Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessa Kocher.
Hi Jessa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in a small town in Illinois, and becoming a veterinarian was something I wanted for as long as I can remember. I loved animals, of course, but I also loved science and medicine and the problem-solving side of veterinary medicine. I graduated from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in 2011 and spent my first year practicing at a progressive small-animal hospital in North Carolina.
In 2012, my husband and I moved to Colorado largely because we loved the mountains and the lifestyle here. I joined a privately owned veterinary hospital in Colorado Springs, where I practiced for about seven years and eventually became Medical Director when it sold corporately. During that time, I learned an incredible amount—not only about medicine, but about leadership, building a team, and what I believed a veterinary hospital could and should be.
When that practice transitioned to corporate ownership, I started realizing that the direction veterinary medicine was moving into corporate and private equity didn’t always align with what mattered most to me. I wanted the freedom to make decisions based on what was best for our patients, clients, and team rather than what made the most sense on a spreadsheet. That experience ultimately gave me the push to build something of my own.
I opened Fox Run Veterinary Hospital in Monument, Colorado in August 2020, right in the middle of COVID, which was certainly an interesting time to start a business! We initially shared space with Tri-Lakes Animal Emergency Care and started small, with the goal of creating a locally owned hospital where excellent medicine and genuine relationships could exist together. In January 2022, we moved into our own building, and Fox Run has continued to grow from there.
Today, I’m incredibly proud of what Fox Run has become. We have an amazing team and have expanded far beyond what I imagined in those early days. We provide comprehensive general practice and urgent care while also collaborating with specialists to bring services like oncology and internal medicine directly into our hospital. One of my biggest goals has always been to give families access to advanced, high-quality care close to home while still maintaining the personal relationships and sense of community that can sometimes get lost as medicine becomes more specialized or becomes corporate.
For me, though, the most meaningful part of the journey has been the people. It’s getting to care for pets throughout their lives, knowing their families, watching our team grow in their careers, mentoring the next generation of veterinary professionals, and being part of the Monument community. Fox Run has grown a lot since 2020, but the heart of it is still exactly what I hoped it would be when I started: a place where people genuinely care about each other, where we can practice exceptional medicine, and where our clients and their pets feel like they are part of our family.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not—and I think owning a business, especially in veterinary medicine, probably guarantees that it never will be completely smooth!
I opened Fox Run in August of 2020, right in the middle of COVID, so there were challenges from the very beginning. We were trying to build a new hospital and establish relationships with clients while navigating curbside appointments, staffing shortages, supply issues, and an incredibly overwhelmed veterinary industry. In some ways, though, starting during such an unusual time taught us early how to adapt quickly and figure things out as we went.
Growth has probably been both our greatest opportunity and one of our biggest challenges. We started very small, sharing a building with an emergency hospital, and then moved into our own space in 2022. Since then, our team, caseload, and the services we offer have grown tremendously. Every stage of growth has required us to rethink systems, leadership, communication, and how we take care of our team while still maintaining the culture and personal feel that made Fox Run special in the first place.
Veterinary medicine itself can also be emotionally difficult. We are caring for animals people consider family, often on some of the best and worst days of their lives. There are complicated medical cases, emergencies, financial limitations, difficult losses, and days when you go home wondering whether you could have done something differently. As an owner, you carry another layer on top of that because you feel responsible not only for your patients and clients, but for the people who have chosen to build their careers alongside you.
I’ve also had to learn that leadership is something you never really finish learning. There have absolutely been mistakes, difficult staffing decisions, growing pains, and times when I’ve had to step back and realize that something that worked when we were a team of ten doesn’t work with a much larger team. Learning when to hold on, when to change course, and when to trust other people to lead has been a huge part of my own growth.
But I wouldn’t trade the difficult parts. They’ve shaped the hospital we have today and made me much clearer about what matters to me: taking exceptional care of our patients, taking care of the people doing that work, staying locally owned and connected to our community, and never becoming so big or busy that we lose the relationships that made me want to build Fox Run in the first place.
