Dr. Athena Kepler, DVM CCAS was born and raised in Southern California and attended University of California, Riverside for a BS in Bioengineering. She received her DVM from Western University of Health Sciences in California. She competes in the dog sport of Schutzhund (IGP) with her German Shepherds, and has two horses, an American Quarter horse she trains for Reined Cow and Ranch Roping, and a Dutch Warmblood she trains for Eventing.
Her dog career started with just training and competing in the sport, but the fear of injury for her own dog led her to learn more and focus on fitness and sports medicine for canine athletes during veterinary school. Nutrition has always been an interest prior to dog sport but was focused on horse nutrition. As she was striving to push her dog to the top level of the sport, she provided appropriate nutrition for him and realized how beneficial it would be for other trainers and handlers to have the knowledge to do the same for their athletes. Her current competition dogs are “Mufasa” Alpha Haus der Sonne IGP3 AD (retired) and Ferrari von Pentavita BH (active competition dog).
Dr. Kepler enjoys helping others and helping others help themselves through education and empowerment. She believes in looking at the entire animal rather than single aspects and combining nutrition, fitness, physical therapy, alternative therapies, and western medicine to care for them. She defines her purpose in life as helping animals through helping people care for them through passing of knowledge and practicing integrative medicine.