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Dr. Katy

Milwaukee & Surrounding Areas

I was born in Rockford, Illinois, and grew up on a dead-end street where the neighbors let me take their dogs at will because I loved being around them. We later moved to Milwaukee when I was 9. I have a big, close-knit family with five siblings and 14 nieces and nephews.

I became a vet because it felt natural. I've always been drawn to animals and feel most like myself when I'm near them. I attended undergraduate school at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and veterinary school at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine.

Being a veterinarian has been gratifying in many ways. I love helping animals and speaking for those who can’t speak for themselves. Most of my career has been dedicated to equine general practice and podiatry, but I have also worked in small animal general practice and enjoy seeing pets of all species.

I was drawn to Lap of Love because hospice and euthanasia are unique and rewarding ways to help animals and their families. It's critical to help pets pass with dignity and to provide a peaceful and memorable experience for everyone involved. Euthanasia is a personal process that I’m honored to be part of, facilitating last moments that demonstrate the strength and power of the human-animal bond.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time outdoors with my dogs, camping, playing soccer, rock climbing, gardening, and hurling. I am also crafty, with hidden talents for blacksmithing, woodworking, knitting, photography, sewing, and stained glass work.

Our services

We’re here to support you when you need it

In-Home Euthanasia

At Lap of Love, we take the utmost pride in helping your pet experience a peaceful passing in the comfort and tranquility of their home.

Veterinary Hospice

Family-focused, in-home hospice care ensures your dog or cat is comfortable and happy during their final days.

Aftercare

From cremation to personal keepsakes, our aftercare services allow you to forever memorialize your beloved dog or cat.

Telehospice

Personal phone/video calls, during which a Lap of Love team member will help you gain clarity around what's best for your ailing or aging pet.

Pet Loss Support

Join our free, virtual Pet Loss Support Groups. Discussions are focused on healthy coping skills, grief reactions, and honoring the lives of your furry family member.

In-Home Euthanasia

At Lap of Love, we take the utmost pride in helping your pet experience a peaceful passing in the comfort and tranquility of their home.

Veterinary Hospice

Family-focused, in-home hospice care ensures your dog or cat is comfortable and happy during their final days.

Aftercare

From cremation to personal keepsakes, our aftercare services allow you to forever memorialize your beloved dog or cat.

Telehospice

Personal phone/video calls, during which a Lap of Love team member will help you gain clarity around what's best for your ailing or aging pet.

Pet Loss Support

Join our free, virtual Pet Loss Support Groups. Discussions are focused on healthy coping skills, grief reactions, and honoring the lives of your furry family member.

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Stephanie

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania

In arguably the most terrible time of my life, Lap of Love provided kind and compassionate care from my initial phone call with Alexa on Friday 9/15/17 to our appointment with Dr. Brad on Sunday 9/17/17. Knowing it was time and hearing that confirmed did not make this any easier. But our interaction with Lap of Love did. Dr. Brad's demeanor was very comforting and we were all comforted that our beloved Geege was put to sleep in the comfort of his own home surrounded by his pack. Thank you Dr. Brad! While we do hope we have quite a few more years with our other two dogs, when it is time to do the right thing by them, we will be calling you. Now that you're physically able to do so again, run like the wind forever Geege!

Jennifer

Camarillo, California

From the first email, to the first phone call, to her coming to my house, to her leaving with my sweet Annie peacefully tucked under a blanket in a basket, Dr. Jessica was kind, caring and compassionate. I dreaded having Annie put down, but as she got weaker I dreaded having her suffer even more. Annie responded immediately to Dr. Jessica, even though she hardly had any strength left. She went to sleep watching the water run from the faucet, one of her most favorite things to do! Then passed away lying next to me on the couch, one of her other favorite things to do. Dr. Jessica knew exactly the right things to do and say to make this difficult time as easy as possible. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience or a better person to say goodbye to my little girl with. (The picture is not very flattering, but she’s doing what she loved to do!)

