An Origins Story: Autumn Animals

Last week it was twenty years since I finished my Veterinary Nursing training. And I've come a long way since then. Autumn Animals has come a long way since then! I recently spoke with two people new to my network, and they both asked me how I ended up in this field. I found myself telling them the Autumn Animals origin story, and I thought it would be a good idea to recreate my storytelling here - albeit a bit shorter and with fewer wild hand gestures.

Lewis & Sieske - Looking back on our journey

How It All Began: From Vet Nurse to Human Geographer

Autumn Animals is the result of a host of elderly animals stomping their way into my life. Either by their own choice or accidentally, they all made a huge impact and sparked the fire of my love for the more "mature" companion animals.

I started my career as a veterinary nurse at the age of 19. When I graduated from my vocational education, I knew instantly I didn't want to continue working in a clinic. My body and brain were not made for being between four walls every day, and I also had suboptimal foundational experiences during my internships. The growth ceiling as a veterinary nurse back then was very low, so I decided to continue studying and climbing the academic ladder. After a few years of trialling courses and working as a vet nurse part-time, I found myself drawn to the social sciences, Human Geography in particular. The coursework allowed me enough freedom to pursue interests in animal welfare, politics, and environmental well-being - and the connection between these topics.

I graduated as a Human Geographer (BSc and MSc, University of Amsterdam), during which I set up independent research projects in India and Kenya. There, I researched traditional rural and fishing communities and how they were affected by climate change and modernisation. In India, I researched communities living around the Pichavaram mangroves, and in Kenya, I researched Maasai people who were traditionally pastoralists.

From Cargo Bike to Care Company: Sies Petcare & Yoga

During all these adventures, I was fortunate enough to find a veterinary employer during my course who allowed me to work part-time as a vet nurse and take weeks off to do my fieldwork. She was an amazingly compassionate cat vet and taught me most of what I now know about cat behaviour - alongside Lewis.

After graduation, I moved to Zanzibar for another research project on climate change adaptation. There, I was known as the cat lady of Stonetown. I bought fresh fish daily for my collection of stray cats. It was in Zanzibar that I strongly felt that climate change research was not where I needed to leave my mark. It was also here where I met a Cornishman who whisked me away to London.

Fast forward to my running a home pet care company called Sies Petcare & Yoga (because I was also trained as a yoga teacher and combining the two). I whizzed around London on an electric cargo-bike with a box filled with pooches during the day. I also pet-sat older and ill cats in the evenings and at weekends. This business organically grew into a palliative care-focused service for pets.

Autumn Animals 1.0: A Different Kind of Clinic

I finally took the plunge in 2022 and set up the kind of care company I would like to use when I need it for my cat, Lewis.

This was Autumn Animals 1.0. A London-based mobile veterinary clinic that sent paraprofessionals such as animal physiotherapists, acupuncturists and veterinary nurses into people's homes to support them and their pets in their own environments. I chose the name Autumn Animals because it felt apt to compare the four stages of a person's life to the seasons. As my focus was, and continues to be, on senior animals and palliative care, not just end of life, Autumn was the logical season to name the business after. If you'd like to go deeper into this analogy, please read my Love Letter to Autumn here. The aim was to ensure continued good quality of life for the whole family. Alongside paraprofessionals and veterinarians, I would offer families one-hour (sometimes longer) consultations for Quality of Life assessments, environmental and routine assessments, and anticipatory grief support. Having me as a caseworker overseeing the care for the whole family would allow for continuity of care, considerate referrals to paraprofessionals, and back-referrals to their GP vet for appropriate treatments. Eventually, when the time came after careful planning and consideration, one of the Autumn Animals vets and I would visit the family to euthanise their pet in a peaceful way, at home. I would provide aftercare, such as emotional support and funeral planning. I made sure the family's beloved pet would be well taken care of by our partnering crematorium, Dignity, and that the family would always be in the loop so that they knew where their pet was at any given time. Aftercare did not stop after death. A family was checked in with regularly (even a year later) and offered resources to help them cope with their grief.

