Overview

Senior pets and those suffering from a chronic condition or terminal illness often need additional care to optimize their quality of life. In these cases, our goal is to keep your pet comfortable during their final days with pain medication, nutritional support, and other supportive care. At this stage, your pet needs intensive care and constant supervision to ensure they remain as comfortable as possible. Suggestions to provide end-of-life support for your pet include:

• Monitor your pet closely and inform our team about any changes, so we can adjust their treatment plan as needed.

• If your pet has limited mobility, provide well-cushioned bedding and move them frequently to help prevent bed sores.

• Check your pet for urine or fecal soiling and clean them as soon as possible.

• Administer all treatments and medications our team prescribes and let us know if you have any difficulties.

• Spend time with your pet and surround them with their favorite things.

Quality of life

The HHHHHMM scale can help you better assess your pet’s quality of life. The letters stand for:

Hurt

Hunger

Hydration

Hygiene

Happiness

Mobility

More good days than bad

Each factor is rated on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being the ideal. A score of 35 or higher means your pet’s quality of life is acceptable.

Saying goodbye

Saying goodbye to a beloved pet is a difficult, heart-wrenching experience for any pet parent. However, if your pet’s condition cannot be well-managed and their quality of life is no longer acceptable, you may have to make the painful decision of humane euthanization. Our team can help you decide on the best time to euthanize your pet. When the time comes, we will use Fear Free techniques to make the experience as stress-free and painless as possible for you and your pet.

The grief you experience after losing a pet can be devastating, and our team offers emotional assistance and resources to support you during this extremely difficult time. We can also provide resources for pet owners caring for senior or terminally ill pets who are struggling to deal with saying goodbye to their four-legged friend.