Is Veterinary Pet Hospice Right for You?

Sheba, so named for her queenly demeanor and love of a red velvet pillow, lived with the Masons for over 12 years. They were her family and no one could have loved her more.

In her twelfth year, Sheba developed an incurable cancer, but the Masons weren’t ready to let their little dog go. “We wanted to keep her happy and comfortable for as long as we could,” Sherry Mason said. “We asked our veterinarian if there were some things we could do for her in our own home so we could enjoy whatever time we had left together.”

The family breathed a sigh of relief when their veterinarian suggested a mixture of palliative and hospice care for Sheba. “We thought we would feel pressured to put her down,” Jack Mason said, “and we just weren’t ready to do that.” *

Like the human population, our pets are aging. Scientific breakthroughs and more comprehensive veterinary care have allowed pets to live longer lives. Yet, longer lives often result in more agerelated— and often terminal—diseases, like cancer. When a cure is not possible, because the disease is too advanced or perhaps because families can’t afford to pay for expensive treatments, our companion animals still need consistent, high-quality medical care. And, when death draws near, they deserve to be kept comfortable and as pain-free as possible. End-of-life support is known as palliative and pet hospice care. As a specialty area of veterinary medicine, it is growing in popularity, availability, and acceptance.

Palliative care is most often used when a disease or injury is considered to be terminal, but death is not yet imminent. The word palliative refers to medical care that treats symptoms, rather than the cause, of disease. The goals of palliative treatments are to make your pet as comfortable as possible and to enhance his or her quality of life for as long as possible. Veterinarians often accomplish this through a combination of medications, pre-emptive pain control, and supportive therapies like hydration. Sometimes you can administer some of these treatments yourself at home, with the guidance and supervision of your veterinary team.

When your pet begins to have more ‘bad’ days than ‘good’, hospice care may be the next step. The term hospice comes from the same root word for ’hospitality.’ It can be traced back to medieval times when a hospice was a place of rest for travelers on a long journey. In the 1960’s, a British physician applied the word to the idea of specialized care for the dying. Pet hospice provides specialized end-oflife care for your dying pet, as well as an emotionally-supportive grief process for you. This care is often provided in your own home.

In most cases, a pet hospice is not a specific place. Rather, it’s a philosophy of care that offers an alternative to extended treatments and repeated hospitalizations for your pet. However, pet hospice doesn’t replace the option of a well-planned, sensitively conducted euthanasia. When it’s time, pet hospice programs can help facilitate a peaceful death in your pet’s familiar home environment or in a home-like setting called a ‘comfort room’ at your veterinary clinic.

Like the hospice model found in human medicine, pet hospice stems from the basic belief that death is not a medical failure. Rather, death is the normal and inevitable conclusion to life. The hospice philosophy teaches that, when all involved are properly prepared and guided, death can be experienced with dignity and compassion.

Your veterinarian may practice the concept of pet hospice care to some degree, providing pain medications to keep your pet comfortable and continuing to monitor the course of your pet’s disease when a cure is not possible. If your veterinarian offers a more formalized pet hospice program, care may be expand from the traditional model of in-clinic examinations and treatments to providing palliative care, end-of-life counseling, and even euthanasia in your own home.

Research conducted by the National Hospice Foundation (NHF) found that 80% of Americans want to die at home. The study also found people are willing to have outside organizations come into their homes and assist with care for a dying family member. Two of the services survey participants said were most important to receive were pain control and emotional support. Recent surveys in veterinary medicine say over 60% of pet owners consider their pets to be members of their families. It makes sense, then, that you might want the same services and end-of-life care for your pet that you want for yourself or for your human family members.

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