Dr. Carol Carriere was born in the dark ages in New Orleans and grew up in Lakeview, the last of seven children. She graduated from St. Mary’s Dominican High School and went to U.N.O. prior to attending LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, where she and Dr. Pat McSweeney were classmates and became fast friends. Upon graduating from LSU-SVM in 1984, she received the Edward Lloyd Mitchell Memorial Award, as well as the Association of Feline Practitioners Senior Student Award.
Dr. Carriere practiced for 5 years with Dr. Thomas Rawls at Broadmoor Animal Hospital in New Orleans, then she joined Dr. McSweeney at the LaSPCA for 2 years. She then worked with Dr. Lee Capone at Lakeshore Veterinary Hospital in Mandeville and the St. Tammany Humane Society for 2 years, until finally rejoining Dr. McSweeney at the Animal Medical and Surgical Hospital 17 years ago.
An excellent surgeon and diagnostician, Dr. Carriere put her veterinary skills and life skills to work after hurricane Katrina when she helped rescue and care for numerous animals injured and left behind. Because her home was flooded and damaged, she lived at the hospital with the McSweeneys caring for animals “round the clock”. Dr. Carriere also used many skills to subcontract and essentially renovate her own home refinishing and relaying floors, installing moldings, cabinets, and painting, etc.
Dr. Carriere is an avid LSU football and baseball fan, and has been a devoted Saints fan since their inception. She loves gardening and reading, but first and foremost, her beloved pets have always been the main focus of her life. Indeed, most of her time is devoted to fulfilling the importunate demands of her numerous pets. This she does not mind, as she considers herself most fortunate in the assortment of characters, too numerous to count, which she has possessed over the years. The most famous of these characters were Pugsley Carriere, Esq., Attorney at Paw, and his loyal sidekick and co-conspirator, Skeezit. Life during those 16 glorious years with this intrepid duo was wild, but Dr. C. loved it. Though the gang she lives with now is tame by comparison (with a few notable exceptions), at home, Dr. C. still heeds Carmen’s advice: “Watch out!”