Stefanie

St. Louis, Missouri

It has been one month since we said goodbye to our sweet Cruller. He had been diagnosed with lymphoma at the beginning of June, and we had a few more wonderful months after that to spend time with him and spoil him. We knew that the time to say goodbye would inevitably come, and his oncologist had suggested Lap of Love. Prior to this, I did not know that there were services where a veterinarian would come to your home to put your pet to sleep. I had always imagined having to do it in an unfamiliar room at the vet's office, but I'm so, so glad that I was made aware of this service. Everything about our experience with Lap of Love was amazing from beginning to end. The women I spoke with on the phone were so kind, as were the women who emailed back and forth with me. They not only answered my questions, but they provided me with links to articles, first to help decide when the right time was, and then to help process the grief after that time had come. I really appreciated the care and attention to detail they provided before it was time to say goodbye to Cruller. As for when the time actually came, our experience was as good as something like that could possibly be. Dr. Phyllis Theis came to our house on a Tuesday evening after Cruller had really started to decline the day prior. She was kind, caring, and helped to put our minds and hearts at ease. It really felt like we already knew her, not like she was a stranger coming into our home. She asked us questions about Cruller and our lives with him, and he seemed to take a liking to her right away. Everything went so smoothly, and it really made an incredibly difficult life event much better than it could have been. After Cruller passed, we had some alone time with him, which was invaluable. Then, Dr. Theis gathered him into a nice basket full of soft blankets and she carried him out. The "extras" that they include are also wonderful. Dr. Theis made a paw impression of Cruller into some clay, so we'll have that and cherish it forever. She also clipped a lock of his fur for us, and provided us with a lovely booklet that has some poems and writings in it to help with our grief. She followed up with us via email a few days later, and then she posted a beautiful tribute to Cruller on the Lap of Love facebook page. And finally, we chose to have him cremated privately. We received a call from Cruller's vet about a week later to come pick up his remains. His ashes had been placed in a beautiful wooden box with his name engraved on top. As I said before, the attention to detail throughout every step of this difficult process has been wonderful. I would highly recommend Lap of Love to anyone who is facing this awful decision. Cruller was my first dog, so I had never had to deal with pet death before. I can't say how I normally would handle this kind of grief, but I can say that I believe Lap of Love made it much easier to process the grief of saying goodbye.

Gary

Rocky Point, New York

I just cant thank Dr. Manfredi enough for being so compassionate and helpful with our dog Destiny crossing the rainbow bridge she made it so much easier to say goodbye to my dog I've had for 16 yrs.

Donna

Charleston , South Carolina

Dr. Dee is the kindest most compassionate vet I have ever met. I don’t know how I could have said good-bye to Sidney without her help. She was caring and gentle and very understanding of Sidney’s needs and she reassured us that we made the right decision to let Sidney go with peace and dignity. I will be forever grateful to her.

Samantha

Dracut, Massachusetts

Our yellow labrador Charlie was a very sweet, old boy. Unfortunately, his body was giving out due to spinal myopathy. He was 14 years, 7 months old and Covid 19 was upon us. Our regular veterinarian was unable to come to our house as he had in the past to help us with Charlie's euthanization. He did tell us about Lap of Love and their services. I called and they were very compassionate right from the first phone call to the end process. Dr. Mary Devlin arrived and sat with us and talked about Charlie and the procedure. She also helped us with suggestions on where to have our other labrador during the process. We were so grateful that we were able to have this service at our home during this pandemic. It really takes the stress off of the pet and the people who have to go through this end of life process. I can't thank you enough Dr. Devlin and Lap of Love for being there for us when our veterinarian could not.

Stephanie

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania

In arguably the most terrible time of my life, Lap of Love provided kind and compassionate care from my initial phone call with Alexa on Friday 9/15/17 to our appointment with Dr. Brad on Sunday 9/17/17. Knowing it was time and hearing that confirmed did not make this any easier. But our interaction with Lap of Love did. Dr. Brad's demeanor was very comforting and we were all comforted that our beloved Geege was put to sleep in the comfort of his own home surrounded by his pack. Thank you Dr. Brad! While we do hope we have quite a few more years with our other two dogs, when it is time to do the right thing by them, we will be calling you. Now that you're physically able to do so again, run like the wind forever Geege!

Jennifer

Camarillo, California

From the first email, to the first phone call, to her coming to my house, to her leaving with my sweet Annie peacefully tucked under a blanket in a basket, Dr. Jessica was kind, caring and compassionate. I dreaded having Annie put down, but as she got weaker I dreaded having her suffer even more. Annie responded immediately to Dr. Jessica, even though she hardly had any strength left. She went to sleep watching the water run from the faucet, one of her most favorite things to do! Then passed away lying next to me on the couch, one of her other favorite things to do. Dr. Jessica knew exactly the right things to do and say to make this difficult time as easy as possible. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience or a better person to say goodbye to my little girl with. (The picture is not very flattering, but she’s doing what she loved to do!)

