Our Founders

The founders of dtlavets are Dr. Eve Flores and Dr. Leia Castañeda. We utilize our common education and varied professional experiences to provide consistency and excellence in care.


  • Founder

    Dr. Castañeda graduated from the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada in 2002. She immediately entered a small-animal rotating internship at the Veterinary Medical and Surgical Group in Ventura, California. The internship not only gave her a wealth of experience and practice, but it also introduced her to Dr. Eve Flores, an outstanding veterinarian and wonderful friend! Post-internship, Dr Castañeda went into small-animal practice back in the Los Angeles area. In 2007 Dr. Castañeda also began working part-time in emergency medicine and eventually transitioned exclusively to the emergency room setting in 2010. She became licensed in veterinary acupuncture by the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS) in 2011.

    Dr. Castañeda opened DTLAvets in 2013 with Dr. Flores and is honored to serve the community's pets and their families. She enjoys teaching families and welcomes them to be an active part of their pet’s medical care.

    Ultrasound is one of the diagnostics that she values most as a veterinarian. It is a self-fulfilling skill set: the more you practice, the better you can serve the patient and help families make more informed decisions. She is forever grateful to every pet that has ever waited patiently in the pillow trough while she examined their insides. Truly her patients are her teachers.

    Surgical toys are the best! Fancy ligating and dividing staplers to aid in the removal of a spleen. The clean precise incisions from an electrocautery unit. Even simple suturing can be meditative. The surgery suite is definitely Dr. Castañeda’s happy place!

    Outside the hospital you will find her embracing family life which often takes her to Greece to visit her in-laws. So far she has visited 12 greek islands and explored (read: eaten) all over Athens. If you don’t find her cheering on her son at his sporting events, check a pilates machine …or the salsa dance floor!

    Ella es bilingue y ofrece sus servicios a la comunidad de habla Hispana.

  • Founder

    California native Dr. Eve Flores earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison prior to moving to relatively balmy upstate New York where she completed her veterinary degree at Cornell University. Longing for warmer weather, Dr. Flores immediately began an internship at the Veterinary Medical and Surgical Group in Ventura, CA. This internship gave her valuable post-graduate experience and a friendship with Dr. Leia Castañeda! For the first 10 years of her veterinary career, Dr. Flores worked in general practice in West LA and Alhambra, founded an in-home euthanasia and hospice practice and somehow found time to start a family. In 2013, Dr. Flores and Dr. Castañeda partnered to build DTLAvets to provide quality care to downtown LA’s pets. Dr. Flores is a cheerleader for her team of dedicated staff and is thankful for them everyday.

    Outside of work, Dr. Flores enjoys family time, travel, music, cooking, and is a self-taught crafter. (She made over 500 pandemic face masks from whatever fabric she had in the house.)

Our Team of Doctors

Claire Endo, DVM

Dr. Claire Endo was born and raised in California’s San Gabriel Valley. Earning her DVM in 2016 from Ross University, she completed three years of didactic education on the beautiful island of Saint Kitts and finished her clinical year at the University of California, Davis. The following year Dr. Endo gained additional training and experience during an internal and emergency medicine internship under the supervision of board certified specialists. Dr. Endo is passionate about the human animal bond. She is devoted to educating clients about their furry loved ones in order to make them better pet advocates. Her professional interests include veterinary ophthalmology, internal medicine, and geriatric hospice care.

Joshua Coward, DVM

Dr. Joshua Coward grew up in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. In 2013 he completed a degree in Linguistics at University of California, Los Angeles. After working as a support staff member at a local veterinary hospital, Dr. Coward picked up and moved to Australia. There he earned Bachelor of Veterinary Biology and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees from the University of Sydney starting in 2016 (yes, he has treated koalas and kangaroos!). After graduation, Dr. Coward completed an emergency and critical care internship in Australia before moving back to the United States. His professional interests include general practice, imaging, and toxicology.

Dr. Coward is happy to be back in Los Angeles and spends his free time eating his way through the city, playing dodgeball, and watching too much television with his Boxer X Rottweiler Tim Tam.

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