A Trusted Animal Hospital in Miller Place Since 1968
For more than 50 years, Miller Place Animal Hospital has been a fixture of veterinary care on Long Island’s North Shore — an AAHA-accredited practice caring for dogs and cats across Miller Place and Suffolk County with high standards and a personal touch.
Our Story
Miller Place Animal Hospital began as the vision of Dr. Jeremiah N. Sbarra in 1968. The building had lived a few lives before ours — first a roadhouse, then a medical doctor’s office — before it was converted into a veterinary hospital. It was remodeled again when Dr. Jerome B. Higgins joined the practice in 1972, and just two years later, in 1974, the hospital met the American Animal Hospital Association’s rigorous standards and earned its accreditation — a distinction we’ve proudly maintained ever since.
The practice has been carefully handed down through the decades. Dr. Pilar Galvis joined the team in 1992 and became a partner in 1998 when Dr. Sbarra retired; when Dr. Higgins retired in 2008, she became sole owner. In 2020, Dr. Dylan Hirsch purchased the practice and carries that legacy forward today. Through every chapter, the mission has stayed the same: uphold the highest standards of veterinary medicine and surgery while treating each pet — and each family — like our own.
Rooted in the Miller Place Community
More than five decades in one place builds something you can’t fast-track: trust.
Generations of families across Miller Place, Brookhaven, Rocky Point, Mount Sinai, Port Jefferson, and the surrounding towns have brought their pets to us, and many still do. That local continuity is at the heart of who we are — we’re not just a hospital in the area — we’re part of it.
Why Families Choose Us
Our AAHA accreditation is one of the clearest measures of our commitment. We earned our 50th consecutive year of accreditation in 2024 — a milestone reached by fewer than 1% of accredited animal hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Only about 15% of hospitals are accredited at all, because accreditation means being evaluated against hundreds of standards spanning patient care, safety, equipment, and practice management.
But credentials only tell part of the story. What families remember is the experienced veterinary team that greets them by name, the doctors who take time to explain, and the steady, familiar care their pets receive at every stage of life. That combination — rigorous standards paired with genuine, personal attention — is what has kept Miller Place Animal Hospital trusted for over 50 years.