Dr Jeff Judkins was raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He did his pre-veterinary work at the University of Arkansas, then earned his veterinary degree from Louisiana State University in 1984. Afterwards, he worked in traditional small animal practices in Austin, Texas and Fairbanks, Alaska. While he was in Fairbanks, he attended a three day acupuncture course taught by Dr Allen Schoen. He moved to Portland, Oregon and worked in conventional practice before starting a house call acupuncture practice. During that time, he listened to audio recordings of Dr Richard Pitcairn's homeopathy course between patients. He also took courses in Chinese and Western herbal medicine. In 1995, he founded Portland's first holistic veterinary practice, Hawthorne Veterinary Clinic. He sold the practice in 2011 and relocated to Jacksonville, Oregon and opened Animalkind Veterinary Clinic in 2012. He treats his patients with acupuncture, herbal medicine, and homeopathy.