Hospice care for pets is pretty new in veterinary medicine, but more and more doctors are starting to have discussions with owners and then implement some form of hospice care for their geriatric pets. If you have a pet that has been diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness, or if you are interested in what goes on with hospice care in general, then this post is for you.
What does the term ‘hospice care’ mean?
Hospice care is supportive care that focuses on palliation (end of suffering, or keeping as comfortable as possible) to patients at the end of their lives/at the end stages of terminal diseases. The goal with hospice care is to have the quality of life of the patient be the best it can be with whatever time is left in the patient’s life. This is achieved by forming a plan with a doctor and having other medical professionals (such as nurses, physician assistants), volunteers, and family members implement it.
Where does hospice care take place?
Hospice care can be put in place anywhere, and often is performed in the home. For veterinary patients, the at-home hospice approach is most used for a pet’s end-of-life care. The hospice goal for pets is to allow the pet to be comfortable in its own home (especially because the hospital setting can be very frightening and overwhelming for many pets) with the family members by its side, either until death comes naturally or a humane euthanasia is chosen.
What are the differences between pet and human hospice care?
Pet hospice care is essentially the same as human hospice care with one important difference: veterinarians have the ability to provide humane euthanasia when the pet’s quality of life deteriorates.
As with dying humans, pets with diseases that cannot be cured benefit from having a system that measures their quality of life day-to-day (see the link at the end of the blog for an online hospice journal). With your veterinarian, you can discuss what the baseline quality-of-life-measurement will be for your pet, and how often re-evaluations should occur.
When do pets need to enter hospice care?
If a life-limiting disease is diagnosed in your pet, it is time to have a discussion with your veterinarian about what options are available for treatment and comfort as your pet nears the end of its life. Many of these diseases can be treated aggressively and managed in some of these pets, including diabetes, degenerative joint disease, and some cancers. Treatment options depend on the disease process, how advanced it is, and the pet. Your veterinarian will work with you on what options are best for your pet. Your veterinarian will also help you feel comfortable in implementing the plan at home.
How do you know when hospice care should end?
Your veterinarian will discuss quality of life indicators for your pet. In general, we want to see the pets free from as much pain as possible; control of vomiting, diarrhea, and infections; eating and drinking normally; etc. Some quality of life indicators for one pet may be different for another, depending on what the owners are comfortable doing at home. For instance, one owner may be comfortable expressing the bladder of his or her pet that has a neurologic disorder, whereas another may indicate that not being able to urinate on their own is an important quality of life indicator. These standards of what is going to determine whether hospice care is continued for that pet need to be set before hospice care is implemented.
Additionally, planning early on how the euthanasia will take place (if death does not come naturally) can make things easier when it comes time to make that final decision.
If after reading this post you are interested in learning more, please discuss hospice care with your veterinarian. The following website may be a useful tool for day-to-day detailing of your pet’s progression:
http://www.pethospicejournal.com/
Excerpts taken from Hospice Care for Pets –Overview, Part 1 and 2, by Robin Downing, DVM, CVPP, DAAPM, © Copyright 2012 LifeLearn Inc. Used and/or modified with permission under license. Modifications by Kristen Ferguson, DVM.
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