Gentle Journey Veterinary Hospice

Nancy was extremely thorough, punctual, and professional. She responded very quickly to my call and went out of her way to accommodate me. Nancy handled my cat with compassionate care and was considerate of my feelings. She took the time to explain my situation medically in great detail and patiently answered all of my questions. It is obvious that she devoted her life to caring for animals and is highly qualified. These qualities were my only priority. If you view the situation from her perspective as well, you will be grateful you called her. Nancy put my mind at rest and even asked if she could gave me a brief hug before she left. She will be my first choice in the future because she definitely made my pets experience a Gentle Journey.

It has only been 24 hours ago. The woman was instantly a problem. She would not enter our home, where we are all vaccinated, without us getting our masks on. She continued her rudeness by not explaining a thing that she was doing. I asked a lot of questions while in my distraught state. Example: How long does it take for the 2nd shot to kick in and stop the heart? Answer: I'm going out now to get the stretcher. Ok, but that's not what I asked. She berated us for his being dehydrated when we were caring for him round the clock in 3 shifts at our house. She seemed to want to sell her hospice services more than euthanizing. Kept telling us to keep it in mind for next time. Now, tell me, why would I pay someone not to be able to be around my dog 24/7? Well, there won't be a next time as I am too old for any more pets. But... DO YOURSELF A BIG FAVOR AND DO NOT USE NANCY RUFFING'S SERVICES. Bedside manner was terrible and she made an already horrible situation so traumatizingly worse. I wish I could have fired her on the spot. She exhibited no social cues and I'm sure it is why she does not have her own practice. NO WAY WOULD I USE HER OR RECOMMEND HER.

I write this review 1 day after we had to let our family dog pass on. I couldn't write yesterday as I was too distraught, traumatized and broken by Nancy Ruffing's services. As others on here have attested, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT USE NANCY RUFFING SERVICES!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. My family and I were obviously already sickened at the idea of losing our boy, but we all knew it was in his best interest and to let him pass with dignity. I had come to terms with it after seeing that he wasn't eating and hadn't moved from his bed in 12 hours. Nancy Ruffing undid all of this by entering our home, passing judgment, criticizing and making us feel like we had neglected and abused our beloved dog. She was rude, didn’t answer questions (flat out ignored us), didn’t explain anything to us or let us ask questions, contradicted herself and her bedside manner was atrocious. The most appropriate word I can think to use in describing the experience with her is TRAUMATIC. She made one of the worst days in my life, exponentially more awful. At one point, she even went outside and screamed as if she was so annoyed and frustrated with us that she just couldn’t take it. And I promise you, we weren’t being difficult. We were vulnerable and blurry eyed from crying. There was no opposition from us. We were expecting an empathetic caregiver and instead received the Angel of Death. To be honest, I am appalled that she is still in business as I now see we aren’t the only family who’s been shattered by her. I don’t know why she’s in the business she’s in as she should be treating families as though this is the loss of a human family member. Most animal owners/families view their pet(s) as family members and I would NEVER accept her behavior for any of my family members. I know my pup passed in peace and I was glad to be there for him until the very end. However, I cringe at the thought of her driving away with my boy’s body. It sickens me that she was one of the last people to see my boy in his earthly form. My prayers and condolences to all the other families that had such a tender time ruined by her arrogance. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT USE NANCY RUFFING’S SERVICES.

Absolutely traumatic. Inconsiderate and inappropriately rude. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT USE NANCY RUFFING’S SERVICES! you will always regret it if you do. She is unable to read social cues, or understand human emotions, there was definitely more going on there. she has zero sense of empathy, filter, or bedside manner. She was so awful to us lecturing us about everything we are doing wrong, guilted is, literally told us that we are the reason our dog is suffering. She didn’t explain anything well, she had horrible communication, and actually yelled at us a few times. Is this how you treat people who are in the middle of the worst day of their lives? Who are about to lose their beloved pet? It was so bad that we actually ended up denying her services because we didn’t want to end our dogs life with her there, she had Us so upset and traumatized. I should have kicked her out for speaking to my family the way she did and she certainly didn’t deserve the money we paid her to be so horrible to us. It would have been 100 times less traumatic if we had had a nice vet that actually put our dog down, instead we are extremely upset and traumatized and our dog wasn’t even put down! I can’t believe someone like this has euthanasia as their career, it is actually so incredibly wrong that someone like her can do this to people and that there are probably many more people out there that have had their last moments with their pets ruined by her. She should not be allowed to do this. The whole purpose of having someone come to your house to euthanize your pet is to make it as comforting and stress free as possible and she made it soooooo much more uncomfortable, traumatizing, and stressful. Do yourself a favor and do not use this vet. Please I urge you.

