There’s a Caring Family Atmosphere at Flanders Animal Care Center

For veterinarian Chris Hallihan, there was a fondness and love for a few things when he was younger that landed him where he is today.

Chris Hallihan, V.M.D.

 Hallihan recalls, “I just loved animals and loved medicine, so it was the combination of the two that really drove me in this direction.”

That “direction” is Flanders Animal Care Center, which is located at 96 Bartley Flanders Road in Mount Olive, and is the main facility. The Landing Animal Care Center satellite facility at 112 Kings Highway in Landing also has a full-service hospital for pet care.

Hallihan and his wife, fellow veterinarian Kristen Casulli, both general practitioners, majored in Biology respectively at Princeton and North Carolina State universities, and both met and received their veterinary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. Upon graduation in 1995, they started working for a veterinarian, and in 1999 purchased his practice and named it Flanders Animal Care Center. Casulli, in fact, grew up in Mount Olive and went through the school system, and her dad had a dental practice in town which predated  the building of Mount Olive High School.

Flanders Animal Care Center offers complete care for your pet and accepts all insurances. Included in that care are all vaccinations, standard, critical and emergency medical care, a variety of surgical services, and much more, all using the top technology. And, if there is something better taken care of by a specialist, they’ll refer you to a trusted colleague. Hallihan says, “We always give people options. If there's a very involved case that we feel might be best served with a specialist, we certainly offer that.” Flanders Animal Care Center, courtesy of Crown Veterinary Specialists of Lebanon, also has orthopedic specialists who visit on a scheduled basis to their location to perform specialized orthopedic surgeries.

: Kristen Casulli, V.M.D.

 In addition to Drs. Hallihan and Casulli, Flanders Animal Care Center has other top-notch veterinarians on staff. Victor Villari, a Livingston High School and Michigan State University grad, has been a vet for over 40 years, and worked for the former owner; a Jersey guy who attended Rutgers University and then went to Kansas State for veterinarian school, Kevin Hargadon has been with Flanders Animal Care Center for eight years; and Cindy Weagley is a part-time associate and 1994 University of Georgia graduate who has been practicing for over 20 years. Hallihan adds, “We’re looking right now for another associate to come on board, and we know if nothing else, hopefully my daughter, Devon, will be with us. She'll be attending veterinary school next year.”

Hallihan, who grew up in Hackensack, speaks about the family atmosphere at Flanders Animal Care Center, and the feeling of Mount Olive as a home base. “Our three kids have also gone through the school system, from Tinc Road to the middle school, and then to the high school. Our oldest is a second-year medical student and University of Pittsburgh, our daughter is entering veterinary school, and our youngest is a sophomore at Villanova. We've been very happy with Mount Olive, and we love it here. I do stress the fact that I really feel like we're a family practice. Not only are we a family who runs Flanders Animal Care Center – me, my wife, and my kids have always helped out - but we try to make our staff family. And with my wife growing up in this town, we have a lot of connections. We have so many people that she's known since she was a kid, it really gives you that family feeling that I always want our practice to be.”

Flanders Animal Care Center also gives back to the township of Mount Olive by supporting the police department and their golf outings which fund the needy. Also, in addition to working with the local schools when their children attended, Flanders Animal Care Center - as hopefully COVID-19 becomes less of a concern - would again like to offer tours of their facilities to the local scouting groups. Finally, Hallihan himself is a Board member of the Morris County 4-H Club.