Avanti specializes in geriatric medicine, with an emphasis on hospice care (regardless of age), quality of life, and in-home euthanasias. Avanti is able to integrate various therapeutic modalities in conjunction with therapies offered by your current veterinarian; or, for those animal companions without a regular veterinarian.

Avanti is based in Chester County, PA, yet serves areas in Philadelphia, parts of Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey. Please contact us to see if your location is within our service area.

A percentage of all visits are donated to Chenoa Manor Animal Sanctuary & Learning Center.

Avanti focuses heavily on hospice care and in-home euthanasias. I am frequently met with one of two comments… “I did not realize that in-home euthanasia was even an option,” and “this must be the hardest part of your job.”

Hospice and in-home euthanasia is most definitely an option. Throughout my experiences, from having worked in a veterinary clinic to working in people’s homes, it should be the preferred option. There is no anxiety-filled last car ride to a veterinary clinic. There is no anxiety or unwelcome interactions with other people’s animal companions in crowded waiting rooms. There are no strange smells or people dressed in white lab coats and smocks. There are no stainless steel tables or sterile environments where families are hesitant and even reluctant to freely release their emotion

It is also not the hardest part of my job. It is one of the most beautiful. To be invited into the most sacred of spaces, while individuals are at their most vulnerable, called upon to help guide that cherished animal’s final earthly journey is a deeply held honor. To physically hold the grieving individual and hold that space for them, giving them the opportunity for an emotional release, without judgement and without words is a privilege. To hear the final exhalation as the lungs gently relax and the heart completes its last beat is a lesson in living.

Far too often people say that they hope that when the time comes their animal companion passes during sleep because they could not make “that decision.” Yet, we decide everything else for our companions: what they eat, when they eat, when they go for a walk, what toys they play with, what activities to engage in on a weekend… all well-meaning decisions and important in their own right. It behooves us to be able to also make that final decision for our companions when we are faced with it. What a wonderful gift to be able to offer them in return for the years of unwavering emotional support, as they unquestioningly shared our space and shouldered our emotional lives. And what an even greater gift to have it performed in the privacy and sacredness of their own home.

Rob Teti, DVM

Although Italian by birth and design, Rob is ascended from the ancient Egyptian lineage of Teti, the first pharaoh of the sixth dynasty. This 20+ year Buddhist vegan has affinities for lean-bodied, long snouted dogs of the sighthound variety, cats with long hair and flat faces, the music of Erykah Badu, the literature of Toni Morrison, The Young & The Restless, Elizabeth Taylor, and the number twenty-five.

In addition to serving the needs of our beloved companion animals, Rob Teti is the founder and steward of Chenoa Manor Animal Sanctuary and Youth-Assistance Facility in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Chenoa Manor believes, supports, and respects the inter-connectedness of all of the strands in the web of life.

Rob has taught English as a second language to Latino migrant farm workers as well as teaching literacy to prisoners in maximum-security Pennsylvania institutions. He also serves as a court appointed special advocate (CASA) for the youth of Delaware.