About Cygnus Alternative Veterinary Care
Compassionate care, grounded in tradition, delivered where your pet feels safest—home.
What We Do
Cygnus represents efficacy and safety in the management of chronic conditions. Innovative and integrational thinking beyond the flowchart medicine commonly practiced today can yield tremendous results and too few patients are given the opportunity to benefit from it.
Cygnus was created after 14 years of general practice to bring that beneficial type of treatment to animals in the comfort of their home.
The name Cygnus was chosen because of the applicable symbolism that we are dedicated to replicate. Cygnus is the Swan Constellation. Across many aspects of both Eastern and Western traditions the swan represents love, loyalty, grace, peace and strength. It also represents transformation- both in and after life as many ancient cultures believed that the departed crossed through Cygnus to reach the afterlife in the stars.
Cygnus will use a number of safe and effective strategies to help your pet live a more comfortable and happier life. But at the end of their journey, Cygnus will continue with our core values and ensure a peaceful passing of your loved pet handled with the utmost care and respect.
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experience
Meet Dr. Mark Plunkett
Dr. Plunkett has been a practicing veterinarian for 14 years. He grew up on the north shore of Long Island and went to college in New York City graduating from Columbia University in 2005. In 2011 he graduated from Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
During college he pursued a career in finance spending time on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and the cash equity trading desk in midtown Manhattan working for Bank of America. Upon graduation Dr. Plunkett recieved a full time position at Bank of America in midtown. Even though Dr. Plunkett grew up with a large number of pets and always contemplated a career in veterinary medicine, he initially went the path of finance. But after about 5 months of working in midtown he decided that despite the many positives (and an overall very rewarding experience) in that line of work, he felt compelled to change paths to veterinary medicine.
One day, after tremendous amounts of thought, it literally clicked. Two years of post-baccalaureate work later he was accepted into veterinary school at KSU and 4 years of study later achieved his true goal of DVM. He immediately began practice in small animal general practice in medicine and surgery. 14 years later that is still the day to day routine with a particularly strong area of interest in surgery. All of veterinary medicine has its rewards but soft tissue and selected orthopedic surgeries have been particularly rewarding along the way.
When his wife’s horse, an adopted off the track thoroughbred, began having severe arthritic issues at a young age Dr. Plunkett decided to take his first course at the Chi Institute (as it was known then) in Florida to find other ways of helping this animal. This led down the path of achieving a CVA from the now Chi University and taking many other courses in eastern medicine for both large and small animals to help manage chronic conditions and ease pain.
The blending of both eastern and western medicine is of particular interest as this tends to be where the most impact can be had. He created Cygnus Alternative Veterinary Care with this purpose in mind.
Certificates of training:
Columbia University BA 2005
Kansas State College of Veterinary Medicine DVM 2011
Chi University CVA 2024
