Our Story Bottletree Animal Hospital in Oxford

Do you know where Bottletree Animal Hospital got its name? When Dr. Apryl Garcia, our hospital founder and veterinarian, first came to Mississippi, she began noticing the bottletrees everywhere and she was fascinated! Many locals in Mississippi already know what these bottletrees mean, but for those who don’t, we find the story very interesting!

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What is a Bottletree?

“Bottletrees” were introduced to the south by slaves from Africa. They would put up these decorative metal trees covered in glass bottles, typically blue ones, near the front doors of their homes. They believed that the bottles would capture evil spirits overnight and in the light of day, those spirits would vanish.

Why Bottletree Animal Hospital?

When Dr. Garcia chose the name for our Oxford animal hospital, she wanted to keep the local legacy alive. Sometimes what we do at Bottletree Animal Hospital, like acupuncture, is often thought of as a kind of “voodoo medicine.” While we wouldn’t necessarily say that ourselves, we do love the correlation between capturing the evil spirits and keeping pets safe and healthy. We are proud that our hospital’s bottletree was created by a local artist and we often get donations of beautiful bottles in all kinds of unique shapes from our clients. (Our support of local artisans goes even further as we also enjoy featuring their work gallery-style inside of our animal hospital!) We love that our bottletree is not only a symbol for our animal hospital in Oxford, but also a community symbol that our clients and friends can be a part of as well. Our Oxford animal hospital team is pleased to be a part of the community!