Our Clinic

Pleasant Valley Animal Hospital is Altoona’s oldest family-owned and operated veterinary clinic.

The Pleasant Valley Animal Hospital was established in 1971 by Dr. Denny Stachmus, a Chicago native and proud 1969 graduate of the University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine in Urbana-Champaign. The original practice was located a block from the Altoona Hospital (now UPMC Altoona) on Lexington Avenue. In 1986, a dream was realized and a new clinic constructed at its present location at 808 Pleasant Valley Boulevard. Christine Stachmus and later her cousin Patty Adams joined the practice in the front office and the clinic went from treating patients on a walk-in basis to individual appointments.

In 2005, Dr. Matt Stachmus, now a second generation in veterinary medicine, 2003 graduate of the VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and 1995 graduate of Pennsylvania State University (Animal Bioscience) joined his family in the practice. “Dr. Matt” has brought his experiences from day practice, shelter practice, emergency practice and international development work (Peace Corps, Guatemala 1995-1998) to our clinic.

In 2011, Miss Jen Blair (Stachmus), a 1999 graduate from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in elementary education, returned home after working as a public school teacher for 14 years in NC and VA. She is the clinic’s office manager and works the front desk.

In 2013, the third sibling in the family, Mr. Andrew Stachmus, a 2006 graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Art history and minor in business joined our team as business manager. This was also the year that Dr. Denny hung up his lab coat and stethoscope after over 40 years in clinical small animal veterinary practice. He and his wife Christine have left a family legacy that continues to this day in serving our community by providing compassionate care. The clinic became an LLC that same year and is still owned and operated by the Stachmus family.

Our Team

We invite you to come and join our family. Here family means something. It means because we are a family that cares, we do our best to provide excellent care. We treat you and your pet as one of the family.