Our cat was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in November of 2015. We were referred to Dr. Nancy Ruffing by our vet for hospice care for our little friend. Our stubborn cat went on to surprise us all by outliving his diagnosis of "two months at most" by over two years. Dr. Nancy provided gentle, supportive care for Duke, and was helpful to both of his owners as well. We are sure that her good care is part of how he lived happily for so long. On Easter Sunday, 2018, he developed worrisome symptoms that let us know his illness was probably in its final stages. We called Dr. Nancy, fully expecting that she might be with family and send us to the emergency clinic instead. However this kind, dedicated woman came to our home within an hour and after a short exam and discussion, we all agreed that the poor little guy's time had come. She handled the euthanasia procedure quickly and sensitively, and our beloved cat left this world serenely. We'd recommend Dr. Nancy Ruffing to any pet owner facing the hardest part of loving a companion animal.

Dr. Ruffing cared for our aged pets with multiple chronic conditions (2 cats and 2 dogs). We found her to be professional, promptly responsive to our questions/needs, evidence-based in her assessment and treatment recommendations (attended regular continuing ed), and very respectful of our feelings with regard to difficult treatment decisions and when euthanasia was performed. Her direct manner may be misinterpreted as rudeness but she always had the best interest of our pets in mind, and we appreciate someone who is straightforward and not trying to over treat and make promises that can't be fulfilled. She extended the quantity and more importantly the quality of our pets lives because of her focused expertise in the area of palliative and end-of-life care and the fact that she conducted home visits greatly relieved our and our pets stress during examinations. We felt that her fees were reasonable and in line with home-based veterinary care. My pets are as important to me as other people's children (and I am a rabid animal advocate) and I would trust my pets with her without question.

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A friend recommended Dr. Ruffing to us, so I was very optimistic. Instead we found her to be incredibly curt and rude and, after several bad experiences, decided to discontinue using her services. She has no sense of how to talk to people, no sensitivity filter and will say amazingly inconsiderate and inappropriate things. I could easily live with that if the care for my beloved dogs was good, but it wasn't. She really offered nothing of benefit for my 8 year old dog with hemangiosarcoma, and on more than one occasion, had me so upset when she left that it took me talking with my regular vet to recover. She was downright pushy about insisting on frequent appointments (at a very substantial cost, of course), and her prices were very high, with many charges and add-on costs being surprises.

When my much loved boy had to be euthanized, we were all pretty much traumatized by the whole experience. She poked my boy a number of times in his legs, rooting the needle around, unable to get a vein for a catheter. She then gave him a shot in his abdomen, and we waited. That didn't work, so she had to give him a second shot in the abdomen - this all took several torturous minutes. All three of us present were sickened by the whole process. I've been with a number of my dogs as they were euthanized, and this was by far the worst experience of them all. She was kinder than usual at that appt, though, which was appreciated. When we received a sympathy card a few days later, it was lovely except that she expressed her condolences on the loss of the wrong dog. Seriously?! If she can't even keep straight which of my dogs she personally euthanized and which one is still under her care, how can I trust her treatment?

While she seemed very knowledgable about some things, she explained things poorly, was argumentative if we asked any questions or for clarification, and made a lot of mistakes. All rather ironic considering that she routinely talked down 'regular' vets as being inadequate. Her poor communication skills, the terrible euthanasia experience, her very high prices and lack of consideration for our feelings or circumstances left us unwilling to use her for anything else. As we now have 2 terminally ill senior dogs again (one Dr. Ruffing treated for a few months and a newly diagnosed dog), we will return to our regular vet for care that is FAR superior to anything we ever received from this place. When I mentioned my experience to several friends, I discovered several others who had had similarly awful stories about Dr. Ruffing. I wish I had asked around before we hired her and I would not recommend her to anyone.

She is very responsive. She comes out whenever I need her, and is always very prompt. She takes great care of my dog and I will continue to use her in the future.

Dr. Ruffing was amazing! She came to my house and explained the whole process before we started and talked us through it. In the end, she stepped out to get the stretcher while we said our goodbyes. A week later, she hand delivered my dog's ashes. She was a blessing in a time of need as I did not want to travel 40 minues each way to my vet when my dog was nauseous. She was worth every penny! I highly recommend her and would use her again if I need to, hopefully I won't for a long long time!

Despite the fact that Jessie is gone now, this was a good experience for me and for Jessie. The reduced stress for Jessie, the knowledge of the older dog by Dr. Ruffing, it all came together and gave Jess a good quality of life and me a bit more time with her. All I can say is thank you Dr. Ruffing!

