Our Team

In 7th or 8th grade, Steve was walking down the road with a friend and his friend’s dog, Boots. Boots decided to chase a squirrel into the road just as a car was coming—the car’s bumper nicked Boots, but luckily the dog was okay aside from being a little sore. As that scary scene unfolded in front of him, Steve knew he wanted to help his friend’s dog. It was at this time Steve began to think about becoming a veterinarian. 

Steve grew up in Traverse City, Michigan, as the youngest of four kids. He worked on a horse farm throughout junior and senior high school, another key factor in his decision to work with animals. After high school, Steve earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Biology and Management from Michigan State University. He realized he wanted to go back to his childhood calling of veterinary medicine and returned to MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, graduating in 1987. In 1991, after working as an associate veterinarian in a mixed animal practice, he moved his family to Ludington and opened the Animal Hospital of Ludington!

As a veterinary professional, Dr. Paxton especially enjoys the variety of everyday general practice, interacting with clients and patients, and performing soft tissue and orthopedic surgery. He also enjoys unraveling the mysteries of a sick animal and helping that animal become healthy again.  

Dr. Paxton lives with his wife Patty, who he’s been married to since 1979. Their oldest daughter Leslie, became a veterinarian herself and now works as an associate veterinarian at the Animal Hospital of Ludington! Their son Stephen is a Registered Nurse and works at Butterworth and Blodgett Hospitals in Grand Rapids while he awaits acceptance into medical school. Their youngest daughter, Claire, graduated from chiropractic school in 2020 and owns her own practice in Hilliard, Ohio (just outside of Columbus). The family opened their home to two foreign exchange students, Bele from Germany and Maren from Norway, who they also consider their adopted daughters.

The Paxton family would not be complete without their three dogs; Twig, Sage, and Luka who are English Setters and crazy about bird hunting! Dr. Paxton, Twig, Sage and Luka are an avid woodcock banding team. Dr. Paxton is one of 100 people licensed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to band woodcock chicks using highly trained pointing dogs during the months of April and May. This program is designed to monitor the populations of this very interesting ground-dwelling, migratory game bird.

Dr. Paxton also is an accomplished guitarist who sometimes plays in bands and is a passionate John Denver fan. He even arranged for John Denver’s former guitarist, Pete Huttlinger to perform an awesome concert at the local community college. 

In many ways, veterinary medicine is in Dr. Leslie Deines’ blood. That’s because she’s the daughter of Dr. Steve Paxton, proud owner and operator of the Animal Hospital of Ludington! Dr. Deines was born during her father’s last year of veterinary school, so she’s been around the field for her entire life. Her own lifelong passion for animal care made one thing very clear: she was destined to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a veterinarian herself.

Dr. Deines is a Ludington native and was only four or five years old when she started helping her dad around the clinic and going on farm calls to assist with horses and cattle. She gained even more real-world experience by volunteering at the local animal hospital during her high school and community college careers. Dr. Deines attended West Shore Community College and Michigan State University for her undergraduate degree in animal science, studying abroad in Northern Ireland for a semester, before heading to veterinary school at Michigan State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Deines graduated in 2013 and joined the Animal Hospital of Ludington team as an Associate Veterinarian a few weeks later. She has a special interest in anesthesia, and she’s also fond of mentoring and teaching new employees and interns about the field of veterinary medicine.

In her time away from the office, Dr. Deines enjoys watching movies with her husband, J.P., practicing yoga, bicycling, reading, drawing and painting, and doting on her own pets at home. The couple shares their lives with a loveable Beagle/Pit Bull mix named Otis; a black housecat named Stretch; Merida the Calico barn cat; and a retired show horse named Tazz-Tazz who has been Dr. Deines’ partner since she was 14 years old.