Dr. Dani McVety—the veterinarian, and Tampa native, who co-founded Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice in 2009—recounted in an interview Wednesday on WMNF’s “Talking Animals” the circumstances behind launching what has since become the nation’s largest network dedicated to end of life veterinary care, operating in 36 states.
McVety provided an overview of how Lap of Love works, describing how and when one of their veterinarians (they work with nearly 200 nationwide) would come to the house of someone whose pet had been deemed—usually by their regular vet, in consultation with the owner—to be at the end of his or her life.
In addressing how the limitations of COVID affected the normal routines–and multiple virtues– of Lap of Love’s in-home care, McVety notes that the company was not only unhampered by those restrictions, but business soared: During the long stretch when pandemic protocols prevented humans from accompanying their pets inside the building to even routine exams at veterinarians offices, people were understandably unwilling to be separated from their pets in this way, when the animals’ condition called for euthanasia…sending huge numbers of new clients to Lap of Love, which enabled pets and their owners to be together, at home, during that sad final phase.
