Dr. Carl Tinsman, who purchased a house at the corner of Colorado Blvd. and Warren Ave., founded the hospital in 1950. For the first 4 years, the family lived in the upstairs apartment while Dr. Tinsman operated the clinic from the ground floor.

In these early years, Colorado Blvd. was a 2 lane dirt road south from Alameda and much of Dr. Tinsman?s income came from treating dairy cattle. After about 10 years, Denver was growing up around him and he dropped the large animal work.

In 1960, Dr. Tinsman and his partner Dr. Cook built the current hospital on the back portion of the lot.

In 1971, the hospital was sold to Dr. Larry Magnuson, who owned the hospital until 1983. For a number of years, Larry had a partner, Dr. Bruce Cottrell.

In 1983, Dr. Jack Rife acquired the hospital and Dr. Ted Cohn became a Partner in 1985 followed by Dr. Nancy Willerton in 1998. In 2010 Dr. Jennifer Delaney became a Partner as Dr. Rife retired.

The Hospital was extensively remodeled in 1993, and the adjacent building was acquired from Dr. Tinsman.

All the staff of University Hills Animal Hospital are proud to continue a 50+ year tradition of serving the pets and families of southeast Denver.