She sits like she is dining somewhere with cloth napkins.

Hi friends,

We are settling into the deep, slow part of summer now. I hope there is a cool floor, a shady spot, and an early-morning walk before the heat rolls in somewhere near you today.

I want to share something with you that has been making me smile all week.

You see, we have this regular patient — a total sweetheart with a very specific rule. There is a particular treat we keep at the front desk, and when she comes in for her visit, she sits up very primly at the counter, gives it one polite sniff, and eats it like she is dining somewhere with cloth napkins. No hesitation. Five stars every time.

Here is the funny part.

That exact same treat, same brand, same bag, goes home with her family. And it sits there. Untouched. For days. She will not so much as look at it.

None of us can explain it, and honestly, I have decided I do not need to.

Because here is the thing I keep learning from the animals who come through our doors. They have preferences and opinions we will never fully decode. They have context we do not have access to. A food they love one week and refuse the next. A bed they ignore until it suddenly becomes the only acceptable bed in the house. A person they warm to instantly and another they need a month to trust.

We spend so much energy trying to decode all of it, and honestly we should keep paying attention. Sometimes those patterns tell us something real about their comfort, their gut, their stress. But some of it is just them. A small, particular, mysterious personality that we get the privilege of knowing more deeply the longer we live alongside it.

That mystery is not a problem to be solved. It is part of what makes loving them for a whole lifetime so quietly interesting.

There is something else I want to tell you – When I first dreamed up Integrative Pet Wellness Center, I had one very specific vision. I wanted to build a clinic that felt like walking into my own home. Not a hospital. Not a stainless steel room with sterile scents. A place where pets could exhale the moment they stepped through the door, and their families could exhale right along with them.

You see, I have been in veterinary medicine long enough to know that most pets carry a specific kind of stress into a vet visit. Their heart rate goes up. Their whole body tenses. And their families — the ones who love them most — often carry that same tension into the room without realizing it.

I did not want that for the animals we would care for. I did not want that for the people who would trust us with them.

So we built IPWC differently on purpose. Softer light. Lavender in the air. A pace that lets you slow down. A team that has the bandwidth to actually be present. A treat at the front desk, waiting for the little regulars who have decided they like the ritual of being handed something by someone new.

It never gets old to hear a family say their pet was not scared here. That they wagged their tail on the way in. That they were the calmest they have ever been at a vet.

That is the whole point.

It means they feel safe. It means their nervous system is settling. And when a pet feels safe, everything about their healing becomes possible in a way it just isn’t when they are braced against the world.

So I will keep handing my five-star patient her treat at the counter, and I will keep smiling at the untouched bag at home, and I will keep letting her keep a few of her secrets.

Because at the end of the day, the fact that she loves being here — that is what all of it has been for.

Tell me, what is the thing your pet only does at the vet, or only does at home? Hit reply. These are my favorite emails to read. 

Give your sweet ones a scratch from me. 🐾💜

— Dr. Lily