Fall Back in Love
with Being a Veterinarian

In-home euthanasia can alleviate the stress that many pets and their owners feel when visiting a trusted veterinary clinic or emergency room provider: pets are more relaxed at home, surrounded by everything and everyone they love. The familiar smells, sounds, and sights bring a sense of comfort and peace. Additionally, in-home euthanasia is ideal for pets that are too big, too weak, or in too much pain to be transported to a veterinary provider.

At the same time, pet parents have the opportunity to say their goodbyes privately in an at-home environment. They’re less rushed and less on display than when they travel to a clinical or urgent care provider. As a result, we’ve found pet parents to be incredibly grateful for the personal and compassionate service, making in-home euthanasia a gratifying career path for many veterinary professionals like you.

On CodaPet, veterinarians like you are your own boss. You work when and where you want, so in many ways, your day will be what you want it to be. But typically, vets on CodaPet work fewer hours and have fewer administrative tasks, all while growing their income and flexibility.

Typically a full-time in-home euthanasia veterinarian might provide service for 10-12 clients per week, or about two per day on average. So, you might start your day by reviewing your calendar to confirm whether any last-minute changes were made or new appointments were scheduled. Then, we recommend reaching out to all of your clients, via text or phone, to confirm your visit and answer any lingering questions they may have.

Each appointment typically takes about an hour, with 30 minutes added on either side for travel, and an additional 15 minutes for paperwork. This allows for ample time for you to assess the pet’s condition, speak with the owners, provide time for them to grieve their loss, and transport the deceased pet to its after-care arrangements.

CodaPet’s primary focus is on supporting cat and dog owners, but the veterinarians we work with offer at-home euthanasia for exotics, farm animals, and other species if they choose to do so. On CodaPet, you are your own boss.

After arriving at the client’s home, you assess the pet’s condition and discuss the decision to euthanize with its owners. Once the decision is made, the owners sign a pet euthanasia consent form and select the location for the procedure.

The pet is sedated to ensure it is comfortable, drifting off to sleep before the euthanasia drugs are administered. This helps ensure a peaceful and painless passing.

After confirming that the pet has passed, most veterinarians obtain a simple paw print keepsake for the pet parents, allow for some time for them to grief their loss, and answer any questions the clients have. Lastly, depending on the client’s after-care preferences, you transport the deceased pet to a crematorium partner.

CodaPet provides detailed resources to our veterinarian partners to help them obtain all of the supplies, drugs, and other essentials required for in-home euthanasia.

Generally, you must maintain an account with a third-party supplies and medications vendor, many of whom carry everything you will need, including controlled, non-controlled, and oral drugs, as well as syringes, needles, a medical bag, a clipboard, a stretcher, and similar supplies.

It is also important that you have access to appropriate transportation that allows you to transport deceased pets in a respectful manner. A vehicle with cargo space long enough to fit a pet stretcher measuring about 45 inches is best suited for in-home euthanasia, and we’ve found that clients strongly prefer open cargo spaces, as the thought of a deceased pet riding in a closed trunk can be cold and upsetting for owners.

For after-care of deceased pets, you are required to maintain a relationship with a local crematorium. In instances where the crematorium cannot accept the remains immediately, you should have access to appropriate off-hours storage (such as a large, dedicated freezer chest) either in the basement or garage of your own home, or at a nearby emergency clinic.

Lastly, you are required to obtain a controlled substances license from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), as well as appropriate insurance and any local business registration licenses required by local governments.

Unlike in private practice, where an often-distressed pet needs to be held to be examined or given medications, pets in an at-home setting are typically administered pre-euthanasia sedation either orally or via a small needle under the skin. Once a pet is comfortably sedated or anesthetized, the handling required to administer the euthanasia medication is minimal.

The fewer people involved, the better for pets and their families. To help ensure a smooth procedure, you can connect with your clients prior to the appointment, and you will consult with them after you arrive at their home. This enables you to assess the pet's condition and personality, as well as understand the pet owner's expectations, to determine the best approach for administering the procedure.

For after-care of deceased pets, veterinarians are required to maintain a relationship with a local crematorium. In instances where the crematorium cannot accept the remains immediately, vets should have access to appropriate storage (such as a large, dedicated freezer chest) either at their own homes or at a nearby emergency clinic.

Every crematorium partner is different, but generally they will enable you to offer your clients a variety of after-care options, including private cremation, individual cremation, and communal cremation. Additionally, some crematoriums offer burial services at pet cemeteries.

