Chad Easthouse
Owner, DVM
Dr. Chad Easthouse is the owner of Faithful Friends, a small animal veterinary practice built around a simple idea: good veterinary care means looking at the whole patient, communicating honestly with their family, and continually searching for better ways to support long-term health.
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Easthouse earned his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from San Jose State University before receiving his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona. His background in philosophy continues to influence the way he approaches medicine, particularly his interest in critical thinking, decision-making, and questioning assumptions.
Throughout his veterinary career, Dr. Easthouse has had the opportunity to practice medicine from many different perspectives. He has owned and operated a busy urgent care clinic, created and operated a practice dedicated to hospice, palliative care, and pain management, and owned a general veterinary practice where he developed a particular interest in internal medicine. He has also worked as a relief veterinarian alongside doctors in a wide variety of hospitals, giving him firsthand experience with the many different ways veterinary medicine can be practiced.
Those experiences have shaped an approach to medicine that continues to evolve. Dr. Easthouse is firmly grounded in conventional veterinary medicine, using clinical evaluation, diagnostics, and evidence-based treatments to identify and manage disease. At the same time, his growing interest in nutrition, functional, metabolic, integrative, and holistic medicine has broadened the way he thinks about health and disease.
He does not view conventional and functional medicine as competing philosophies. Instead, he sees them as complementary tools. Conventional medicine gives veterinarians powerful ways to diagnose and treat disease, while functional and wellness-focused approaches encourage a broader look at nutrition, metabolic health, prevention, lifestyle, and the interconnected systems that influence a pet’s long-term well-being.
For Dr. Easthouse, good health is more than simply the absence of disease. His goal is to look beyond treating problems once they appear and consider what can be done to support better health, reduce risk, and help pets live healthier for longer.
Communication is equally important to his approach. About a year into practicing veterinary medicine, Dr. Easthouse realized that being a good veterinarian requires more than being a good clinician. Clients may never see the work that happens behind the scenes, but they experience whether their veterinarian listens, explains complicated information clearly, and helps them understand what is happening and why.
As a result, Dr. Easthouse is known for being direct and transparent with his clients. He takes the time to listen, explain his reasoning, discuss what concerns him and what does not, and clearly outline what he believes should happen next. He believes that informed clients are better equipped to make decisions for their pets, particularly when faced with complicated or difficult medical situations.
He also believes that trust is built by getting to know the people behind the patients. Some of the strongest relationships he has developed with clients have started with conversations that had little to do with veterinary medicine. Understanding the person sitting across from him is, in his view, an important part of understanding how to provide care that is appropriate for both the pet and the family.
Dr. Easthouse is an active lifelong learner and has an insatiable curiosity that extends well beyond veterinary medicine. He is constantly reading and studying subjects ranging from nutrition, human health, and chronic disease to philosophy, science, physics, finance, and entrepreneurship. That curiosity finds its way back into his veterinary practice by encouraging him to question assumptions, examine new research, and continue looking for better answers when a case is complicated.
Dr. Easthouse is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), College of Integrative Veterinary Therapies (CIVT), and American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA). He continues to pursue advanced education in veterinary nutrition and functional, integrative, and holistic medicine.
Outside of veterinary medicine, Dr. Easthouse enjoys reading and creative writing and maintains a strong personal interest in nutrition, health, science, and learning. Most importantly, he is the father of an eight-year-old son.
Whether he is treating an illness, helping a family navigate a difficult medical decision, studying new research, or exploring an idea far outside of veterinary medicine, Dr. Easthouse approaches his work with curiosity, humility, and a willingness to keep learning. His goal is not simply to practice veterinary medicine, but to continually become a better veterinarian while helping the pets and families who trust him live healthier lives together.
