Keith A. Bailey, DVM
I Started Out as a Child
From age four, I started hanging out at the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine. I graduated kindergarten from Collins Kiddie College down the street. My father graduated with his DVM in 1965 when I was eight years old. At that time, he opened his own veterinary hospital, Southwest Veterinary Hospital, in suburban Tulsa. I “helped” him with both farm animals and pets. Occasionally we got to see something unique, like working on an African lion and a chimpanzee with the Ringling Brother’s Barnum and Bailey Circus, and reconstructing a goose after being attacked by a dog on Christmas Eve, twice, two years in a row, same goose, same dog, again on Christmas Eve!
I graduated from Daniel Webster High School in 1975 and went straight to college at OSU. In 1977 I tricked my high school sweetheart into marrying me and we moved to Stillwater, where she helped me study and pass all my exams. In undergrad I was involved in three different research programs involving both horses and cattle. I also took a graduate level course in advanced mammalian physiology, involving live animal surgery. Since I was the only one experienced in IV catheterization (thanks Dad), I induced anesthesia in all our subjects and calibrated the physiography machines (a monitoring device for ECG, oxygen saturation, blood pressure and respiration, as well as electrical conductivity across nerve fibers). These surgeries ranged from two to eight hours and the reports were often over twenty pages long. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Zoology, I entered Veterinary school at OSUCVM.
In 1984 I graduated with my DVM and entered private practice. I worked in mixed practice in Mannford, OK and Eastern Kentucky in the Appalachian Mountains, as the only veterinarian in all of Letcher County. I gained experience in both large and small animal medicine.
I soon moved back to Tulsa and joined my father’s practice until he retired in 1990 and I took it over. By this time, we had been annexed into the city limits and the large animals had been driven out of the area. It was largely a small animal practice.v
Melissa and I moved the practice to the busy corner of 71st and Elwood in 2004. We were there for twenty years and practiced state of the art medicine, endeavoring to stay abreast of the most current trends, without forgetting our roots. I soon became one of the first VSLS (Veterinary Surgical Laser Society) certified laser fellows in the country. After that I became interested in laser therapy and served as a consultant for two different laser firms, all while we maintained the animal hospital. We started doing Stem Cell Therapy in 2018, and were very successful in improving the lives of a number of arthritic animals. Our kids all worked in our clinic in one facet or another while growing up and one even became a veterinarian. He is currently an assistant professor at the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, and his wife, also a veterinarian, teaches anatomy and biology at TCC. Last year our facility lease ran out and I did relief work.
I then moved on to Danner Veterinary Hospital which is heavy into exotics as well as dogs and cats. I hope to continue my education and become proficient in ultrasound and exotic medicine.
Presently, we have two dogs of our own, and an assortment of resident cats, four kids, and five grandkids. I enjoy playing with grandkids, fishing (mostly ponds), woodworking (I build stringed instruments), all-grain home brewing, outdoor cooking, shooting and reloading, property maintenance, and yard work.