Stefanie

St. Louis, Missouri

It has been one month since we said goodbye to our sweet Cruller. He had been diagnosed with lymphoma at the beginning of June, and we had a few more wonderful months after that to spend time with him and spoil him. We knew that the time to say goodbye would inevitably come, and his oncologist had suggested Lap of Love. Prior to this, I did not know that there were services where a veterinarian would come to your home to put your pet to sleep. I had always imagined having to do it in an unfamiliar room at the vet's office, but I'm so, so glad that I was made aware of this service. Everything about our experience with Lap of Love was amazing from beginning to end. The women I spoke with on the phone were so kind, as were the women who emailed back and forth with me. They not only answered my questions, but they provided me with links to articles, first to help decide when the right time was, and then to help process the grief after that time had come. I really appreciated the care and attention to detail they provided before it was time to say goodbye to Cruller. As for when the time actually came, our experience was as good as something like that could possibly be. Dr. Phyllis Theis came to our house on a Tuesday evening after Cruller had really started to decline the day prior. She was kind, caring, and helped to put our minds and hearts at ease. It really felt like we already knew her, not like she was a stranger coming into our home. She asked us questions about Cruller and our lives with him, and he seemed to take a liking to her right away. Everything went so smoothly, and it really made an incredibly difficult life event much better than it could have been. After Cruller passed, we had some alone time with him, which was invaluable. Then, Dr. Theis gathered him into a nice basket full of soft blankets and she carried him out. The "extras" that they include are also wonderful. Dr. Theis made a paw impression of Cruller into some clay, so we'll have that and cherish it forever. She also clipped a lock of his fur for us, and provided us with a lovely booklet that has some poems and writings in it to help with our grief. She followed up with us via email a few days later, and then she posted a beautiful tribute to Cruller on the Lap of Love facebook page. And finally, we chose to have him cremated privately. We received a call from Cruller's vet about a week later to come pick up his remains. His ashes had been placed in a beautiful wooden box with his name engraved on top. As I said before, the attention to detail throughout every step of this difficult process has been wonderful. I would highly recommend Lap of Love to anyone who is facing this awful decision. Cruller was my first dog, so I had never had to deal with pet death before. I can't say how I normally would handle this kind of grief, but I can say that I believe Lap of Love made it much easier to process the grief of saying goodbye.

Samantha

Dracut, Massachusetts

Our yellow labrador Charlie was a very sweet, old boy. Unfortunately, his body was giving out due to spinal myopathy. He was 14 years, 7 months old and Covid 19 was upon us. Our regular veterinarian was unable to come to our house as he had in the past to help us with Charlie's euthanization. He did tell us about Lap of Love and their services. I called and they were very compassionate right from the first phone call to the end process. Dr. Mary Devlin arrived and sat with us and talked about Charlie and the procedure. She also helped us with suggestions on where to have our other labrador during the process. We were so grateful that we were able to have this service at our home during this pandemic. It really takes the stress off of the pet and the people who have to go through this end of life process. I can't thank you enough Dr. Devlin and Lap of Love for being there for us when our veterinarian could not.

Stephanie

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania

In arguably the most terrible time of my life, Lap of Love provided kind and compassionate care from my initial phone call with Alexa on Friday 9/15/17 to our appointment with Dr. Brad on Sunday 9/17/17. Knowing it was time and hearing that confirmed did not make this any easier. But our interaction with Lap of Love did. Dr. Brad's demeanor was very comforting and we were all comforted that our beloved Geege was put to sleep in the comfort of his own home surrounded by his pack. Thank you Dr. Brad! While we do hope we have quite a few more years with our other two dogs, when it is time to do the right thing by them, we will be calling you. Now that you're physically able to do so again, run like the wind forever Geege!

Jennifer

Camarillo, California

From the first email, to the first phone call, to her coming to my house, to her leaving with my sweet Annie peacefully tucked under a blanket in a basket, Dr. Jessica was kind, caring and compassionate. I dreaded having Annie put down, but as she got weaker I dreaded having her suffer even more. Annie responded immediately to Dr. Jessica, even though she hardly had any strength left. She went to sleep watching the water run from the faucet, one of her most favorite things to do! Then passed away lying next to me on the couch, one of her other favorite things to do. Dr. Jessica knew exactly the right things to do and say to make this difficult time as easy as possible. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience or a better person to say goodbye to my little girl with. (The picture is not very flattering, but she’s doing what she loved to do!)

Helpful resources

Informational resources to help you navigate your pet’s quality of life

Explore all of our resources

When to put a dog down — Axel, Paterson, NJ
How Will I Know It's Time

Home pet euthanasia — Roger, Dumont, NJ
Blog

Cat euthanasia — Bodhi, Yorba Linda, CA
Common Geriatric Pet Symptoms

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