After a few years of doing this work, I noticed that veterinary surgeries were comfortable referring clients our way for euthanasia, but not sooner. Often, I'd wish we had been introduced much sooner.

The discomfort of the pet had gone unnoticed for a bit too long, as caregivers didn't know the symptoms of common diseases like dementia, osteoarthritis or kidney disease. They weren't getting enough time with their veterinary team to discuss how the physical home environment was limiting their pet's mobility. The quality of life for both the pet and human would often be diminished due to routines that were not suitable for continued daily life. I also met caregivers frustrated with the limited support and communication provided by their GP surgery. They were worried they hadn't done enough. They felt guilty for making the decision to euthanise. And most families were utterly exhausted by the time we came to help them.

It made me wonder: Who is caring for the caregiver? What does the caregiver actually need? And how can we make sure a family, both human and pet, is supported sooner in this journey?

So, I went back to the drawing board and tried to find out what my role was in this very niche corner of veterinary care. I handed over the clinic's knowledge, contacts and equipment to my colleague Dr Tamara, who is now running her own home euthanasia service, Treating Tails. My husband, super senior cat Lewis, and I moved to a working farm in beautiful Devon.

Autumn Animals 2.0: A New Vision

Shortly after moving, our boy Lewis, 18 at the time, got sick himself: kidney disease. I was able to nurse him and deal with the sadness of the impending loss. I had an amazing network around me of vets (local and London-based), paraprofessionals, and friends and family who supported us throughout. We said goodbye to Lewis in February 2026 at exactly the right time. It was a very peaceful journey, held by a caring community.

Lewis was and will always be my "soul-cat", the feline love of my life. This experience with him, combined with all the others that have come before him, both my own pets and patients, has inspired me to set up Autumn Animals 2.0. 

My vision is that interdisciplinary care for a multi-species family will be normal in a few years' time. This includes holistic medical care for the pet, ranging from Western medicine to complementary therapies, and emotional, psychological, spiritual, and practical support for the humans.

My mission is to ensure the people I work with will feel supported and empowered in the same way that I felt throughout my Autumn and Winter journey with Lewis - and beyond.

I do this by offering you written, audio, and visual content, contributing to the limited research available on Veterinary Palliative and Hospice Care, and guiding families with senior and ill pets through their journey.

I bring a host of qualifications: NVQ-4 Animal Care & Veterinary Nursing, BSc and MSc Human Geography, Yoga & Meditation Teacher, Blue Cross Pet Loss Support and End-of-Life Doula for Companion Animals. And I am a member of the International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care.​

I strongly believe that all these experiences on my side bring a full, holistic experience for both the pet and their human family members. It definitely brings a different view than if I had practised veterinary medicine for the past twenty years.

Sies.

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About me

My name is Sieske Valk (pronounced as Sees-kuh Falk). Most people call me Sies. I started my career as a veterinary nurse in the Netherlands. Following a short stint as a social science researcher in climate change adaptation, I set up an animal home-care company in London called Sies Petcare. This grew into Autumn Animals, the UK’s first holistic palliative and hospice care organisation. Trained as an end-of-life doula for companion animals, I supported numerous families through the autumn and winter of their companion animal’s life and what comes after. 

I currently focus on three pillars within ageing pet care under the brand Autumn Animals:

Coaching pet caregivers with ageing pets, writing about caring for ageing companion animals and research about interdisciplinary palliative care for companion animals.

If you’d like to know more about Autumn Animals, visit autumnanimals.com.

I live on a farm with my husband, Jamie, in beautiful Devon, and have a Lewis-shaped hole in my heart.

A note on AI use: All the articles on this website are written by me. The flowery and long sentences are completely my own. I use Grammarly to correct spelling, grammar and the occasional Dunglish. Claude Cowork helps me plan content and create visuals.