Meet Mattituck’s newest large animal vet, Dr. Amanda Farino
Dr. Amanda Farino grew up surrounded by all sorts of animals, but not typical household pets like cats, dogs, or even lizards.
She spent time with larger animals, like goats, sheep, and horses.
“I grew up working at a lot of barns, riding, working for rides, things like that,” she said. “I worked at a petting zoo for most of my high school career.”
For many, a high school gig is just a gig. For Dr. Farino, it was a springboard for her career.
Now, as the newest large-animal veterinarian at Mattituck-Laurel Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Farino is bringing top-of-the-line care not just to the bigger creatures of the North Fork, but to all of Suffolk County.
“I’ve seen alpacas and llamas, a handful of goats and sheep, cows and horses, so pretty much all of them so far,” Dr. Farino said — through a smile — of just her first month on the job.
Dr. Farino, 28, spent the first 12 years of her life in Bloomfield, N.J. before her family made the move to Dix Hills. After graduating from the Half Hollow Hills School District, she spent the first two years of college at Long Island University. She transferred to Stony Brook her junior year, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in biology.
When she graduated, it was the COVID pandemic, so she took a gap year before going off to veterinary school back at LIU. She graduated in 2025 — earning her doctorate and adding “DVM” to her name. While there, she learned how to care for smaller and larger animals, but chose to spend her time outside specializing in the latter.
“A lot of my time was spent in equine clinics in particular,” she said. “I went to Texas for two weeks and did a lot of dairy cow medicine there. I did a rotation with small ruminants, so that was really when I got to cater to my interests.”
Most of her clinical pre-vet school hours came from working in a small animal hospital, giving her a mixture of experience with all species, but she’s always wanted to focus on large animals.
During her vet school career, Dr. Farino started riding with Dr. Benjamin Haar, who worked at Mattituck-Laurel Veterinary Hospital. Because Dr. Haar was an LIU affiliate, Dr. Farino would come out east during the summers to help him out and learn the ropes.
Dr. Haar recently moved out of the area, creating a job opening.
Dr. Farino — who now lives in Medford with two horses of her own, Picasso and a miniature horse named Scooby — filled that role. Since then, there’s one animal she’s seen more of than she expected: pigs.
“People have pigs in their houses here, and it’s hard to call that a large animal when they’re treated like a dog, essentially,” she joked. “There are more pigs than I could have ever imagined in houses and outside. You never know what you’re walking into; I’ve seen a 400-pound pig living in a guest bedroom.”
Dr. Farino suspects there are a lot of people who are interested in working with large animals, but didn’t grow up as she did, so they might not feel as comfortable around them.
She said large animal vets put more faith and trust in owners being able to restrain their animals and keep them safe, because they typically don’t have a technician to help them.
Dr. Farino primarily offers ambulatory services, meaning she’s going to a house or farm to treat an animal. It’s very dependent on each client, but for emergency scenarios, she typically travels to them.
Dogs and cats have an entirely different GI system from horses, who are totally different from cows and goats and sheep, who are different from pigs and camels, she said. No matter the animal, she goes to work every day loving what she does.
“I think it’s really rewarding to be able to work with people over the course of their entire pet’s life,” Dr. Farino said. “Nothing makes me happier than treating an animal and then a couple of days later getting a text from the client saying, ‘Hey, they’re doing so much better. Thanks for coming.’ The appreciation that we get from owners is really nice.”
To schedule an appointment with Dr. Farino, reach out to her at 934-271-0107.
