Pet Services in East Chattanooga

In 1955, a veterinarian named Warren J. Wegert had an idea that must have seemed revolutionary at the time. He wanted to provide pets with the same caliber of healthcare that their human owners received. Since then, Banfield Pet Hospital has upheld his values, treating companion creatures or owners dressed up as them with such success that PetSmart, a national chain of pet supply shops, invited the company to open pet hospitals inside its stores. At each of its locations, veterinarians conduct services that range from heartworm tests and immunizations to more involved procedures such as surgery or weight-loss plans.

Doggie's Day Out cares for canines day and night with play areas, homey bedrooms, and resident groomers who clip nails and trim fur. Daycare rounds up pooches for group activities suited to individual energy levels, from agility climbing and jumping in a fenced-in yard, to lolling on wrought-iron beds with fluffy blankets in an indoor lounge. Overnight guests settle down in a supervised room whose beds and couches emulate a cozy home, with crates available for dogs that prefer them. Staffers bathe and groom hounds with premium products, and teach basic commands to puppies and novelty tricks to older dogs, such as how to unwrap their owners' Starbursts for them.

Scents from Oscar's Bakery waft through the complex as chefs whip up pooch-safe treats from natural ingredients, including cakes and confections for dog party packages. To ensure a safe, happy environment for four-legged friends, Doggie's Day Out requires that pups pass an evaluation to ensure their vaccinations are up-to-date and their temperaments are suited to playing name-game icebreakers with strangers.

The 96-foot-tall and 150-foot-wide sycamore tree that stands in a field outside Crossville has grown there since 1864. It's spent nearly 150 years steeped in local history, during which it drew in John and Michelle Cannon. After years spent as employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, they retired and built a horseback-trail-riding facility on the 300 acres of farmlands surrounding its roots. Their visitors have joined in picnics, Halloween celebrations, and marriages at the base of its 16 foot-wide trunk. Under the guidance of their niece—an equestrian-management major—and horseback-riding instructors, the Cannons conduct year-round trail rides, horse-care workshops, and wagon rides across these rolling fields and woodlands. They've seen riders return year after year, often bringing their children, where seasoned instructor and barn manager Judy Gibson matches each child with one of the facility's 22 gentle, patient horses based on the horse's temperament.

Guides lead rides along the property's trail, which meanders through four switchbacks, across streams, and past waterfalls. They also conduct hay-wagon rides, during which they take visitors out to the fields to feed the horses and ferry them back to the barn for a bonfire. On rides across the fields, guides may point out flower beds planted by local gnomes as well as two beehives maintained by local beekeepers and occupied only by union bees. In special workshops, staffers teach schoolchildren the basics of horse care, tacking, and environmental conservation and guide those with physical or mental disabilities in riding horses as a form of rehabilitation. As visitors ride or revel in one of Wildwood Stables' seasonal activities, they may walk the stone pathway to the barn, lounge on the stone patio next to the gazebo, and pass by the front entrance, where the sculpted head of a beloved horse looks out over the fields. Resident instructor and former stonemason Calvin Daniels sculpted each of these fixtures after harvesting their crab-orchard stone from the property.