She is amazing. I'd say more but it's hard to put into words. She was entirely caring and empathetic, both for us and our cat. She gave sound medical advice, both on when to attempt to prolong our cat's life and when to let her go.

They are very personal. Nancy is very caring and she is a top rated professional. She extended our dogs quality and longevity of live by giving frequent examinations, diet control, and pain control. When our dog passed away she transported our dog for us to the crematory and helped us secure an urn. She also made a special trip back to return the urn and ashes to us. When it came time to euthanize our dog, she came immediately to the house and did it with the dog on her bed and me beside her. This made it much less stressful for the animal and made me feel better that we didn't have to take her to the veterinarian to get it done.

I contacted Nancy 2 months ago after my dog was diagnosed with lymphoma. I was able to schedule an appointment within 2 days of my call. When she arrived, she immediately bonded with my dog, Luke. She was approachable, caring and informative. She provided me with all the options available to me and described the course of events and what to expect. She did not pressure or "sell" any treatment; her information and expectations were realistic and honest. She carries all the necessary prescriptions with her so treatment can begin immediately. She also took blood samples and had the results early the next day. I had several at home appointments with Nancy throughout the course of Luke's illness. Having her come to my home was SO much easier, convenient and less stressful for Luke. I also kept her up to date via email which she replied to quickly. When his condition started to deteriorate, she responded immediately, again making it easy to schedule an appointment. When I decided to euthanize Luke, Nancy described what would happen and what to expect. While the decision and event was very painful, Nancy made the entire process so simple, peaceful and efficient. It was so nice to be at home and not be in a sterile, stressful office for this procedure. Luke's quality of life was greatly improved because of the honest and thoughtful care that was provided by Dr. Nancy Ruffing. i highly recommend her to anyone. Her services were top notch and reasonably priced.

Dr. Nancy Ruffing is one of the most compassionate people you'll ever meet. Our little dog Stella was ready to cross the Rainbow Bridge and Dr. Ruffing helped her cross calmly and with dignity. We were never hurried and spent much time with Stella before and after her crossing. We also chose to have a private cremation which was reflected in the price. There are many other options.
We've used the services of Gentle Journey previously with our sweet kitty Sugar and knew instantly that this was the kindest, most compassionate way to ease the suffering of our little ones. This service is invaluable.

About two years ago, our beloved 17 year old cat started throwing up and had to be coaxed and cajoled to eat. As he lost increasing amounts of weight, it became clear that this was not minor. I loved this cat, Fergus -- I adopted him a week after I moved out of my parents house, and, at the point when he got sick, he had lived with me for half of my life. So, accepting that he would not get better was not easy; my husband and I would have done anything to get him well. He rocked. I've had special animals (really, aren't they all special in their own furry ways), but Fergus? Pure awesome from the day I brought him home from the Anti-Cruelty Society. But, our vet, knowing that the end was probably near, referred us to Gentle Journey.

Dr. Ruffing worked with us -- trying everything within reason. She was Fergus's caretaker and she was his advocate; she has a way with animals that is unique. And as she was treating him, hoping with us that he would get better, she was helping us understand that though he wasn't ready to go, we needed to be preparing ourselves for the moment when he would let us know that it was time.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving 2009, I looked at him and I knew it was time. I called Nancy and we made an appointment for her to come to our house. I spent the last days of his life with him -- he just laid on my lap and occasionally I could coax a purr out of him. And when the appointment time came, Dr. Ruffing was amazing. He died in my lap.

In the many years that Fergus and I spent together, I would occasionally try to anticipate what life would be without him waiting for me when I arrived home, sleeping on my legs, and generally being an awesome cat. My husband and I both thought that we would be devastated... Thinking about him dying made me tear up. It sounds overwrought, yes, but I am sure that many people who have loved a pet will understand. Thankfully, Dr. Ruffing's care for him (and us) ensured that I have no regrets and, though I miss him, I know we did what was best for him. And knowing that made my grief very uncomplicated. I wasn't devastated or incapacitated... I was sad. I credit Dr. Ruffing for helping all of us.

Two of my friends have also used Gentle Journey for end of life care for our animals (both dogs) and they have similarly glowing (tinged with sadness, of course) reports.

She comes to your house if you have an animal that is terminally ill. Tells you about the treatments options. If it's about quality of life she discusses care. I feel like I have a partner in this with my cat to do the best thing I can for her. She provides a lot of information about the disease and any medication that my cat might need. She does evenings and weekends and checks in with you by phone or email. Part of what she does is offer a home euthanasia for the pet.