The goal: Build a facility big enough to accommodate future growth without losing the small-practice feel. The result: Alexandria Veterinary Clinic PetCare Center in Alexandria, Minn., a warm practice that's built to last.

Drs. Lamar and Amber Crossland knew they wanted Sunset Canyon Veterinary Clinic in central Texas to appeal to long-time ranchers as well as to the Austin urbanites who’d fled the city for greener pastures in Dripping Springs, Texas. And the mixed animal practice also needed to accommodate a gamut of patients, from livestock to polo horses to pampered pooches. One last requirement: seamless movement between the large animal and small animal sides of the practice, because all staff members worked in both areas.

Dr. Timothy J. Thompson wanted to own a practice so much, he says he would've bought a lemonade stand with a dog run attached. So he and his wife, Dr. Shannon A. Thompson, both 1994 Texas A&M University graduates, only spent a year as associates before buying Hope Animal Clinic in Marble Falls, Texas. They leased the 850-square-foot building and within a year bought land to build the mixed animal facility of their dreams.