Tori Countner, DVM

Dr. Tori Countner founded The Balanced Pet Vet and created Paw Sha after her work as a full-time veterinarian brought to light the many issues around quality of life, longevity, pain management, and confusion in the vet’s office confronted by pets and their owners. Dr. Tori aims to teach basic, tangible, & accessible recommendations using both natural and western medicine. With her unique, integrative approach to pet health, she takes the whole pet into consideration, always striving for the best overall quality of life.

Dr. Tori is a native of Los Angeles, and now lives in San Diego. She graduated from Harvard-Westlake High School and received her bachelor's degree from Wake Forest University. After an early career in the art world, Dr. Tori began to pursue veterinary medicine with post-bacc pre-med program at Georgetown University before receiving her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Kansas State University in 2013.

After graduation, Dr. Tori moved home to Los Angeles and completed a rotating internship at Animal Specialty & Emergency Center (ASEC) in West Los Angeles. She went on to work in general practice for several years before pursuing training in veterinary acupuncture at The Chi Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM). Dr. Tori began to use Gua Sha massage on her patients, and developed the Paw Sha tool and online course in 2023. She continues to incorporate and learn about nutrition, supplements, and lifestyle improvements to help each individual animal.

Dr. Tori is an avid proponent of incorporating both natural healing and Western Medicine into her practice, believing both are integral to encouraging each pet's best possible well-being. She believes that by educating pet owners on how to improve quality of life, and prevention of chronic illnesses, this can help strengthen the human-animal bond.

Dr. Tori lives in San Diego with her husband, son, two dogs Huey & Ollie, and Lenny in heaven.