Dr. Shelagh McCaffrey has a heart of gold and a will of steel. I have witnessed her jump into action with my pet's medical emergency, all while somehow sending comfort and compassion my way in a moment when I needed it the most. She is there for us when we need her the most. "With all of the incredible advances in veterinary medicine over the past few decades, I noticed how often pet parents felt lost when their beloved companion received a chronic or terminal diagnosis." Shelagh took a leap of faith by leaving a secure job in a general veterinary practice to follow her heart. After working in the veterinary profession for over 15 years, she began to realize that there is a significant gap in senior pet care. To bridge this gap, she started her own mobile practice, Senior Pet Vet, focusing solely on hospice and palliative medicine.

In some of the most helpless moments in pet owners' lives, Shelagh observed how lost they were without the resources to mindfully and objectively assess what their options were. The vision of Senior Pet Vet is to bridge the critical gap between the diagnosis of life-limiting disease and end-of-ife for our pets. They assess all of the pet parents' options and guide them to what might be best for their individual situation. "Now, we have the ability to greatly improve the quality of life for our aging pets by utilizing an integrative model of care," McCaffrey says, "incorporating high quality traditional medicine with useful and effective alternative modalities. With alternatives such as acupuncture, physical medicine and environmental enrichment, we are able to greatly expand the once narrow path towards end of life."