to work in Dr. Mauricio Bustos’s biology lab at UMBC. That led to me getting into that program at Texas A&M, and eventually, that’s how I found vet med.”
“It’s cool to learn there”
Standing in front of a play structure, Gaines watches his 3-year-old daughter, Opal, on the playground. Gaines explains that he enjoys the variety his job as a veterinarian gives him. Aside from doing house calls, he also works at a veterinary hospital. “One day a week I do house calls; on Wednesdays I do surgery; and Fridays I do office visits in the hospital. So every day is different,” he says.
Not only this, but he enjoys the flexibility it offers his schedule. “Like right now, I’m here watching my daughter. I’m able to provide for my family without working all the time,” he explains.
Prior to starting Catonsville Doc on the Go—his house-call veterinary business—in 2020, Gaines was working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an office job working in the export of animal products. “I found the office job unfulfilling, so I made a plan to transition to what you’d normally think of a vet—hands-on working with animals.”
Gaines met his now wife at UMBC, coincidentally, also named Taylor (Westhoff ’13). She majored in modern languages and linguistics, studying Spanish. “We never actually had any classes together, but we just met through a friend group,” he says.
“We always say we appreciate how focused on academics UMBC is,” says Gaines. “It’s not like you have to like a football team or be in a fraternity—you can just go there and learn. It’s cool to learn there.”
For now, Gaines says, he’s satisfied with his Doc on the Go business and that he enjoys making house calls. Sometimes it allows him the opportunity to treat more unique pets. “It is nice that you get to see things that people might not bring to the vet. I’ve done parrots, parakeets, and rats,” he says.
Opal chimes in, “And chickens!”
“And chickens, you’re right,” he replies.
Tags: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, CNMS, pre-professional, statistics
