Shunning retirement after having recently sold his practice at Brookside Animal Hospital on F.M. 66, long-time Waxahachie area vet Dr. Del Walters has taken his veterinary practice on the road.
His new mobile practice, Walters Mobile Large Animal Veterinary Services, brings animal care to the animal rather than the animal to the vet’s office, and primarily focuses on horses, cattle and other animals a little too large to pack in a pet carrier, but he still sees dogs and cats, too.
He also provides diagnostic ultrasound and X-ray services for all animals and supplements the care offered by mobile vets in Ellis, Navarro and Hill Counties while also offering relief services to local, independent vet clinics that experience periods of heavier demand.
Dr. Walters says that part of the goal of his new venture is to help local veterinarians remain independent from corporate investors that in the last two decades have bought up veterinary practices and turned them into profit-focused operations with much higher fees.
“There’s a place for corporate animal hospitals, but for many people, their independent vet is the best choice,” Walters said. “We serve a lot of people who can’t afford the higher fees of corporate practices: older couples who just need basic pet care, or people just making ends meet who need a spay or neuter. Don’t their animal deserve to be cared for?”
Dr. Walters has 45 years of experience as a veterinarian, and he’s spent the last 20 years working in the Waxahachie area.
Most recently, he owned and operated Brookside Animal Hospital on F.M. 66 near Maypearl, just outside the Waxahachie city limits. The clinic has operated since 1946 under various owners and is one of the the longest standing veterinary operations in Texas, a fact for which it received a Heritage Award from the Texas Veterinary Medical Association in 2025. Dr. Walters recently sold the hospital to his fellow veterinarian and mentee, Dr. Peyton Deraleau.
As to his new chapter in mobile veterinary services, Dr. Walters says the pace of the work is more aligned with his age. As opposed to a full week of business hours on his feet serving clients in an area that has too few veterinarians to meet local demand, his new schedule gives him more days off, even if others are filled morning to midnight by a complication with a calving cow or a Sunday urgent care need for a horse.
Dr. Walters says he prefers to remain working rather than fully retiring. While he does enjoy performing Classic Country music with his wife Lonna Hartshorn Westeman, riding his Harley through the countryside and wiling away the evening on his farm in Milford, he says that caring for animals keeps him going.
“People I know who retire seem to die soon afterwards,” he says. “I prefer to keep busy.”
About the Writer
Marshall Hinsley is a writer and local realtor who started Waxahachie 360 to spread the word about the people, places and events that make Waxahachie a nice place to call home.
In recent years, Marshall has become an unofficial Waxahachie ambassador, helping newcomers to Waxahachie find their place in the community, both literally and figuratively.
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