Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice (DC, Montgomery & Prince George's Counties)

Lap of Love helps families in the District and surrounding Maryland area with end-of-life care for their pets. Our compassionate and experienced veterinarians exclusively provide in-home euthanasia and veterinary hospice, a type of care focused on providing comfort and pain management. Schedule a telehospice session to speak with a hospice doctor about your dog or cat's quality of life. We can also assist with some of our exotic pets

2009: Dr. Dani McVety started Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice shortly after graduating from veterinary school while practicing emergency medicine in her hometown of Tampa, FL. After helping countless families through the loss of their pets, she felt an immense inspiration to combine her previous experience as a human hospice volunteer with her love of people and a desire to make the experience of losing a pet as peaceful as it can possibly be. 2010: Lap of Love grew quickly as word spread about a new way for pet parents to say goodbye. Dr. McVety began receiving calls and emails from families and veterinarians nationwide looking for similar services in their area. Dr. McVety contacted her good friend and veterinary school classmate, Dr. Mary Gardner, to help expand Lap of Love nationwide. Dr. Gardner joined as co-founder, applying her decade of software design experience to lead the development of the company's proprietary practice management software. 2011: Lap of Love welcomes their first veterinarian outside Florida, in Charlotte, North Carolina. 2013: Lap of Love expands to serve 20 states. Drs McVety and Gardner teach multiple hours at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine's first End of Life course. 2015: Lap of Love established its dedicated Support Center with a team of compassionate professionals to assist families over the phone. 2017: Lap of Love's team grows to over 100 doctors nationwide and has sat at the bedside of more than 100,000 pets. 2018: Lap of Love expands to serve 30 states. 2019: ranks 11 on the Gator100. 2020: Lap of Love rolled out a Telehospice service; team grows to over 200 doctors; more than 250,000 pets. 2021: more than 400,000 pets; launches dedicated Pet Loss Support services and a Senior Pet Care blog. 2022: featured in the award-winning documentary "The Hardest Day." 2023: ranks 24 on the Gator100; team grows to over 300 doctors nationwide; launches an internal Certified Veterinary Hospice and Euthanasia Practitioner course

Mission — We believe all pets deserve peaceful end-of-life experiences. Lap of Love is a network of veterinarians around the country with the goal of empowering every owner to care for their geriatric pets. Our philosophy centers around the human-animal bond and the need for that bond to be as undisturbed as possible during this most difficult time. At Lap of Love, we firmly believe in the inherent value of diversity and inclusivity and are committed to providing our services with respect, compassion, dignity, and equality for all families that reach out to us!