We’ve been impressed with Fox Run Veterinary Hospital, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Fox Run Veterinary Hospital is a locally and independently owned small-animal hospital in Monument, Colorado. At our core, we’re a general practice, but we’ve worked really hard to build something that goes well beyond what people traditionally expect from their neighborhood veterinarian.
One of the things we’re probably best known for is our willingness to take on complicated cases and meet families where they are. We provide everything from wellness and preventative care to dentistry, surgery, urgent care, advanced diagnostics, and emergency procedures when we’re able to accommodate them. We also partner with board-certified specialists who come directly to Fox Run to provide internal medicine, advanced surgery, and oncology services. That means our patients can have things like advanced ultrasound, endoscopy, chemotherapy, and other specialty-level diagnostics and treatments without their families always having to travel to Colorado Springs or Denver.
We also intentionally offer same-day sick and urgent-care appointments. Veterinary emergency hospitals are incredibly important, but they can also be expensive and overwhelming for families. If something is within our capabilities to manage safely, we want to be able to say, “Come on in. We know you and your pet, and we’ll figure this out together.” I think that willingness to find a way to help has become a big part of who we are.
What really sets Fox Run apart, though, isn’t a piece of equipment or a particular service…it’s our people and the relationships they build. We want excellent medicine without losing the human side of veterinary care. Our team celebrates new puppies with families and then, years later, may be sitting on the floor beside those same families as they say goodbye. We know our clients, we know their pets, and often we know their kids too. That continuity and trust are incredibly important to me.
I’m also really proud of the culture we’ve built around learning and growth. We invest heavily in our team, encourage continuing education, mentor future veterinary professionals, and create opportunities for people to develop into new roles and leadership positions. We want Fox Run to be a place where someone can build a career, not simply have a job.
Community involvement is another huge part of our identity. We support local schools and student athletes, participate in community events, partner with local rescues, collect pet food for families through Tri-Lakes Cares, cook meals for families staying at Ronald McDonald House, and look for opportunities for our entire team to serve together. I’ve also been fortunate to participate in veterinary service work outside of Colorado, including a recent trip to Saipan where I helped provide much-needed veterinary care and spay/neuter services to an island community that does not have a veterinarian.
Brand-wise, I’m probably most proud that Fox Run feels like Fox Run. It isn’t a corporate concept or something designed in a boardroom. Our personality comes from the people who work here and the community we serve. We’re professional and serious about medicine, but we’re also warm, a little quirky, incredibly hilarious, and very relationship-driven. We want people to walk through our doors and feel that their pet isn’t just another appointment on the schedule.
Ultimately, I want readers to know that you don’t necessarily have to choose between advanced veterinary medicine and a hometown veterinarian who knows your family. Our goal is to provide both. As we’ve grown, we’ve continued asking ourselves how we can bring more resources and specialty-level care into our community while protecting the relationships, independence, and heart that Fox Run was built around. That’s the part of our brand I’m most proud of and the part I never want us to outgrow.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that your people matter more than almost anything else. You can have a beautiful building, great equipment, and practice exceptional medicine, but the people beside you are what ultimately determine what your business becomes.
Early on, I felt like I needed to be involved in everything and have all the answers. As we’ve grown, I’ve learned that good leadership isn’t about doing everything yourself…it’s about finding great people, giving them opportunities to grow, trusting them to lead, and creating a place where they feel valued and invested in what you’re building together.
I’ve also learned that growth isn’t always about getting bigger. Sometimes growth means getting better…improving communication, changing something that isn’t working, admitting when you’ve made a mistake, or protecting the parts of your culture that matter even when doing so is hard.
There have been plenty of moments along the way when I’ve gotten something wrong, and I’ve become much more comfortable saying that. I think some of the best changes we’ve made at Fox Run have come from listening to our team, being willing to change course, and remembering why we started in the first place.
At the end of the day, veterinary medicine is a people business centered around animals. If you take care of your team, stay connected to your clients and community, and keep your decisions grounded in your values, the rest has a way of following.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.foxrunvethospital.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/foxrunveterinaryhospital
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/foxrunveterinaryhospital
