Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice & In-Home Euthanasia

I was born in West Long Branch, New Jersey and mostly grew up in Cary, North Carolina. One of my earliest memories is my dad bringing me outside to show me a box turtle that showed up in our driveway after a storm. I was fascinated and became obsessed with developing meaningful connections with any animal that I encountered. Having grown up with a wide variety of pets, I maintained a passion for animal care throughout my childhood and into adulthood. Today, I share my home with a chihuahua (he’s my whole world), two high-maintenance cats, two sugar gliders, a corn snake, a carpet python, two dwarf yellow-headed geckos, and a betta fish.  

Becoming a veterinarian was always on my mind because I loved animals so much, but school was always very difficult for me so I considered many other career paths as well. Nevertheless, I ended up going to college at North Carolina State University and got a job at an exotic animal hospital in Raleigh, NC at the end of my freshman year. After only two days of work, it was clear to me that veterinary medicine was my calling and I started to seriously pursue it. As fate would have it, I ended up getting accepted into the DVM program at North Carolina!  

Upon graduating, I briefly worked in exotic general practice in Miami, FL. During this time, I was also working for Lap of Love as Veterinary Care Coordinator. I strive to positively impact the world through veterinary medicine and working as a Veterinary Care Coordinator was the first time that I felt like that was truly occurring. Since then, I was inspired to focus my efforts primarily on end of life care. I have always thought that giving animals a peaceful end of life transition is often the most loving thing that we can do for them. I feel very lucky to have the honor of giving this gift and I see it as the ultimate way to use my skills to “give back” to both pets and their people. 

Outside of end of life care, I maintain a huge interest in exotic/zoo species and have spent time in several zoological institutions. My absolute favorite animals to work with are monkeys! I also particularly enjoy working with marine mammals, large reptiles, and all kinds of “creepy crawlies.” Other than animals, I enjoy video games, art, music, working out, the craft beer scene, tattoos and piercings, and just spending time with friends (and their dogs, of course)!