Laura Sheldon: intuitive massage for anxious animals

Laura Sheldon is a Fear Free Certified and Certified Small Animal Massage Therapist with nearly 20 years of experience as a veterinary technician, bringing a deep understanding of anatomy, pathology, and medical conditions to her bodywork sessions. Throughout her clinical career, she gravitated toward the pets who needed emotional support the most—fearful, anxious, and reactive animals who often struggled the most in the traditional veterinary setting. She first began using gentle massage techniques simply as a way to help these pets relax, not realizing that the methods she had intuitively developed were grounded in massage therapy principles. It wasn’t until a close friend—who is a human massage therapist—pointed this out that Laura recognized the impact of what she was doing. This sparked a passion that led her to pursue formal training, expanding her skills to include therapeutic techniques for pain relief while deepening her toolkit for supporting anxious, fearful, and touch-sensitive animals.Today, Laura works exclusively as a mobile massage therapist, meeting pets where they feel most secure: at home. Her practice is evenly divided between behavioral-focused massage—treating anxiety, reactivity, and touch sensitivity—and therapeutic massage for pain relief and mobility. She believes that massage therapy is just as powerful for emotional wellbeing as it is for physical comfort, and she takes great pride in bringing ease, safety, and connection to every animal she works with. “Your pet’s comfort and wellbeing is my passion!” guides her in every session.