I was raised in southeastern Massachusetts. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to help animals. Early on, I felt called to a lifetime of attending to animals’ care and welfare. Over the course of my grade school years, I brought home a menagerie of injured, stray, and orphaned animals in need of care, often to my mother’s hopeless chagrin. I had the good fortune to own horses in my youth, and also later as an adult.

I obtained my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree from Tufts University in Grafton, Massachusetts. I practiced for many years, mostly as the sole owner and practitioner of a small animal hospital serving a large rural area in Northern California’s central valley. I also occasionally saw goats, sheep, ostriches, emus, rabbits, birds, reptiles, horses and mules, pocket pets, and a variety of local fauna. Many of my regular clients were farmers. I have countless memories of times when men and women came to me with tears in their eyes, and bade farewell as their beloved companion drew its last breath in the comfort of old and calloused, yet familiar, hands.

Some years after growing the practice, my husband and I began formulating our exit strategy. After a trip to visit my dad in St. Augustine, Florida, we decided this is where we would retire. We were fortunate to sell my practice and our farm shortly after our youngest went off to college. We packed up our belongings, along with four horses, four dogs, and a cat, and drove to our new farm in beautiful St. Augustine.

My life has been repeatedly graced by the bittersweet paradox of companionship and loss that is unique to pet ownership. As a veterinarian and pet owner, I have a unique understanding of the deep emotional connection people have with their pets and, most importantly, how and when to best grant eternal peace. It is an honor to offer pets and their families the gift of a peaceful euthanasia in the comfort of their own home.