End-Of-Life (Hospice) Care

A common question we receive is “what does hospice care look like for a pet?” Veterinary hospice care allows animals who have received a terminal diagnosis, or are reaching the end of their life, to live in comfort and have a good quality of life until they pass naturally or your family chooses euthanasia.

We work with your family to create a reasonable treatment plan that focuses on your pet’s comfort and quality of life. We’ll aim to manage their symptoms with medicine, rehab, and current therapies and we can work with your primary care veterinarian.

For hospice patients, we strongly recommend you continue your relationship with your primary care veterinarian for needs like x-rays, dentistry, etc. that we are unable to provide.

What does hospice look like? Let’s take a look at Sophie and her family.

• Sophie is a 13 year old Boxer who was diagnosed with heart disease, eye sight loss, anxiety, and arthritis. She is currently on several medications that help to manage her heart disease but she is having trouble getting around the house. Let’s look at Sophie’s care plan.
  • We’ll review Sophie’s current medications and medical record and answer any questions you have about heart disease.
  • We’ll discuss ways to make her home safe for dogs with vision loss and techniques to improve her safety.
  • We’ll look into medications that can ease her anxiety and determine if Sophie is experiencing senility (dementia), if she is anxious from her eye sight loss, or if she is generally anxious.
  • We’ll use a combination of medications, rehab, and other techniques to help manage Sophie’s arthritis.
  • Finally, we’ll use a series of quality of life evaluations to provide an objective viewpoint of how Sophie is doing.