Livewell Animal Hospital of Reston opened on Thursday, July 23, at 11993 Inspiration Street, in the RTC Next blocks on the north side of Reston Town Center, a few minutes’ walk from the Reston Town Center Metro station. It runs as a full-service general practice, handling checkups and vaccines, diagnostics, surgery and same-day sick visits, and it takes walk-ins during open hours.
Reston Town Center now lists the clinic as “Now Open” in its shops directory. For dog and cat owners in the town center’s apartment and condo towers, it puts a vet steps from a dog day care and across the street from a 40-story apartment building with its own dog spa.
The clinic handles checkups, surgery and same-day sick visits
Livewell lists five service lines at the Reston hospital: wellness and preventive care, testing and diagnostics, advanced care, surgery and urgent care. Urgent care here means same-day visits for problems that cannot wait for a routine appointment, available during regular hours. The hospital does not stay open overnight. It closes at 6 p.m. on weekdays and at noon on Saturday, so a late-night emergency still means a 24-hour emergency hospital.
For eye problems, the Reston vets treat conditions such as conjunctivitis, dry eye, corneal ulcers and glaucoma in house and refer complex cases to a veterinary ophthalmologist, a specialist in animal eye disease. Clients can reorder food and prescriptions through the hospital’s online pharmacy.
The hospital closes Wednesdays and Sundays
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturday: 8 a.m. to noon
- Wednesday and Sunday: closed
Call 703-344-7589 or book through the hospital’s website. Walk-ins are welcome during those hours.
Dr. Laura Lockhart leads the Reston practice
Dr. Laura Lockhart is the hospital’s founding lead veterinarian. She earned a biology degree at Queen’s University in Ontario and her veterinary degree at North Carolina State University in 2013, and she has practiced in Northern Virginia since. She holds Fear Free and Low Stress Handling certifications, training in examining and treating pets in ways that keep anxious animals calmer, and she lists preventive care, behavior, anesthesia and soft-tissue surgery as her main clinical interests.
Livewell’s builder lists Reston among six D.C.-area hospitals
Livewell Animal Hospital runs clinics in several states. Liberty Construction, which built the D.C.-area clinics, lists six: Bethesda, Shaw and Walter Reed in Washington, Falls Church, Alexandria and Reston. The Reston hospital hires through Mission Pet Health, the veterinary group formed when Southern Veterinary Partners and Mission Veterinary Partners merged in late 2024.
A vet, a dog day care and a dog spa now sit within a block of each other
Molly’s Dog Care opened its first location at 11992 Inspiration Street in December 2024, with day care, boarding and grooming in nearly 4,000 square feet. Skymark, the 40-story apartment tower at 12000 Inspiration Street, has a dog spa, where Livewell handed out free “Pup-kin Spice Lattes” for dogs on Oct. 7. In September, the clinic hosted Pups in the Pavilion, a Wednesday dog meetup at the Reston Town Center Pavilion.
Dogfish Head Alehouse, still listed as coming soon, takes the space next door at 11995 Inspiration Street, and Toastique is at 11990. Our guide to the next phase of RTC Next covers the rest of the blocks.
Condo buyers should read a building’s pet rules before making an offer
A dog owner living in a Reston Town Center high-rise can now reach a vet, day care and grooming on foot, within a few blocks of the Silver Line. That convenience only helps if the building allows the dog. Each condo association sets its own pet rules, which can limit the number of pets or a dog’s size, so ask for them in the association documents early. Renters should check the lease for pet rent and breed restrictions as well.
If you are weighing a condo at the town center against a townhouse with a yard farther out, we can walk you through the pet rules building by building. Reach out any time.
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