Vet Wisdom® Café

What is EoL Care and Does Your Vet Do It Well?

In her recent The Bond and Beyond column (Jan 2012) in Veterinary Practice News, Dr. Alice Villalobos says,

"It's time for us to declare, once and for all, that end of life is a distinctly new stage of life. Veterinarians were taught to support four main stages of life [Puppy&Kitten/Adult/Senior/Geriatric]. We were not educated to focus our professional attention and develop the skills and expertise for the very important and inevitable "End of Life" Stage. We need to provide more EoL services because society's human-animal bond demands more care in this area..."

Dr. Villalobos goes on to say that, due to the option--and some would say privilege--of euthanasia, veterinarians were taught to spare animals suffering, rather than support them through the dying process.

And, in fact, some veterinarians don't want that to change. One of her colleagues told Dr. Villalobos that he is against palliative medicine and hospice for pets because "it drags out the inevitable."

But, Dr. Villalobos counters,

"Some are reluctant to discuss the EoL stage because it makes them uncomfortable. But, discomfort should not prevent us from educating clients to understand that we care and are prepared to help their pets."

I provided end-of-life client support as part of the clinical veterinary team for 20 years while I taught at CSU. But, as a mental health professional, there were so many limits on what I could actually do to help the pets and pet parents who sought comfort. I truly believe that the most effective care that can be provided for pets and people alike during the EoL stage comes from those trained in veterinary medicine.

I applaud Dr. Villalobos's insight and call to action in terms of developing this treatment stage. As a pet parent, I want options when my pets are diagnosed with the diseases that will eventually take their lives. I don't want to feel that I only have two choices---to keep my pet alive with diminishing quality of life or euthanize quickly to spare further suffering.

I know there is often quite a bit of good quality time between those options if we have the right amount of pain control for comfort.

What do you think? Should veterinary teams be better trained in End of Life care---for both pets and the people who love them?

What experiences have you had with your vets? Please leave a comment with your thoughts! Thanks!

--Laurel

ClayPaws Prints in the News!

I picked up our local Coloradoan newspaper the other day and flipped over to the Life section.

Yes, I admit it. I'm not a news junkie. While I care deeply about contributing to society and my community in a positive way, I don't like reading about murders and cranky polititians. I prefer lighter fare. So, I usually postpone the hard news and turn first to the feature stories.

Imagine my surprise when the first thing I saw on page B3 was a beautiful ClayPaws® print and the greying face of a sweet, old dog named Ruby.

The accompanying story was from The Nashville Tennessean newspaper.  It had been picked up by our local paper and given a Fort Collins polish. In the article, Ruby's parents, along with their veterinarian, were interviewed about the care they had received through their local pet hospice service.  It was a very positive article about the difference end-of-life care and compassion can make in our lives when we need a little extra TLC.

I'm encouraged to see how pet hospice programs are growing in our country. I think they're the wave of the future, in terms of how, where, and when we will say good-bye to our beloved companion animals. And I'm proud that ClayPaws® prints are a small part of this very helpful trend.

Have you had experience with a pet hospice?  Leave a comment and let all of us know how it went for you.

--Laurel

Hospice Care for Our Pets

In 1996, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) conducted a study they called the Companion Animal Mourning Project.  The study found that, overall, 68% of dogs exhibited four or more behavioral changes after the death of another pet companion.  These behaviors included changes in eating and sleeping habits, changes in how they vocalized (increased whining or becoming more quiet) and shifts in how they interacted with their human caregivers (clinging, hiding etc.)

As we pet parents have always known, many animals do grieve when their pet companions die.

From my own clinical experience, I know this issue truly concerns pet parents.  In fact, some pet parents I've talked with have been more worried about their surviving pet's grief response than their own.  This may be because it's unexpected and they don't feel prepared to help their pet through the tough adjustment.

One of the many reasons I am a huge fan of the blossoming pet hospice movement in veterinary medicine is that organizations like the International Association of Animal Hospice and Palliative Care (IAAHPC), founded by Dr. Amir Shanan, educate pet parents about what they can expect from grief when a pet dies.  And they do this while they are also providing excellent palliative care for dying animals. 

The IAAHPC is meeting this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas, to share their professional experiences and knowledge.  They'll be discussing "best practices" for innovative, cutting edge veterinary services, like home euthanasia, palliative care, pain management, and pet hospice programs.  Thanks to Dr. Kathleen Cooney of Home to Heaven in Colorado, ClayPaws® kits and many of our other grief support tools will be featured in the conference exhibit hall. 

Whether you are a pet parent or a veterinary professional, there is much to learn on the IAAHPC website.  You'll find them at http://iaahpc.org Take a moment to read through their excellent articles and material and, when you can, support the development of veterinary pet hospice programs in your area.

You can also learn more on our websites.  You may want to read "Is Veterinary Pet Hospice Right for You?" and "Helping a Pet Grieve for a 'Buddy'".

--Laurel