Dr. Trussell's father grew up in the country as a farm boy, and from her infancy she was surrounded by all sorts of creatures. She can't remember a time when she wanted to do anything other than care for animals. A career as a veterinarian was the only choice that made sense.

Dr. Trussell grew up in the Cajun Country of southwestern Louisiana. She completed her pre-veterinary studies at the local university, McNeese State, then attended Louisiana State University's School of Veterinary Medicine. Upon graduating with her Doctorate in 1988, she moved to the Fort Worth area, where she's been practicing ever since.

Dr. Trussell has a strong interest in pain management of pets. She has an extensive background in emergency and critical care. She also enjoys diagnosing difficult internal medicine cases and gets a lot of satisfaction from soft-tissue surgery.
Several years ago Dr. Trussell's father came to live with her, bringing along his dog Max. She raises and shows Siamese and Oriental Shorthair cats, and shares her home with several retired show cats—Shiloh, Tippy, Ben, Peach and Vangie —as well as the many other cats she raises.

When she isn't serving pets at VCA Advanced Care Animal Hospital or showing her cats, Dr. Trussell likes to work on her home (built in 1945) with her father. She also enjoys driving her now fully restored 1986 Camaro, of which she is the original owner.