The Cat Doctors

Dr. Lassett is a native of Tampa. He attended the University of Florida receiving a bachelors degree in microbiology in 1978 and a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1982.

After completing a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Oradell Animal Hospital in New Jersey, Dr. Lassett returned to the Tampa Bay area. Dr. Lassett is Board Certified in Canine and Feline Practice and his areas of special interest include soft tissue and orthopedic surgery, oncology, diagnostic ultrasound, endoscopy, dermatology and cardiology.

Dr. Lassett has held board positions with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and the Hillsborough County Veterinary Medical Society. He enjoys fishing, boating, and spending time with his dog and cat.

Dr. Welborn was the valedictorian of his 1976 graduating class from King High School here in Tampa and as a President’s Scholar, he earned an undergraduate degree from the University of South Florida. Dr. Welborn graduated with honors from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in 1982. He is Board Certified in Canine and Feline Practice and is a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist and Certified PennHIP Veterinarian.

He is past president of the prestigious American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and served as Chairman of the AAHA Standards Enhancement Task Force that developed the most recent revisions and enhancements to the AAHA Standards of Accreditation for primary care small animal practices. He also served as Chairman of the Accredited Referral Practice Task Force that developed AAHA Standards of Accreditation for small animal specialty practices. He currently serves in several national veterinary leadership roles including being the Chairman of the AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines Task Force and serving as a member of the AAHA-AVMA Preventative Healthcare Guidelines Task Force.

Dr. Welborn has received the following honors:

• Prestigious AVMA President’s Award

• American Animal Hospital Association Practitioner of the Year Award

• University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Achievement Award

• Florida Veterinary Medical Association Veterinarian of the Year Award

• Hillsborough County Veterinary Medical Society Outstanding Service Award

Underwater photography and attending Tampa Bay Buccaneer and Florida Gator football games are among his favorite activities. Dr. Welborn’s family includes: wife, Laura, daughter, Kaitlin, son, Christopher, furry friends, Levi and Lance, three birds, Harper, Milliku and Connie and a marine aquarium full of aquatic companions.

Dr. Simon is our Medical Director who joined our team in 1997. Dr. Simon is originally from the south Florida area and graduated with high honors from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Simon went on to complete an internship with Hollywood Animal and Emergency Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. She spends her free time with her husband fishing and boating. She also happens to make the most amazing chocolate chip cookies! They share their home with their 2 poodle’s Dallas and Teddy and 2 cats Romeo and Figaro.

Dr. Haworth is originally from the Orlando area. He enjoys working with The Tampa Bay Vets family because of the awesome Doctors and staff. He attended Florida State University and University of Florida. He minored in Math and Chemistry. He received his B.S. in Biology and a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Haworth spends his time fishing, sailing, and enjoying most things aquatic. He loves spending time with his wife and son and their friends and family. He has 2 very cute dogs and an adorable cat. His goals are to spend quality time with his family (especially his wife and son). He also strives (and succeeds in our opinion) to provide high quality Veterinary care with a personal touch. He also happens to have the very best “Dad jokes”.

Dr. Chris Ludlow is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. He established Veterinary Internal Medicine Diagnostics with a commitment to providing the highest quality internal medicine for pets and personalized service.

Dr. Ludlow earned his DVM with honors from Kansas State University in 1986. After graduation he worked in a busy small animal general practice in southern California for five years. He then returned to the KSU and completed a combined internal medicine/small animal clinical nutrition residency and Masters Degree program under Dr. David Williams.

Upon completion of his internal medicine residency, Dr. Ludlow then spent an additional year establishing a clinical nutrition service at KSU. After finishing his clinical nutrition training, Dr. Ludlow joined the internal medicine faculty at KSU for one and a half years before going into private specialty medicine at Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center in Kansas City in where he served as a staff internist with this group of nine specialists for 6 years.

Dr. Ludlow has more than 16 years of experience in ultrasound and endoscopy in university and referral hospital settings. He practices at 4 of our Tampa locations.

Dr. Connolly is one of wonderful Veterinarians here at The Cat Doctors. She is originally from Orlando, Florida. Dr. Connolly received her BS in Biochemistry from the University of South Florida in 2015. She graduated from Ross University of Veterinary Medicine in 2020. She really enjoys animal behavior, animal nutrition, Dentistry, ophthalmology, and Parasitology.

Dr. Connolly joined our family because she wanted to be part of a team that supports each other and cares for their patients like family. It is very important to her to create a stress-free environment for her clients and their pets, while providing quality medicine.

When Dr. Connolly isn’t caring for her patients, you can find her gardening, painting, and spoiling her three cats (Hiccup, Nova [pictured], and Ike [her bottle-fed baby].) Hiccup and Nova were two very lucky kitties who Dr. Connolly rescued from St. Kitts, where she ran the TNR program. Dr. Connolly also spends her time with Mabel the hamster, and her fish. She is the youngest of three siblings. Her family lives in Orlando and Maryland.

Dr. Connolly would like to continue her work with a TNR program, where she plans to spend her free time volunteering at a local rescue as a Veterinarian.

Dr. Colby Burns, a board-certified surgeon at North Tampa Veterinary Specialists, provides specialized orthopedic, soft tissue, neurologic and emergency surgical services to small animal veterinary practitioners. This service allows our veterinarians the ability to offer advanced surgical services in the comfort of our own hospital while maintaining direct contact with our clients and primary care for patients. Mobile surgical services are available six days a week (Monday through Saturday). Emergency surgical services are available seven days a week, including evenings and weekends.

Dr. Norden is one of our Associate Veterinarians here at The Cat Doctors. She is originally from Hilliard, Florida. She joined our team because she loved our client focused care, the quality of medicine practiced, because she loves cats, and enjoys being around other cat lovers.

Dr. Norden received a Biology degree at Berry College in Rome, Georgia and graduated from Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She is also Fear-Free certified.

In her free-time she enjoys cooking for her friends and family, gardening, trying our new restaurants, golfing, and watching the Bucs or Lightning play. She loves fitness and worked throughout college at her campus fitness center and used to be a Zumba instructor.

Dr. Norden is interested in Primary Care, Ultrasonography, and Internal medicine.

She and her husband Mitchell married in October 2019. They share their home with her four cats. Mako is a 5-year-old red tabby who loves modeling for photos. Remora is a 6-year-old long haired brown tabby who is obsessed with feather wand toys. Marlin is a 3-year-old red tabby, and Marcel a 1-year-old domestic short hair are her foster fails who love getting into trouble together.

She looks forward to working with this amazing company, joining the Tampa community, and building client relationships. In her next few years, she hopes to advance her knowledge in dentistry, ultrasound, and endoscopy.