Dr. Landon McQuilliams, DVM
Dr. Landon McQuilliams was born in Wichita and grew up in Haysville, KS. He is now married to his wife Jessie, and in May of 2021 they became parents to their son Xander. In addition to playing with his son Xander, Dr. McQuilliams likes to read and play softball.
Dr. McQuilliams became interested in Veterinary Medicine in high school. His first introduction to the veterinary profession started in June of 2006, when he began as a volunteer at Oliver Animal Hospital at the Sedgwick County Zoo. The very first mentor Landon had was a senior veterinarian, Dr. William Bryant, who he volunteered with for the next 7 years, until he was accepted into veterinary school at Kansas State University. In the hopes of making himself as well rounded as possible, he also worked volunteering with Dr. Greg Seiler at Heartland Veterinary Services working with cattle and horses, and also at Wingert Animal Hospital as a veterinary assistant.
“I’ve always been a bit of a science nerd, and the physiology of life can only be described as super cool. Now add on the different ways that disease processes can affect animals, plus the steps we can take as veterinarians to counteract those diseases. Seriously, what’s not to like?!”
Dr. McQuilliams and his family currently have three loved cats, all of which were rescued. Evie, a black cat, was dumped on a client’s front porch with the rest of her litter. They were placed in the adoption center at around 8 weeks of age. My family adopted her a couple weeks later. Sebastian, a black cat, was brought in on emergency for trauma to his left front leg. Dr. McQuilliams ended up having to amputate his leg. Sebastian was such a sweet little guy, that he fell in love with him, and then adopted him once his incision healed. Their newest addition is Duckie, a gray and white kitten with multiple congenital heart defects. She is currently stable but will need to make routine trips to a veterinary cardiologist in order to stay on top of her disease.
One of his most interesting pet memories is of his cat Fishlegs. “He was born with a heart condition and had to be seen by a cardiologist at Kansas State University regularly to stay on top of his disease. This was during COVID, so the KSU Veterinary Health Center was in curbside mode, just like everybody else. I took Fish in for his appointment and waited in the parking lot for a few hours. I was just getting ready to call them to get an update when my phone rang. It was the cardiology receptionist, and she said they were having trouble and asked if I would come in and help them. When I got inside, she told me that they had been trying to x-ray Fish when he escaped. He then proceeded to crawl behind one of the cabinets in the room and into a hole in the cinder block wall that nobody knew was there. Long story short, we had to cut holes in the wall to get him out. The KSU staff was wonderful and went above and beyond to get my boy back to me. To this day, Fish holds the record as being the only cat in the history of the KSU VHC to get stuck in the wall.”
Dr. McQuilliams’ philosophy on pet care is straight forward. “Prevention is key! I can’t stress this enough. It is way easier to prevent disease than it is to treat it in most cases. Animal health care is very similar to human health care in this way. Routine visits to the doctor, keeping your pet on approved preventatives, and documenting anything out of the ordinary are all very good ways to stay ahead of disease.”
An additional interesting fact about Dr. McQuilliams is that he has a special interest in exotic mammals, and really enjoys seeing them in hospital. His patients have included rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, and hedgehogs!
