Veterinarian Overview
Dr. Amy Charlton was born in a small town in upstate New York, as the youngest of 2 children and the daughter of a fire fighter she learned early the value of life and how precious it is. She always had a love of animals and knew early on that she wanted to be a veterinarian. At the age of 13 she got involved in a 4-H pre-vet club held at the local animal shelter. Her father felt that it was important to see both sides of Veterinary Medicine, and to realize that not all animals have loving homes, some needed to be euthanized solely due to the lack of available homes to care for them. Undeterred Dr. Charlton went on to pursue her undergraduate work at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX in pre-Veterinary Medicine. While in Texas she worked at a Veterinary emergency clinic as a technician at night and during holiday and school breaks she worked as a technician for Neal Animal Hospital. Also while in Texas she met her husband Bruce, who in which she married on May 16th, 1992. After completing her undergraduate requirements Amy and Bruce moved to Sand Springs, Oklahoma where she worked full time at a day practice as a veterinary technician. She applied and was accepted to Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine where she worked in the small animal hospital as a surgical technician until she graduated with her DVM in 1997. Wanting to be closer to her family, Dr. Amy took a position in Edison, New Jersey as her first job as a Veterinarian working for a very large twelve doctor practice called Raritan Animal Hospital, the birth place of Science Diet dog food. It was here that she gained invaluable experience dealing with a large case load and long hours . Dr. Amys parents were snow birds to Florida in 1989 then moved to Florida full time in 1998. When her father became ill and sadly passed away, she and her husband decided that Florida would be their familys permanent home in order to remain close to her Mom. Dr. Amy worked in Orlando for 5 years before opening Countryside Animal Hospital in Saint Cloud, where her home has been since 1999. While in Orlando Dr. Amy started pursuing additional training in alternative medicine, herbal therapy, and (at the prodding of her mentor) Acupuncture, in order to try and improve the outcomes of her cases and to offer more natural ways to treat the common problems encountered in daily practice. Since then Dr. Amy has completed the Acupuncture course at the CHI Institute in Reddick, FL and has taken additional courses in herbal therapy. Dr. Amy loves learning new things and mentoring aspiring future veterinarians. As a Christian Dr. Amy believes that God has given each of us talents, not only for our benefit but for the benefit of others. With this in mind she has a strong sense of community and giving back. Countryside Animal Hospital proudly supports multiple missionaries throughout the world on a monthly basis as well as local groups such as the Police departments anti-drug programs, The Florida Baptist Childrens home, youth rodeo programs and numerous sponsorships of youth activities in Saint Cloud. She has volunteered her time to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine admissions committee from 2010 to 2013 as well. Dr. Amy has three children, two sons and a daughter. Clayton born in December 1995, Kazimara born in October 2000, and Malcolm born in December 2007. In her spare time she loves to watch all her children compete in rodeo, and to watch Kazimara compete in volleyball. She also enjoys the beach, traveling, horseback riding, and snow skiing with her family. She has one lab named Doc, two cats- Bobbi and Sinatra, and three horses- Rebel, Dash and Tom.
