Degenhardt sets retirement from Banner Creek Animal Hospital

After 39 years of practicing veterinary medicine, the last 32 years in Holton, Dr. Dan Degenhardt is ready to hang up his stethoscope at the end of April.
But Degenhardt is leaving his veterinary practice, Banner Creek Animal Hospital, in good hands, as the clinic is now under the ownership of Dr. Taylor Kennedy, who joined the clinic’s staff in August of 2018.
“Taylor’s been here for five years, so everybody knows her,” Degenhardt said of Kennedy, to whom the sale of Banner Creek Animal Hospital was finalized in November of 2022. “She’s a very bright, responsible and compassionate young veterinarian who will continue to carry on what I started and continue to provide high-quality veterinary medicine and surgery to our community.”
As for Kennedy, who grew up in Sabetha as the daughter of a veterinarian, Dr. Jeff DeMint, she said that while it might not have been her intention to buy Banner Creek Animal Hospital when she started working there almost immediately after graduation from Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2018, “that’s just kind of how it ended up.”
Degenhardt said that he had considered taking on a partner at the clinic or selling it outright for several years.
“I was waiting for the right person who shared my passion of veterinary medicine, valued the human-animal bond and enjoyed interacting with our clients and their pets, as well as providing service to our livestock community,” he said. “When Taylor joined us five years ago, I was pretty sure she was going to be that person if she decided to stay.”
About two years ago, Degenhardt and Kennedy began discussing the possibility of a sale, he said, noting that it “took several months to get the particulars ironed out.” While those “particulars” were being “ironed out,” he said, he gave a lot of thought to retiring from veterinary medicine.
“After much thought, I decided it was time to spend more time with my family, doing things I haven’t had time to do the past 39 years,” Degenhardt said. “Selling the practice, as opposed to a partnership, seemed to be the best option.”
Degenhardt said he agreed to stay on with Kennedy for 18 months during the ownership transition period. He has set his last day at the clinic for Tuesday, April 30, capping a veterinary career that began in 1985 as an associate veterinarian in Texas before he moved to Kansas five years later and joined the staff of what was then known as Hilltop Animal Clinic in Holton with Dr. Darrell Carder in 1992.
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