CodaPet was founded by veterinarians, each of whom has been providing in-home euthanasia for years. Over that time, we have developed a wealth of valuable resources for pet owners with questions or concerns about the in-home euthanasia process.

The most common question clients ask is when is the right time to euthanize their beloved pet. Ultimately, only they can make that determination, but our Quality of Life scale, designed in partnership with Dr. Alice Villalobos, President Emeritus at the Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics at Pawspice & Animal Oncology Consultation Service. The scale provides a more quantifiable measure of a pet's quality of life based on their overall comfort and happiness, and we have found it to be a tool that provides a tremendous amount of comfort and support to pet owners making one of the hard decisions they will have to make.

Most importantly, CodaPet is a community of in-home euthanasia veterinarians, and we are here to support one another. We are just a phone call, text message, or email away, and we are always available to support you.

CodaPet empowers veterinarians like you to be your own boss. That includes deciding how far you are willing to travel to provide in-home euthanasia to your client’s pets. However, we generally budget 30 minutes on average for travel to a client’s home. Some clients will be a little further, and some will be a little closer, but this average enables us to manage our time commitments while maintaining a serviceable geographic radius that’s large enough to support our income expectations.

Though veterinarians should always be diligent and proactive, vets on CodaPet have serviced thousands of pet owners around the country, and we have found that clients seeking in-home euthanasia for their pets are in genuine need of your help. You always have the right to refuse service if you are concerned about a client’s behavior or their home environment at any time.

However, at CodaPet, we’ve found clients are incredibly grateful for our service and act graciously and hospitably. In just one week, one of the vets on CodaPet received a small bouquet of flowers from one client, a beautifully hand-illustrated children’s book of a dog (Jessie) that she euthanized from another, and a $40 tip for dropping off an urn for a third.

In-home euthanasia veterinarians are supporting pet owners as they say goodbye to some of life’s most faithful companions, and they’re doing this in the privacy and comfort of their own homes. The pet owners we met have been overwhelmingly grateful for this gift, often sending thank you cards or handwritten notes after the appointment. As a result, we have found the work to be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.

One of the benefits of partnering with CodaPet is that you get to determine how many pets you feel comfortable seeing. If at any point you wish to take a few days off to recharge, it is entirely up to you.

Many vets on CodaPet choose to continue working part-time at the current employer while offering in-home euthanasia to earn extra income on a flexible schedule on the side. For those that do choose to practice in-home euthanasia exclusively, as CodaPet’s founding veterinary practitioners have, most don’t feel like they are leaving veterinary medicine behind. In-home euthanasia provides significant opportunities to continue to advance your professional skills. The pets you will see every day will each be unique, exposing you to a wide variety of clinical conditions and pet personalities. You will have to be adept at personalizing the process for each of those needs to ensure the pets a peaceful and gracious passing. We have found it to be an area of medicine that’s remarkably rewarding.

What’s more, CodaPet empowers you to practice when, where, and how you want. It enables you to be your own boss, which will allow you to grow as a veterinary practitioner in ways working at clinics or urgent-care practitioners cannot.

CodaPet’s mission is to empower vets like you to fall in love with being a veterinarian again. Our founders, Dr. Karen Whala, Dr. Gary Hsia, and Dr. Bethany Hsia, all experienced the unavoidable burnout that germinates in the demanding hours, daunting loans, and dogged rigidity of a traditional veterinary career.

We empower compassionate veterinarians like you to control their own schedule and grow their income while avoiding the administrative burden of traditional solo practices. More importantly, we enable you to make a difference in the lives of pets and their families when they need us the most. We do this by booking your business, scheduling your appointments, processing client payments, facilitating client communication, and reducing your administrative workload.

Our veterinary founders and the entire CodaPet community are available to support you, from your first in-home euthanasia appointment to your everyday client interaction.

We’ve earned a stellar reputation among veterinary practitioners and pet owners alike: check out our Google and Yelp reviews for yourself. This credibility instantly boosts your practice as a certified veterinary provider on our platform, empowering you to grow your income while maintaining a schedule that works for your life.

CodaPet charges you nothing to join our community, and you are free to deactivate your profile at any time. We have no monthly fees associated with our platform; rather, we collect a modest percentage of the fees you charge your clients to help cover the cost of the investments we make in marketing and supporting your practice.

In short, our aim is to handle everything but the medical services that you are trained and licensed to provide.

When you join CodaPet, you will help craft your own profile for our website, including determining the days and hours that clients can book you. We will help market your services, and enable clients to book you directly online, subject to certain restrictions you put on your services, such as how far you are willing to travel and what types of pets you are willing to service.

