Dr. Paul Averill started Averill Animal Hospital in 1978 as a house-call only practice in the Marietta area. When the demand for his services became too great to continue a house-call only practice, Dr. Averill opened a full service practice in 1983 on Dallas Highway in a converted two-story residential home. The staff of the original hospital included Dr. Averill as a solo practitioner and his wife, Donna. Dr. Matt Nelson then joined the practice in 1992 as an associate veterinarian after he had worked in the hospital as a technician while he was in veterinary school. The hospital also moved in 1992 from Dallas Highway to its current location on Villa Rica Way. Dr. Nelson became a partner in the practice in 1998. As the years passed, the practice again became busy enough to require a third full-time veterinarian. Dr. Carrie Friedewald joined the practice in 2003. The practice has clearly grown leaps and bounds over the years from a one-doctor/one-staff member practice to a three doctor practice with 20 support staff (nine full-time and eleven part-time members).