10/06/2026
🐾 Meet Dr. Raeanna Covington! 🐾
All Creatures Veterinary Hospital is Dr. Covington’s dream, which she established 27 years ago. On April 1st of 2025, her daughter, Dr. Ciarrin Sailer, purchased the practice from her, and Dr. Covington now works side by side with her daughter until retirement (which may never happen unless she physically cannot practice anymore, as she loves this job too much).
Where did she grow up?
Dr. Covington spent the first 5 years of her life in Buffalo, MN, where her family raised black lab puppies. She spent several hours helping in the dog pen, cuddling puppies.
From ages 6–20, she was raised on a dairy farm north of New York Mills, where her love for animals of every species grew. 90 percent of her time was spent outside raising her dairy calves, milking cows, tending to her horses, playing and taking care of the farm cats/kittens, dogs/puppies, chickens, and the occasional rabbits, injured birds, etc.
Where did she go to college?
Dr. Covington started out at a junior college in Ely, MN, in the Boundary Waters area, attending Vermilion College for 1½ years. She studied animal/general studies at that time until she met her husband, David.
She then attended Jamestown College in Jamestown, ND, where her husband worked as a family practitioner. Dreams of becoming a veterinarian at this time were set aside to pursue an elementary education degree, as there were no veterinary schools in North Dakota.
After a year, her husband decided to pursue a residency in Emergency Medicine and was accepted into the training program at Hennepin County in Minneapolis. Dr. Covington’s dream job began to take shape, completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota and getting accepted into the College of Veterinary Medicine.
She completed her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1998, taking a pause to have her daughter, Dr. Ciarrin Sailer, for 1 year and raise her 5-year-old son.
What inspired her to become a veterinarian?
Dr. Covington knew, as well as her parents, from a very young age that she wanted to work with animals in some way. Their farm veterinarian, Dr. Howard Legreid, and Dr. Kelvin Rudolph, as well as her dad, who successfully treated several of their animals when needed, were all inspirations.
Her dad applied to veterinary school a few times and wasn't accepted due to the extremely competitive standards at that time.
Every injured or sick animal on their farm became her patient. Some successfully healed and some not, but at an early age this interest sparked and never wavered.
How long has she been practicing veterinary medicine?
Dr. Covington has been practicing veterinary medicine for 28 years, 27 of those years with her own practice, which her daughter, Dr. Ciarrin Sailer, now owns.
What is her favorite type of case to work on?
Dr. Covington has practiced exotic and some wildlife medicine for 30 years and absolutely loves the variety. She has worked with everything from parrots to lizards, turtles, guinea pigs, chinchillas, rabbits, sugar gliders, lynx, bobcats, otters, porcupines, and an occasional raptor.
She loves working with cats and dogs, but exotics can present unique challenges, which “who doesn't love a challenge” is her philosophy.
Does she have a favorite specialty or special interest?
Exotics and wildlife medicine would definitely be her special interest areas. At one time, before arthritis in her hands worsened, orthopedic surgery was a specialty area she enjoyed.
What's one thing she wishes every pet owner knew?
Dr. Covington decided to go into this career path because she loves animals and has always felt the need to care for them and treat each and every one like they are her own.
Though the veterinary team would like to run every diagnostic free of charge and give gold-standard treatment to every pet, they cannot due to clients' wishes and associated cost of goods, and this does play very hard on their emotions.
Clients need to understand that they will treat every animal according to their veterinary oath, but this can be limited due to clients' financial concerns and the non-profit nature of the business.
Does she have pets?
Dr. Covington has had several pets throughout the years, including several dogs, cats, horses, and farm animals, all of which have passed on.
She now has 3 cats: Adelaide (12), Luca (4), and Lars (3), and a 28-year-old African Grey parrot named Alex, along with several grand cats and grand dogs. 🐾
If she wasn't a veterinarian, what career would she have?
Halfway through her undergraduate degree, living in North Dakota without a veterinary school in the state, Dr. Covington decided to pursue an elementary education career and special education.
She spent a year focusing on this career path, which was her second choice, until their move to the Twin Cities for further specialty training.
What is her favorite hobby outside of work?
Dr. Covington is a runner. Running is her stress relief, and she was a collegiate national long-distance runner.
She has completed 7 marathons, is now training for her 8th, and has completed 10½ marathons along with several 5Ks and 10Ks.
She has always enjoyed outdoor gardening as well as being a vigneron with her own 1-acre vineyard. 🍇
What is her favorite pick-me-up snack or drink?
Dr. Covington enjoys a hot vanilla/chai with almond milk and an occasional white chocolate scone or lemon poppy seed muffin. ☕️
We hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about Dr. Covington and the incredible story behind All Creatures Veterinary Hospital! ❤️🐾
