Dr. Nicole Coates graduated from The University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. After veterinary school, she completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery, shelter medicine, and humane law enforcement at Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in New York, and then worked for one year as a feline-exclusive veterinarian. She joined VCA Animal Hospital of Burbank in August 2011. Dr. Coates is a certified trainer in Small Animal Restraint & Handling and Small Animal CPR, through Basic Animal Rescue Training, a program that teaches firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and other first responders how to capture, restrain, assess, and perform first aid on animals they encounter in the course of their duties.

She lives with her two cats, Wednesday and Miss Ghostie.