When clients book an appointment, we accept their credit card information upfront and calculate relevant service, travel, and aftercare fees, so you never have to worry about haggling over payment on site.

Each visit is scheduled for an hour, and our platform updates on your calendar automatically, while also notifying you personally so you’re never surprised by a booking. We capture all of the important details from clients upfront – including the information about the pet, the client, and the type of aftercare requested.

We encourage you to confirm appointments with clients directly prior to the scheduled start time, to ensure any questions or concerns have been addressed before you travel to their home.

In turn, clients automatically receive text-message and email confirmations to prepare them for your visit. We also offer a toll-free number that is staffed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, in case clients need to contact a CodaPet veterinarian technician at any point in advance of your service.

CodaPet provides resources to our veterinary partners to help obtain and maintain all of the requirements needed to perform in-home euthanasia, including:

- maintaining an active veterinary license in the state(s) where you wish to practice.
- obtaining an active license from the DEA to purchase and possess controlled medications.
- purchasing necessary supplies and drugs
- accessing suitable transportation for deceased pets
- partnering with a reputable crematorium for after-care services


Beyond those requirements, as long as you have compassion for pets and their owners, you are set up to succeed on CodaPet.

CodaPet’s veterinary co-founders have years of experience providing in-home euthanasia to their clients. They will partner closely with you as you get started, and they will remain available to you to offer advice and support whenever you need it.

Additionally, we have curated and created a wealth of resources and best practices for in-home euthanasia veterinarians, including videos and step-by-step guides for every facet of the service. Our mission is to empower every veterinarian to beat the burnout and fall in love with veterinary medicine again. We’re dedicated to doing that, whatever it takes.

With CodaPet, you decide what days and hours you want to be bookable each week, so in many ways, it’s up to you how much you work.

However, most veterinarians that want to target a full-time income aim to schedule 10-12 appointments each week. With each appointment running about 2 hours and 15 minutes (including travel and light paperwork), that amounts to a total of between 22 and 27 hours per week.

Many veterinarians on our CodaPet network keep part-time jobs while supplementing their income through CodaPet. However, we also partner with vets that want to commit to in-home euthanasia full-time. Ultimately, it’s entirely up to you.

Death is an unfortunate constant in life, and so clients will always need the compassion of veterinarians to ease the passing of their beloved dogs, cats, and other companion animals. However, it is important to know that the number of pet owners who book your services will vary depending on the service area you’re willing to travel to, the size of the local pet population, and the availability you set.

Most vets on CodaPet generate enough income from 10-12 appointments per week to consider themselves full-time.

The money you earn will depend most heavily on your schedule availability and the number of pets you decide to help. However, it’s helpful to know that veterinarians on CodaPet take home an average of about $370 per visit, or over $200k per year for established veterinarians, working 25 hours per week (serving 10-12 clients)

CodaPet charges you nothing to join our community, and you are free to deactivate your profile at any time. We have no monthly costs associated with our platform; rather, we collect a modest percentage of the fees you charge your clients to help cover the cost of the investments we make in marketing and supporting your practice.

We aim for our pricing to be as transparent and straightforward as possible, and are happy to discuss additional specifics, as well as any questions you have, during an initial introductory conversation.

Yes, as long as you are licensed to practice in the state(s) you want to serve, you can work with CodaPet wherever you’d like (within the United States). Our service model is simple and available to all vets who want to offer compassionate in-home pet euthanasia as an alternative to companion animals and their owners.

It’s easy to join CodaPet. Get started by filling out our inquiry form, and one of our co-founder veterinary professionals will schedule an introductory conversation with you to answer any questions you have and tell you more about our platform and practicing in-home euthanasia.

Several factors influence how long the process takes to start providing services with CodaPet. Some vets, particularly mobile vets who already have the necessary supplies and licenses, may be able to start in just a week or two, but most vets require (and prefer) a few weeks to obtain the necessary supplies, drugs, and other essentials to help them learn the “art” of providing in-home euthanasia.

‍ We will help provide guidance and resources to help jump start your new career. Resources such as drug protocols, purchase lists of drugs and supplies of the trade, consent forms, guidance on setting pricing, videos on such things as administering medication IV, transporting heavy pets, making paw prints, how to set up in the home and more.

In particular, obtaining your DEA license can take up to eight weeks, during which time we will support you in doing due diligence on your crematorium partner, create your CodaPet profile, and begin to market your services.

Don't worry! Whatever your situation, our team will help you navigate through every step of the process.