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End of life decisions for dogs12/31/2023 ![]() “And once a treatment is available, saying no can feel like a denial of care – though it often is exactly the right choice for the animal. “Overtreatment is certainly a growing problem, as more possibilities are available,” says Pierce. Hilst and Pierce also say that a pet owner’s financial situation is a valid concern in determining whether to pursue expensive medical options that have accompanied advances in veterinary medicine. If euthanasia is chosen, Hilst and Pierce agree that, for the comfort of both the pet and its owner, the procedure should be done at home, if possible. If a dog is suffering from pain or other distressing symptoms that cannot be managed medically and her suffering is likely to increase over time, then euthanasia is likely appropriate,” she says. “What we really need is a journal that tracks how an animal is doing over time. ![]() “An animal’s quality of life is likely to vary considerably from day to day, particularly if the animal is suffering from a chronic disease,” she says. She says that quality-of-life scales can be “a valuable tool for helping caregivers and veterinarians provide a pet with the best possible care and focusing our attention on what is important and what makes our pet’s days happy or difficult.” But she cautions against relying solely on them as a decision-making tool for euthanasia. Jessica Pierce is a bioethicist and the author of The Last Walk: Reflections on Our Pets at the End of Their Lives and Run, Spot, Run: The Ethics of Keeping Pets. You may feel unable to provide for their needs physically, emotionally, or financially” (1 point). Examples include “You understand what to watch for, the treatment plan, and when your pet needs medical attention” (5 points) and “You are constantly worried about your pet. There are numerous such reference scales on the internet, but Hilst says that many seemed to fall short on factors that take into consideration pet owners themselves, which led her to incorporate uncertainty and understanding (U) and you (Y) into her scale. The pet owner assigns a number from 1 to 10 for each topic the scale includes examples to consider, such as “Your pet is refusing food and water ” (1 point) and “Your pet is eating and drinking normally ” (10 points). These include jumping or mobility (J), ouch or pain (O), and eating and drinking (E). To help her clients, Hilst developed a quality-of-life evaluation tool, an eight-point acrostic built on the word JOURNEYS that allows pet owners to calculate a numerical score based on their own observations. That led her to establish Journeys Home, a service that specializes in providing at-home euthanasia for pets. A veterinarian in Madison, Wisconsin, Hilst started out in 2007 offering home veterinary care and soon found that many of the pet owners she visited were facing the decision of whether to euthanize. It certainly is the question on the minds of most people who contact her. “That is the question that everyone wants the answer to,” says Katie Hilst. While Queenie considers her culinary options, Barb and I ponder that difficult question: How will we know when it’s time to say goodbye? For her, this means snuffling and shuffling between her bed and the pantry door behind which treats are kept, with occasional stops at her food bowl in the hope that someone has filled it with something other than dry dog food, which she eschews. The next day, she was back to her old self, as spry as any 16-year-old dog could hope to be. True to her contrarian character, she decided not to go gentle into that good night. In Queenie’s case, we’ve sometimes joked, the result may have been a blend of the worst. Queenie is a puggle – a cross between a pug and a beagle, a so-called designer dog bred to combine the best traits of two breeds. News & Features (down arrow opens sub-menu)> Our Programs (down arrow opens sub-menu)> ![]() Get Involved (down arrow opens sub-menu)> Search SubmitĪbout Rotary (down arrow opens sub-menu)>
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