A handwritten card adorned with bespoke artwork was given to Dr. Maria Kremerman-Waltz, DVM, at her former practice. The sentiment read: “Kindness is the one commodity that you should spend more freely than you earn.”
That sentiment became a guiding principle for Dr. Kremerman-Waltz, better known as Masha—one that has shaped how she practices veterinary medicine and how she built her Ridgefield practice, Pawpaw Tree Veterinary Clinic, quite literally from the ground up.
“Being on the other side of it now and thinking back to those early days, I honestly don’t know how we got through it,” Masha reflects. “But once the ball was rolling, we just focused on the next thing that had to be done.”
Soft spoken and quietly resolute, Masha is, in many ways, exactly as she comes across: steady, grounded, and determined. Getting to this point required overcoming plenty of obstacles, but if there’s one trait that rivals her kindness, it’s her perseverance.
Masha and her family immigrated to the United States from Lithuania during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992.
“We were packed up and ready to emigrate to Israel,” she recalls. “But we happened to win the lottery for the U.S. two weeks before moving.”
The Kremermans settled in Kings Highway, Brooklyn, before eventually moving to the Pelham Parkway area of the Bronx.
“I always wanted to be a vet,” Masha says with a smile. “I know it’s such a cliché. But since I was a child, I’ve always loved animals.”
Masha attended The Bronx High School of Science and earned her undergraduate degree from Hunter College in New York City. She went on to study at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts before completing her clinical training at Tufts University near Boston.
Today, Masha is happily married to Bobby Waltz, also a small business owner, and shares her home with two rescue pups, Bart and Flower. With Pawpaw Tree Veterinary Clinic, she’s realizing a dream years in the making.
After veterinary school and clinical training, Masha worked in hospitals throughout the Northeast before joining a privately owned practice in Mamaroneck, New York. There, she experienced the kind of community-based veterinary care she had always hoped to practice—getting to know families over years and caring for pets through every stage of life.
Then the practice changed hands.
“My boss planned to retire,” she says, “and ended up selling the practice to a corporation. After the first couple of years, it became clear that their initiatives were not in the best interest of the patients—or the employees.”
Masha’s experience reflects a broader shift across veterinary medicine toward corporate ownership and changing hospital dynamics.
“You hit a point of diminishing returns,” Masha says. “It’s sustainable to a certain degree, and then people start saying, ‘No.’”
Masha watched decisions get made by people who had never set foot in the exam room. Prices rose. Staffing got tighter. Employees had less say in how the hospital ran. But the hardest loss to watch was the loss of continuity.
Veterinary medicine, to her, is about relationships built over years—watching a family’s pet grow from puppy to senior and helping them through the hard decisions along the way.
“My goal as a veterinarian is to have a long-term relationship with pet owners,” she says. “I want to see your pet through their whole life.”
Disenchanted with where the industry was headed, Masha decided to open her own practice. She connected with a Kentucky-based veterinary contract lawyer, who pointed her to a startup lending program for veterinary practices through Bank of America, and secured financing. Then, through a combination of local connections, good timing, and, of course, perseverance, she heard about a building for sale in Branchville.
“Laura Ancona was our realtor,” she says. “We saw the building in November 2024 and knew it would take a lot of work—we just didn’t know how much.”
Before construction could even begin, local attorneys Patrick Walsh and Bob Jewell had to close the real estate deal and secure the special permitting needed to convert the building into a veterinary clinic.
Then came the surprises.
The well was contaminated. Evidence of an old fire had been painted over. Water damage was everywhere. What Masha had envisioned as a major renovation quickly became something closer to a complete rebuild.
Architect Doug Macmillan designed the transformation within the building’s existing footprint, while Joe Fossi and his crew at Pelham Homes LLC brought the plans to life. Outside, Bobby and his team at Waltz Landscaping created a welcoming green space, complete with pollinator-friendly plantings and, of course, pawpaw trees.
“When I was thinking about what to name the practice, I wanted something rooted in nature but not another version of ‘oak,’ ‘maple,’ or ‘dogwood,’” Masha says. “A friend suggested ‘pawpaw tree.’ It’s a unique native tree that people don’t know much about—and I loved that.”
Indigenous to the eastern United States, pawpaw trees produce a tropical-tasting fruit often described as a cross between a mango and a banana. They’re more common farther south, but also turn up in pockets of the Midwest and Northeast, including Connecticut.
Designer Natasha Habermann, of Natasha Habermann Studios, helped bring Masha’s vision to life. Together, they chose a color palette intended to feel calming for pets and owners alike. From the Aganthus Green exterior, to the Enchanted Forest shutters, and scalloped trim to the bright, light-filled rooms inside, Pawpaw Tree Vet feels more like a home than a clinic.
This emphasis on comfort extends beyond aesthetics. Masha is currently pursuing Fear Free Certification, a nationally recognized program focused on reducing fear, anxiety, and stress in veterinary settings, and she hopes to eventually have the entire clinic certified.
She worked with a veterinary design specialist to configure the clinic’s layout in a way that minimizes stress for visiting animals. To that end, there are separate waiting areas and exam rooms for dogs and cats, and the feline exam room includes elevated perches for adventurous climbers. Extra soundproofing helps reduce barking and other noises that might unsettle nervous patients. Up a wide, low-rise staircase on the second floor are the surgery suite, dental area, and separate recovery spaces for cats and dogs.
Masha is also working toward accreditation through the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), widely considered the gold standard in veterinary medicine.
Comfort for visiting animals matters just as much as accessibility for their owners. Pawpaw Tree Vet offers nontraditional office hours—including early mornings, later evenings, and weekend availability. The clinic has partnered with a veterinary telehealth triage service, so pet owners can connect with a veterinarian after hours to figure out whether an issue can wait or needs emergency care.
The practice opened with a staff of five and plans to grow as demand increases. Stuart, a veterinarian from Ecuador whom Masha has worked alongside for more than six years, serves as lead technician while completing the licensing process to practice veterinary medicine in the United States. Dentistry is his particular passion and specialty.
The rest of the team was chosen just as carefully. Sarah, a veterinary assistant, is certified in low-stress handling techniques. Nathan is new to the profession but has spent his life around animals and felt called to veterinary medicine. Donya, the clinic’s client care coordinator, is a certified dog trainer with extensive experience in rescue and shelter work who recently enrolled in a veterinary technician program. Astri, a part-time licensed veterinary technician, brings more than two decades of experience to the practice.
“Clinical skills can be taught,” Masha says. “But kindness and compassion are innate, and I’m so proud of the team we’ve put together at Pawpaw Tree Vet.”
Stuart tells us, “Masha and her husband, Bobby, have put so much care, hard work, and love into creating a place where pets and their families feel welcome. I see it every day—in the long hours, the attention to every detail, and the genuine kindness they bring to everything they do. I’m grateful to be part of this team and excited to see the positive difference Pawpaw Tree Vet will make in our community.”
Long before the space had exam rooms, surgery suites, or a cheerful exterior, it had Masha. And Masha had a guiding principle.
The handwritten card still hangs on Masha’s wall—a reminder of the kind of veterinarian, employer, and practice owner she hopes to be.
If Masha’s vision holds, that’s the kind of practice Pawpaw Tree Vet will become—one where she gets to know a family’s pets from their first visit to their last, just as she always wanted.
Pawpaw Tree Vet is now accepting new patients at 723 Branchville Road. Call (475) 215-9005 or visit pawpawtreevet.com to learn more and follow along on Instagram @PawpawTreeVet.
“My goal as a veterinarian is to have a long-term relationship with pet owners. I want to see your pet through their whole life.”