Quality of Life & Grief
When to help them cross the rainbow bridge and how to cope when they do.
The hardest part about being a pet parent is not only the loss, but making the final decision. Below are resources to help you determine when it might be time for your beloved pet, and grief counseling options for when that time comes.
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The team at Firgrove Veterinary Clinic is always here to support you. Please don't hesitate to reach out to our team.
Deciding When It's Time
Deciding to euthanize a pet can feel gut-wrenching. Families may feel that they are letting their pet down. They forget that euthanasia is a gift that, when used appropriately at the right time, prevents further physical suffering for the pet and emotional suffering for the family. The hardest part of the experience is making the actual decision
Quality of Life
Assessing your pet’s quality of life is subjective, highly dependent on your pet’s disease process, their personality, and your personal beliefs. It's nothing short of difficult.
Every pet will experience and react to changes in their body differently. Their response is also dependent on the disease process. Having in depth discussions with your veterinarian is an important part of this process. For example, a pet owner should make the decision to euthanize a pet with heart failure before painful symptoms arise while an older pet with arthritis could be maintained longer at home with adequate pain management. It's important to understand your pets the disease process, if any, to properly evaluate their quality of life. These are things that can be discussed in depth with your veterinarian.
Quality of life related to aging may also be considered when it's impacting your pet's daily life in a negative way. For example, if your 16 year old cat still eats well, uses the litterbox appropriately, grooms decently or will allow you to groom them, and seems overall comfortable, it's likely not time even if they spend most of their day sleeping. Healthy cats sleep 75% of their life. Age is not a disease. However, a cat of the same age who isn't eating well, doesn't groom themselves and won't allow you to, soils outside of the litterbox, and spends most of their time sleeping may have a poor quality of life or underlying disease.
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Utilizing the Quality of Life assessments above provided by Lap of Love can help you make the decision based on your pet's unspoken ques at home.
Weighing Your Options
If the most important thing is waiting until the last possible minute to say goodbye, you may face an emergent, stressful, and potentially sufferable passing for your pet. The experience may not be peaceful and you may regret waiting too long. If you wish for a peaceful, calm, family-oriented, experience for your pet, you will probably need to make the decision a little sooner than you want. This decision should not be about ending suffering that has already occurred, but about preventing any suffering. Our pets do not deserve to hurt and none of us wish that on them.
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When you elect to bring your pet to Firgrove Veterinary Clinic for euthanasia, you're likely seeking final confirmation from your pet's veterinarian that you have a relationship and trust, and/or a familiar place and people that your pet knows. You will be escorted to a private room where you can spend as much time as you like with your pet before and after the procedure. Your family and your beloved pet will be treated with respect. You can expect to review documents prior to euthanasia and receive your pets cremains (if private cremation is elected) +/- clay paw print within 1-3 weeks.
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If you desire an at-home euthanasia where you, your family, and your pet are in their most comfortable environment, we recommend Lap of Love at Home Euthanasia Services. They can be reached at 855-933-5683 or by visiting www.lapoflove.com.
Natural Death
While some pets may peacefully fall asleep and pass naturally on their own, a peaceful death is as rare in animals as it is in humans. For different reasons, some families are opposed to euthanasia. That being said, it doesn't benefit many pets and a natural death can be difficult for a family to watch. While it's possible, to an extent, to talk other humans through physical pain or discomfort, we cannot comfort a pet who is suffering. They're in pain or are uncomfortable in many cases and they simply don't understand why. Often times we don't understand the extent that they're uncomfortable without evaluation.
Your pet happening to pass on their own is certainly not a bad thing, but it's important to understand what your pet is going through and make the right decision for them. Certain disease processes do not compliment a natural death. For example, congestive heart failure patients can suffer greatly with natural deaths. When medical treatment is no longer successful, patients can feel like (and honestly be) drowning.
If you're unsure of your pet's disease process, how to keep your pet comfortable at home as they pass by natural death, or when might be the best time to consider euthanasia, please schedule a quality of life assessment with your veterinarian. They can walk you through your options and what that process may look like for your pet as well as how we can keep them comfortable.
Waiting Too Long
Owners experiencing a pet’s decline or terminal illness for the first time will generally wait until the very end to make the difficult euthanasia decision. This may be because they are fearful of euthanizing their pet too soon, and giving up without a good fight. Afterward, however, most of these owners regret waiting too long. They reflect back on the past days, weeks, or months, and feel guilty for putting their pet through numerous veterinary trips, or uncomfortable medical procedures that did not improve their pet’s quality of life. The next time, they recognize their pet’s decline, and are more likely to make the decision at the beginning rather than the end of the decline. Not all pets or situations are the same. They all require individual attention and care. Your veterinary team can help you by evaluating your pet and quality of life scale, reviewing your options, and providing you with advice. This is a very personal decision, but our team is here to help you through it every step of the way.
What to Expect During a Euthanasia
Euthanasia by definition is a painless death, and our team is dedicated to providing a peaceful end-of-life experience for your beloved pet. There is no time limit before or after the procedure allowing the family time to prepare and process.
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During your appointment, you can anticipate the following:
After being escorted to a private room by one of our receptionist or medical team members, a medical team member will weigh your pet and begin a discussion about your concerns for your pet. The doctor will enter the room next and review your concerns, thoughts, and wishes. Our number one purpose at Firgrove Veterinary Clinic is to act in the best interest of our patients and care for our clients. If our veterinarians believe there is another option for your pet, this will be discussed prior to euthanasia. Please be aware that our veterinarians can decline to euthanize a pet if they believe that the pet can not only be treated, but pet and family can have a good quality of life doing so.
Once euthanasia is agreed upon, our reception team will meet with you in the private room to discuss your aftercare wishes. We offer communal cremation (no ashes returned) and private cremation (ashes returned), with optional clay or ink paw prints. Families may also elected to bury their pet at home. Payment will be collected in the room to prevent removing the family from their pet and allow for privacy.
A medical team member will place an IV catheter and administer sedation to ease your pet's anxiety and discomfort. While this is often accomplished out of the room, our team is happy to accommodate requests for IV catheter placement in the room with your family. With an IV catheter in place, the doctor can administer the final injection without additional support staff in the room and with the pet wherever is best for the family. Many people will hold small dogs and cats in their laps.
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When your family decides they are ready, the doctor will enter the room and confirm before beginning the final treatment. The medication administered is a highly concentrated anesthetic drug. The process is painless and happens very quickly in less than a minute. Your pet will feel euphoria and then will drift to sleep before brain activity stops. As your pet's brain activity stops first they feel no pain or discomfort in their passing.
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After the final treatment, the doctor will confirm your pet's passing and you can spend as much time with your pet as you need. When you are ready, you may exit the building and our team will respectfully care for your pet as they prepare for pickup from the crematorium.
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If you elect a clay paw print or private cremation, you will be contacted when they are delivered by our crematorium partner. A signature will be required to release cremains and our team will not release them to anyone other than those assigned on the form.
All cremains left at Firgrove Veterinary Clinic for periods greater than one year after owner notification of their arrival will be respectfully scattered in a peaceful location.
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