Who We Are
We grew up in a close-knit town, where everyone knows everyone. Where there are still wild places to play in the woods, in marshes, and on beaches. We took in stray dogs and kittens, tended to them, and saw all that was possible when we gave life our care and attention.
Our caring team is passionate about your pet's health and happiness.
We operate on the simple belief that we need our pets as much as they need us. There at our happiest and hardest moments, they ask for nothing but our affection and attention, and in return, give us unconditional love, loyalty, companionship, laughter, and indescribable joy.
We are, and will always be, a veterinary practice of the community, for the community—for longtime residents, summer guests, and new neighbors. For pets and the people they belong to. For all that’s possible when we give life our care and attention.
Dr. McNeal, lovingly known as "Mac" around Pawleys Island, came from a small county in Kentucky and worked on dairy cows and horses straight out of vet school. He kept working on family farms until the mid 1970s, when the industry shifted from family to industrial farming. He moved his family to Pawleys in 1977, where he spent a summer on the beach studying for his board exams. A year later, he opened his small animal practice on Highway 17, where he stayed for 10 years. In 1988, he built a new practice on Shell Road—now known as Waverly Road.
The following year, Candi Boyd (then Candi Lauretano), walked into the office and asked McNeal for a job. She eagerly worked summers and holidays through high school, college, and vet school, learning all about McNeal's personalized, hands-on approach to veterinary care. After earning her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Ross University's School of Veterinary Medicine in 2000, she continued working alongside McNeal until he retired in 2013, and sold her the business. Today, our caring team includes Head Veterinary Technician and Office Manager Eliza Gibbs, who has been part of the practice since 1996.
Our next major moment of growth came in 2021, when Manon Donlevy offered to sell her boarding and grooming facility, Coastal Kennels, to Candi in hopes she would keep Mo's dream alive. We jumped at the chance, and turned the grooming rooms into our animal hospital and upgraded the boarding kennels to pave the way for our next chapter serving the pets of Pawleys.
