Alexis Cottingham, DVM, is an Emergency Medicine Veterinarian at WestVet Urgent Care. She has been a part of the WestVet team since 2018.

Dr. Cottingham grew up in Great Falls, Montana. In high school, she enjoyed playing basketball, volleyball and did the shot put and discus on the track team. Shot put and discus were continued into college, where she completed a BS in biology from Montana State University.

After earning her biology degree she entered the veterinary technician world. She worked for a general practice, a specialty hospital and also taught veterinary assistant classes at Pima medical institute in Arizona.

After working as a veterinary technician for several years she decided to go to vet school. She completed her veterinary training at Ross University, which is located on a small island, St. Kitts, in the West Indies. This was an amazing opportunity to experience life on a small tropical island while getting a great education. This program partners with schools in the US and the fourth year of clinical learning is at a US vet school. Dr Cottingham spent her fourth year at the University of Minnesota and then stayed in Minnesota to complete a one year rotating internship.

Following her internship she went on to do a residency in internal medicine at Michigan State University, then worked at a referral hospital in Minnesota for the next seven years. Fitting with her advanced training in internal medicine, Dr. Cottingham has a special interest in immune mediated disease and diabetes.

In early 2017, Dr. Cottingham and her husband decided that they wanted to get back to the mountains. They packed up their four dogs (Watson and Fletcher are dachshunds, Ginger and Piper are labs) and moved to Boise. Dr. Cottingham and her family are excited to hike, bike, fish (fly and ice), and go boating on the rivers and reservoirs here in Idaho. She and her husband love to ride their Indian motorcycle and can’t wait to explore this beautiful landscape.