Hospice Care

Just like our human counterparts, sometimes there are no good treatment options and hospice care is recommended. While this is a very hard decision to make, not doing treatment can be the most loving decision you can make. This type of care focuses on keeping your friend as comfortable as possible for the time they have left. Pain medications, anti-inflammatory medications and even sedatives can be used in order to give the family time to say goodbye.

Your veterinarian will be heavily involved throughout this time also and will help to manage the medications. Because your friend may not be eating well at this point in their lives, medications can be made into different formulations including liquids and sometimes transdermal (a gel applied to the skin that is absorbed through the skin) versions.

• A Loving Staff
• A Knowledgable Staff

Unlike in people, at some point a decision is made to say goodbye and elect for euthanasia. Probably the most common question we get is “How will I know when it is time?”. We wish there was some sign that all animals showed to make this decision easier, but that is not the case. A good rule of thumb we recommend is never letting your friend have more bad days than good days. An engineer client once told me he picked the 5 things he thought his dog liked to do best (things like eating, going for a walk, chasing a ball). He assigned each of those things a point.

A good day for his dog was a score of three or more and a bad day was a score of less than three. All too often we have people tell us that they waited too long to say goodbye with their last pet, but we have never had someone tell us they thought they did it too soon. If you are struggling with the decision we are here to help, as is your primary veterinarian.

We can perform the euthanasia in our office, your veterinarian can do it and there are services that come to your house as well. In Arizona, it is illegal to bury an animal, so we recommend cremation. This can be done with a group of animals (comingle cremation) or with your pet alone (private cremation). For the private cremation, you will receive the ashes back in a wooden urn.

For commingle cremations, most services spread the ashes. The crematory services are held to the same standards for animals that they are for humans, so you can trust that your friend will be handled with care and dignity. Though difficult, choosing hospice care can be a very loving decision for your beloved pet.