The lobby of Ocoee Animal Hospital was full of well-wishers trickling in and out Saturday, February 26, to celebrate Dr. Garry Day’s retirement after over 40 years treating the animals of North Georgia and Southeastern Tennessee.
“I love him,” Margie San Souci, one of Day’s patients’ owner said at his retirement party. She had a toy poodle that moved with her from Florida, where he wasn’t doing well. “I found Dr. Day, and he took care of him so well.”
Day, a native of Copperhill, graduated from Copper Basin High School in 1975. He always knew he wanted to pursue a career in a medical field, but he realized he wanted to become a veterinarian after raising a litter of golden retriever puppies from his dog Shannon as a teenager.
With the closest clinics in Cleveland, Tennessee, or Murphy, North Carolina, at the time, he learned a lot from the doctor in Cleveland and did much of the care himself. “I just really enjoyed it,” Day said. “It kind of pushed me to pursue vet medicine.”
Day attended University of Tennessee for both his undergraduate degree and vet school. “They were really hard on us. But for the reason of they wanted to graduate someone who knew what they were doing.”
In preparation for his first official day Monday, June 1, 1981, Day stopped by the Ocoee Animal Hospital the Saturday after he graduated from vet school and was promptly put to work. Although, he did not mind as “I was ready to go,” Day said.
In 1983, Day and Dr. Michael Zager, who retired in 2019, purchased Ocoee Animal Hospital from Dr. Hal Stolz, who founded the hospital in 1978. Back then, the clinic was located off Blue Ridge Drive near Tri-State EMC and was only 1,200 square feet. It was eventually expanded to about 2,400 square feet. In 1999, the clinic moved to their current location, 88 All Creatures Place, Blue Ridge.
Day worked with contractors to incorporate some ideas that would help the clinic care for their patients, such as noise reducing material between exam rooms and the lobby to create a quieter atmosphere for nervous pets.
Day has treated about 34 species in his career. Some of his more unusual patients were bears, reindeer, and even a giraffe. He has worked on farm animals, birds, reptiles, cats and dogs, but says he doesn’t have a favorite. “They all have their ups and downs.”
His wife, Linda, said she cannot believe how quickly 40 years have passed. She described when they were first married, she would go on his large animal calls to keep him company. She only lasted six months! Dr. Day only stopped going on those calls seven years ago.
“There are so many people that are great clients and great pet owners, it made my job much easier,” Day said of his time at Ocoee Animal Hospital, and credits the clinic’s success to the staff. “There is no way I could have done everything that I did for this place and myself without the great people I’ve had working with me.”
Day’s daughters, Emily Day Hodskins and Laura Day, have followed in his medical footsteps. Emily works as a cardiologist in Charleston, South Carolina, and Laura is a trauma nurse in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Both cite their father as a role model and express how extremely proud they are of him.
Of his retirement, Day explains, “I’m not retiring from veterinary medicine, I’m retiring to something else.” He said he is interested in some volunteer organizations, to joining more church activities, philanthropy and “a little bit of selfishness: to be able to go where I want to go, when I want to go.”
Day and Linda, are both certified scuba divers, and would like to eventually head back to the Caribbean for some diving trips. In the meantime, Day has some hikes planned for them and would like to “wrangle” his nephew into some backpacking trips, something he used to do a lot. “When and if things open up, I’ve never been to Europe, I’ve never been to South America, Asia, Australia, there are a lot of places I’d like to go.”
But, Day is not totally out of the game. He is filling in for a doctor on maternity leave, and plans to help out if that someone is on vacation, “if I don’t have anything else to do!” He also plans to be an advocate for the veterinary profession. “There is a real shortage of vets now, and there has got to be a way we can fix that.”
Currently, the Days are a one cat household as that is how Tennessee, their orange tabby, likes it. “If I sit down, I don’t know where he comes from; I don’t know where he was in the house, he is in my lap.”