Today’s guest on All My Children Wear Fur Coats with host, Peggy Hoyt, featured Dr. Raye Taylor.  Dr. Taylor is a veterinarian with Blue Skies Pet.com.  This organization focuses on end of life care for our beloved pets.  They believe that making an end-of-life choice for our pets is a difficult decision.  Their goal is to honor our relationship with our pets while guiding us through a difficult decision with compassionate support.

Dr. Taylor is a mixed animal veterinarian.  Her passions include lots of animals including insects (honey bees), exotics, zoo animals, wildlife, fish, horses, production animals, and of course, small animals like dogs, cats, hamsters, gerbils, and reptiles. She is one of a growing number of Human-Animal Bond Certified veterinarians.  Her background includes research, microbiology, and immunology at Iowa State University. Her veterinary training is through St George’s University and the University of Minnesota.

She came to be a veterinarian through a very traumatic experience as a young teenager when her beloved childhood Great Dane was euthanized at home in an agonizing, painful way.  As a result of this experience she was determined no family should have to say farewell to their beloved pet without love, peace, compassion, and respect. She encourages all ages of family and other pets to be a part of this loving process. She believes in the focus on the balance of quality of life, even in death.

When Dr. Taylor isn’t working, she enjoys sailing, travel, and the arts, including her own writing. She is an active volunteer at Eagle Brook Church, VeTouch, and Nepris. She also serves as an instructor for BART (Basic Animal Response Training) and as member of the MNVMRC (Minnesota Veterinary Medicine Reserve Corps). She has a wonderful husband, a golden/lab mix Nelli, a practically untouchable super-soft cat Makita, and occasionally a bird and a bearded dragon. She says she has a special spot in her heart for Schipperkes.

Dr. Raye Taylor is a new member of the Pet Loss Professionals Alliance (PLPA).  The membership of PLPA is committed to being an educational resource to its members.  Members include pet loss suppliers, pet death care professionals and others committed to the lifetime care of our beloved pets.

Pet Hospice and Home Euthanasia are two of the services offered by Blue Skies Pet.com.  Hospice care for pets is designed to provide pain-relieving and comfort-giving care for pet companions near the end of their lives.  It also allows pet owners the time they need to come to terms with their pets’ illness and determine the appropriate level of comfort care or optional treatments.  Part of hospice care is accepting death as a part of life.  Blue Skies Pet.com offers both a comprehensive hospice consultation that contemplates up to two months (60 days) of support as well as single in-home hospice visits.

There’s no right or wrong time, yet we feel like we can’t be sure.  That’s where a dedicated professional that can provide guidance and compassion may make all the difference.

When it’s time to say good-bye, Blue Skies Pet.com is there to ease the way.  Their in-home euthanasia service allows the pet parent to be in the comfort of their home, surrounded by family including other pets, friends and others that want to celebrate the life of your beloved pet.

Other family pets can feel the loss of their pet friend.  Our pets are extremely sensitive.  Dr. Taylor explained that having them present can help to ease their sense of loss, including the development of “broken heart syndrome” or other illnesses related to their grief.   A pet simply doesn’t understand if their companion pet “goes away” and “never returns.”
Thank you to Dr. Raye Taylor and the other veterinarians at Blue Skies Pet.com, along with all of the other proactive veterinarians across our country committed to one thing – the best relationship we can have with our pets.

While Blue Skies Pet.com is only available in Minnesota and Wisconsin, check with your personal veterinarian for a referral in your area.
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You can memorialize a departed pet by making a donation in their name to Animal Care Trust, USA, Inc.