Oak Harbor veterinarian faces discipline after cat necropsy mishandling

Washington regulators placed Oak Harbor veterinarian Eric E. Anderson under at least a year of oversight and ordered him to pay a $7,000 fine after state records said he mishandled a cat euthanasia case and began a necropsy before confirming death.

The Washington State Veterinary Board of Governors charged Anderson, license VT00002145, with unprofessional conduct in December 2024 over an incident that allegedly occurred in April 2022. State disciplinary records said he failed to fully attend to a patient during a euthanasia procedure and then performed a necropsy without confirming the patient was deceased. The board identified Anderson as based in Island County.

The case runs straight to the rules Washington uses to judge whether a veterinarian can keep practicing. The board says its mission is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public and their animals by regulating the competency and quality of veterinary health care providers and facilities. State veterinary rules also say that once care is undertaken, a veterinarian must not neglect the patient.

By August 2025, the Washington State Department of Health said Anderson and the board entered an agreed order that placed his veterinary credential under oversight for at least one year. The same order required him to pay the $7,000 fine, closing one formal chapter of the case while leaving his practice under regulatory scrutiny.

Anderson remains the practicing doctor, director and chief of staff at Best Friend’s Veterinary Center in Oak Harbor, where the clinic says he opened the practice in 1980. For Island County pet owners, the record now shows both the disciplinary complaint and the outcome regulators used to respond: oversight, a financial penalty and an official finding tied to the handling of a euthanasia case.