Get to
know us

Our veterinary doctors and technicians provide a superb quality of care and service and are dedicated to the total health of our cat and dog patients. We are a full service pet hospital and animal boarding facility serving all of the Donner Truckee and Tahoe areas. Our hospital offers medical, surgical and dental services.

Meet our doctors

Dr. India Vannini

Chief Medical Officer

Learn more about Dr. Vannini

Dr. India Vannini grew up in Washington DC and then moved to NYC as a young teenager. The daughter of an animal lover, prominent foreign affairs specialist, and accomplished artist, she grew up in a veritable menagerie. She decided to take a scientific route to love animals. She earned her BA from Duke University and her DVM from Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. After graduating from Cornell, she left New York to intern in emergency medicine and surgery in Santa Cruz and has not left California since. She has worked in various high quality clinics in the bay area, including SFSPCA, Adobe, and Peninsula Pet Hospital. This year she had the fortune to move to her happy place, Truckee, and join DTVH. Aside from her favorite ER and surgery, her professional interests include pain management, preventative care as well as working with dog rescue organizations and various wildlife conservation projects. When not working with animals she enjoys trying to catch up to her ski racing boys (a hopeless pursuit), her big poodle Livingston, running, all things outdoors and the Golden State Warriors.

Dr. Clif Machado

Owner
Associate Veterinarian

Learn more about Dr. Machado

Dr. Clif Machado grew up working in a veterinary hospital with his dad. Starting as a 10 year old giving dogs baths to becoming a veterinarian, Dr. Machado prides himself in knowing all the ins and outs that go into a veterinary hospital. Originally from San Francisco, he earned is DVM from the University of Illinois in 2018 and his special interests include dentistry and internal medicine. When Dr. Machado is not practicing veterinary medicine, he enjoys playing basketball and hanging out at home with his two dogs-Slinky and Carrie.

Dr. Swalander

Associate Veterinarian

Learn more about Dr. Swalander

Dr. Swalander grew up in a little mountain town in New Mexico remarkably similar to Truckee. He did his undergraduate work at New Mexico State University and received his doctorate from Kansas State University. After graduating in 1990, he completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the second largest private practice in the nation, became residency trained in small animal surgery, and owned one of the few private veterinary critical care centers in the world at the time. His groundbreaking publications in laser surgery and epidural catheterization are still cited in textbooks today.

Eventually, he was fortunate enough to move back to the mountains, become active in the Truckee community, and provide care to local families and pets. Now, he is excited to partner with Donner Truckee Veterinary Hospital to continue his care of these family members.

He is a local beekeeper, woodworker, and a barely competent but enthusiastic fly fisher. As a longtime martial artist, he was a judge at the 2009 AAU Karate Junior Olympics and coached several local athletes to state championships over his years as head wrestling coach at Alder Creek Middle School. He has also been an offensive line coach with the Truckee High School football team throughout Coach Ivens’ tenure as head coach and even back into the Coach Shaffer 4-peat championship years. Anyone who knew Coach Shaffer would agree that offensive line play is considered a martial art in Truckee.

Now semiretired, he is an avid amateur astronomer. He has been named as a member of an international team that searches for extrasolar planets under the direction of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life (SETI) and has been cited as an author in a recent scientific study proving the efficacy of a new type of telescope network.

Dr. Tim Calvert

Associate Veterinarian

Learn more about Dr. Calvert

Dr. Tim grew up in South Lake Tahoe before moving to the Bay Area. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biological Conservation from Sacramento State and went on to receive his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from UC Davis in 1982. He began his career in mixed animal practice, working with everything from dogs and cats to horses and cattle, before focusing on small animal medicine with a special interest in orthopedics and laser surgery. Dr. Tim owned and operated his own veterinary practice for 25 years and for the past two decades has worked primarily in emergency and urgent care medicine.

Dr. Tim moved to Alta in 1985 and currently lives with his cat, Arnold, in a timber frame cabin he built himself. Outside of veterinary medicine, he is the owner of Lee Ranch Cider Company, where he produces award-winning hard cider. A graduate of Outward Bound, Dr. Tim enjoys working in his orchard, cider making, woodworking, fishing, hiking, and landscape painting. In 2022, he fulfilled a lifelong dream by hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail.

Meet our Vet Staff

MOLLY McCABE

Learn more about Molly

Molly McCabe moved to Lake Tahoe during the winter of 1987. Originally from Minnesota, her background and passion has been with Customer service. Molly taught skiing at Alpine Meadows for 10 ski season’s to 3-6 year olds. She was the Front Office Manager at a 4 diamond Condominium Hotel in Squaw Valley. Molly began working at DTVH in 2005 as a receptionist. She likes the personal relationships she has with the client’s and patient’s. Happily married since 2008, Molly and her husband Mark enjoy kayaking, hiking, skiing, and traveling. They share their Incline Village home with a Labrador Retriever named Madison and a rambunctious young Golden Retriever named Dylan. Both dogs love taking long walks and swimming in Lake Tahoe.