Dr. Amanda Pittman grew up in a small Louisiana town about halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. She graduated with college honors in 2001 from Louisiana State University and went on to graduate from veterinary school in 2005, also from LSU. She will be a purple and gold Tiger for all of her days, but living in Knoxville since 2005 and having a son graduate from the University of Tennessee means that some “Big Orange” has found its way into her heart and closet as well.
After several years of practicing conventional medicine and three years practicing emergency medicine, she became very comfortable caring for difficult internal medicine cases and emergency situations. She has received additional training in ultrasound and can perform basic abdominal ultrasounds and echocardiograms. Over time, she began to see a tremendous need for additional relief in her geriatric and critically ill patients and began investigating alternative options. When her own senior dog, Boudreaux, began to have trouble getting around himself, she went back to school, and she was awarded the title of Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. She completed externships in this field at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville, TN, Medvet in Mandeville, LA, and also at Loving Touch in Stone Mountain, GA.
Through her rehabilitation training at Loving Touch and her prior work with Fountain City Animal Hospital, she was exposed to acupuncture and other holistic methods. She went on to train at the Chi Institute in Reddick, FL and received her Certified Veterinary Acupuncture degree, and after that she was hooked. She completed an integrative externship at the Chattanooga Holistic Animal Institute in Chattanooga, TN. Along with acupuncture training at Chi, she learned the basics of veterinary Herbology and Tui-Na, a medical massage technique that uses acupuncture meridians to treat illness in the body. She has also completed advanced training in their Food Therapy program, and will receive certification in that discipline as well, pending approval of her case study.
Dr. Pittman completed certification in veterinary spinal manipulation at the Integrative Veterinary Medical Institute in Florida, and she is seeing amazing results in her patients using this treatment modality. In 2025, Dr. Pittman hopes to receive formal training in Tui-Na at Chi University and will also be advancing her training in regenerative medicine in order to start a formal program at AWRC. She is also planning to add ozone therapy and shockwave therapy. 2025 will also be the year that we will break ground on a new facility!
Dr. Pittman is a true believer in the power of integrative medicine. Technology has created advanced diagnostic techniques, allowing us to catch disease at its earliest stages, making the Western world a true modern-day marvel. However, the power of Mother Nature and her healing abilities must not be overlooked. There are, at times, a true need for fast-acting modern pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics, but in almost every disease process, we can find a natural alternative to allow the body to heal itself, the way it was intended.
Dr. Pittman is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, American Association of Rehabilitation Veterinarians, American Animal Hospital Association, and American Association of Feline Practitioners. She has been elected president of the Knoxville KVMA for the 2025-2027 term. She has 2 adult children, Garrett and Alex, and 2 very spoiled cats. Hopefully, a new canine companion and a new Betta fish will enter her life soon, when the time is right. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, cooking, baking, camping, reading, kayaking, and spending time with family and friends.