Laps of Love helps Pets Transition when “it is time”
Candy Puterbaugh
50plus Magazine
At the end of a winding gravel road that climbs the hills near the tiny town of Gaston, Wendy Koppel has found peace on a 34-acre tree farm close to the clouds. Her home reflects who she is and what she does. With a soothing voice, calm manner and veterinary knowledge, she brings that peace to people as their beloved pets live out their last hours.
Wendy recently joined “Lap of Love,” providing in-home pet euthanasia and hospice when “it is time.” After crisscrossing the country and the world for years amid several careers, Wendy says she has found her calling.
“I like the side of veterinary medicine that’s giving to people,” she says. “That’s what attracted me to Lap of Love. It’s an amazing honor to help people at the last part of their pet’s journey. I love being able to help people with the hardest decision they have to make about their pets and give their pet the greatest gift they can offer: a release from pain or suffering.”
The majority of calls are for euthanasia rather than hospice. On arrival, Wendy ensures the pet is comfortable on a soft pillow or blanket, wherever they like to be. If asked, she begins with a consultation and the reassurance that indeed “it is time,” if appropriate.
“Some want the process to go quickly, while others have a ceremony,” she says. “There can be flowers, candles, music, a fire in the fireplace. I spend as much time with them as they want, and bring treats the pet has never had before, such as brownies. It’s the only time dogs can have chocolate!”
She comes bearing her medical bag and a caring heart. With patience and calm, she begins the process with pain medication and an anesthetic cocktail. “That makes the pet feel wonderful. All the pain goes away, and they fall asleep with the family loving on them. When they’re deep asleep, totally relaxed, they’re on what we call cloud nine.”
Wendy can then make clay pawprints or fur clippings if desired. A final injection soon shuts down the brain.
Some pets are buried at home. Others are gently placed in the back of Wendy’s car — decorated in soft lilac with pillows and flowers — to go to their final resting place.
Three other veterinarians serve the Portland/Salem area for Lap of Love, part of a nationwide network. Wendy serves Washington and Yamhill Counties. Dogs and cats make up 95% of visits, the rest a mix of exotics, hamsters, birds, potbelly pigs and goats, but not horses.
Yet horses were part of Wendy’s life early on. Growing up in a small Arkansas town, at 10 she talked her horse-loving mother into buying her one. She also had dogs, snakes, fish, gerbils, chickens and ducks. At 13 she learned about veterinary medicine by shadowing a large-animal vet, and about animal behavior from a nearby training facility. “I always loved animals and knew from a young age that I would someday work with them.”
Wendy studied biology and psychology at Duke University and spent a semester on a wildlife ranch in Kenya. Returning, she worked as an animal lab technician, then graduated with her veterinary degree.
After working briefly at small-animal clinics in Oregon, she traveled the world producing documentary films. Returning to Oregon in 2008, she co-founded and later became executive director of Portland Animal Welfare (PAW) Team, providing free veterinary care for pets of impoverished people.
In 2013 she moved with her wife to Connecticut. Not licensed there in veterinary care, she fundraised for a food bank and worked at a nonprofit to end homelessness.
“I missed the connection with people and their pets,” she says. “Back in Oregon by 2018, I wondered what to do with my life. I returned to my first love — caring for animals.”
She purchased Oregon Mobile Pet Care, providing in-home veterinary care in the Salem area. She enjoyed helping everyone from fixed-income people to the wealthy.
When her heart led her to Lap of Love, she found the culmination of her many careers.
“Of all the things I’ve done, the human-animal bond has always driven me,” she says, comfy in her hilltop home with her pit bull and two cats. “Everyone loves their animals; they’re an equalizer. I’m honored to help people let their pets cross that Rainbow Bridge to the next part of their journey.”