Meet Sonoma’s newest veterinarian

It all started with a pig named Gordy.

He was Alina Amaral’s first 4-H animal. She was 5-years-old and Gordy weighed 250 pounds, but they were the perfect pair.

Amaral raised him with loving care that defied her tiny stature. She still remembers bringing him to the livestock show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. It was because of Gordy that Amaral always knew what she wanted to be when she grew up -- a veterinarian.

Being a vet is a child’s dream job ranking right up there with professional athlete, firefighter and astronaut, according to Forbes, but what makes Amaral special is she had the intellect and fortitude to reach for her star and attain it.

Amaral received her doctorate of veterinary medicine from Western University of Health Sciences last May, and is now a vet at Arroyo Veterinary Hospital. She is officially Dr. Amaral now, and she can’t stop smiling.

She had job offers in Iowa and Northern and Central California, but was thrilled to be able to accept the position at Arroyo and return to her hometown and her family’s ranch on 10 acres off Arnold Drive.

“This is the right practice for me. I’m not planning on going anywhere else anytime soon,” she said. “And it is nice to be back home.”

Amaral graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a bachelor’s in animal science with a pre-vet concentration. After a year working as a vet tech at Sonoma Animal Hospital she spent four years at Western. “It is a problem-solving based school, very hands-on,” she said. There she learned about all veterinary specialties – small animal, equine, exotic, zoo and food animals. “I wanted to be proficient in all species,” she said.

She liked the small animal (dogs and cats and the occasional hamster) and food animal (cattle and swine) concentrations the best. Now she is enjoying work experience in both fields, as a small animal vet at Arroyo, and helping her parents care for and breed nine registered Angus at the Amaral Cattle Company. And her Australian Shepard Cinch is her best buddy. “My life is all about animals,” she said.

Amaral has been involved in 4-H and Future Farmers of America her whole life, including helping younger students learn to raise animals. Now that she is back in town she’s once again spending her spare time with students. “I am very involved with youth agriculture,” she said.

During her own years at Prestwood Elementary, Adele Harrison Middle School and Sonoma Valley High School (‘08) she raised many, many animals.

“I love horses,” she said, and thinks maybe that’s because, unlike cows, pigs and sheep, she’s never owned a horse. Horseback riding is favorite pastime when she has the opportunity. And someday there may be a horse in her future.

“I didn’t expect to end up in Sonoma. To find a job in vet medicine here is such a surprise. It is so nice I’m able to come back here.” Amaral said her parents, John and Doreen, are “very happy” she’s home, and added that her younger sister Suzanne recently returned home after college, too, and is now a teacher at Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa.

Welcome home, Doctor Amaral.