David LaVigne DVM

Dr. LaVigne graduated with honors from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1979 and owned a mixed animal practice near Saginaw Bay for 20 years before selling it and moving aboard his sailboat and then sailing across the Erie Canal and down the East Coast to Baltimore. In Baltimore Harbor, he lived aboard his boat for four years while managing a veterinary hospital on the Inner Harbor and exploring Chesapeake Bay aboard his boat during his free time. Before leaving Baltimore, he received his captain’s license. He then sailed from Chesapeake Bay down the Intracoastal Waterway to Florida, across to the Bahamas, and down to the northern Caribbean, where he continued to provide veterinary care to other sailors cruising with their pets. While holed up in Luperón on the north coast of Hispaniola for the hurricane season of 2005, he wrote a book on pet care for backcountry travelers. The book, “Where There Is No Pet Doctor – A Manual for Cruisers, RVer’s and Backcountry Travelers”, is now in its fourth edition. He also wrote two other non-veterinary books, including a narrative travelogue about their exploits, “Island Hopping to the Caribbean.”

In 2007, Captain Doctor Dave and his wife returned to the U.S. and took up residence in Florida, where he resumed veterinary practice as an after-hours emergency and critical care clinician while he continued to provide guidance and pet care information to cruisers in webinars and through his website, captddrdave.com. He continued to live and practice on the Gulf Coast of Florida until 2023, when they decided to return to Michigan. They now reside in Traverse City.

Dr. LaVigne is enjoying his return to the Great Lakes state, and he and his wife, Annie, enjoy traveling, kayaking, and have developed a new passion for visiting the lighthouses of the Great Lakes.