FAQ

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Guidelines for Responsible Pet Ownership (American Veterinary Medical Association):
Owning a pet is a privilege that should lead to a mutually beneficial relationship. The benefits of pet ownership come with responsibilities, including:

• Lifelong Care: Commit to caring for your pet throughout its entire life.
• Health Care: Provide preventive (e.g., vaccinations, parasite control) and therapeutic health care for your pet, in consultation with and as recommended by your veterinarian.
• End-of-Life Care: Recognize declines in your pet's quality of life and consult with your veterinarian to make appropriate decisions, such as palliative care, hospice, or euthanasia.

Pet Health Council (PHC) - The Five Golden Rules for Successful Pet Ownership:
Respect your pet and fulfill its basic needs, including privacy, space, love, and attention. Remember, you have a duty of care to ensure your pet's well-being 

Balancing life and work becomes especially challenging when a beloved pet, is ill, terminal, or dying. During this difficult time, caregivers should focus on spending quality moments with their pet companion and making informed decisions. A pet doula offers compassionate, loving care to both your pet and family. Here’s how a pet doula can help:

• Ethical and Humane Care: Professional animal care providers, including doulas, aim to provide ethical and humane care, addressing the needs of both animal patients and their human caregivers.
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Doulas work in interdisciplinary teams, coordinating care and services across various disciplines to offer a comprehensive approach.
• Focus on Comfort: Unlike medical professionals, doulas focus on providing comfort and care rather than curing.
• Emotional and Spiritual Support: Doulas offer support that addresses emotional and spiritual needs.
• Holistic Support: They assist with physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and practical challenges.
• Navigating Options: Doulas help you explore the options and services available for pets and their humans.
• Creating Comfort Plans: They develop plans to ensure comfort and ease for you and your pet.
• Guiding Conversations: Doulas facilitate safe and compassionate discussions about death, helping to demystify the dying process and euthanasia.
• Support During the Dying Process: They provide non-medical assistance during the dying process or euthanasia, and help with after-death care.
• Memorialization and Grief Support: Doulas guide you through memorializing and celebrating your special bond, offering support in grief to create a more peaceful experience for everyone involved. 

• Building a Connection: We will take the time to get to know each other, fostering a comfortable and trusting environment.
• Mutual Familiarization: The doula will become acquainted with you and your pet, and you'll have the opportunity to get to know the doula.
• Comprehensive Assessment: We'll gather a thorough anamnesis to understand your pet's history and current situation.
• Clarifying Concerns: We'll address and clarify any questions you have about your pet's history and care.
• Needs Assessment: Together, we will evaluate both your needs and those of your pet to tailor our support.
• Full Presence: The doula will be fully engaged and present during your meetings, providing undivided attention and support.
• Active Listening and Support: You will be listened to and supported throughout the process.
• Respect for Your Wishes: Your preferences and desires will be respected and prioritized.
• Managing Details: The myriad of details will be organized and made manageable, reducing any overwhelm.
• Access to Resources and Advocacy: You will gain access to valuable resources and have an advocate to support you and your pet.

Quality of life (QoL) aims to capture the overall well-being of an individual, encompassing both positive and negative aspects of their existence at a specific point in time. For animals, QoL is defined by their overall physical and mental well-being, rather than focusing on just one aspect of their lives.

Throughout an animal's life, they may experience various health issues or medical conditions that require treatment or palliative care. Caring for a beloved pet, especially when they are ill or approaching the end of their life, can be challenging. Accurate and timely decisions, particularly concerning hospice care and euthanasia, are crucial to minimizing discomfort and distress. To guide this decision-making process and ensure the animal’s welfare, QoL must be carefully considered.

QoL is a complex concept influenced by many factors, including health, psychological state, social relationships, environmental influences, and external pressures. Since we cannot directly ask our pets how they feel, we must rely on their behavior to infer their QoL. Key factors include alertness, appetite, weight/body condition, and activity level. Owners, often with the support of a veterinarian, are responsible for assessing their pet's QoL based on criteria relevant to that individual animal.

QoL assessments provide a quantitative guideline to evaluate a pet’s well-being. They help owners understand the severity of health issues and their impact on the pet’s ability to enjoy life. These assessments support pet welfare and inform treatment decisions. Regular use of QoL assessment tools helps systematically monitor an animal’s condition and identify any decline in well-being early on, which is crucial for making informed euthanasia decisions.

QoL assessments are typically supported by tools in the form of questionnaires. These tools fall into two categories:

1. Disease-Specific Tools: Focused on individual health issues, requiring veterinarian initiative and guidance.
2. Generic or Holistic Tools: Provide a broader assessment of QoL. While veterinarians will offer guidance on physical care aspects, holistic tools may also involve support from a pet doula, addressing various complementary aspects of care, including social and emotional support.

Your pet doula will be happy to provide you with the appropriate tools to support your pet’s QoL assessment.

Informed consent is a principle in medical ethics, medical law and media studies, that a patient or the patient’s caretaker must have sufficient information and understanding before making decisions about their medical care.

Think of ‘BRAIN’:

B – Benefits

R - Risks

A - Alternatives

I – Intuition (how does this feel in your gut/heart/soul)

N – No or not now. Can I have more time to think about it.

Pet hospice is not defined by a specific location but rather by a compassionate approach to end-of-life care for pets. It follows the philosophy that death is a natural part of life and terminal illness. Similar to human hospice care, pet hospice aims to ensure that pets can experience a dignified end of life, usually in the comfort of their own home surrounded by their loving family.

While pet hospice does allow for the possibility of euthanasia, it also supports the option of allowing a pet to pass away naturally at home. The choice between euthanasia and a natural death is ultimately the responsibility of the pet caretaker, who must make an ethical decision with guidance from a licensed veterinarian.

Pet hospice care requires that if a pet is not euthanized, effective measures must be in place to manage the pet’s discomfort to avoid unnecessary suffering. Decisions regarding end-of-life care should always prioritize the pet’s well-being and comfort. As awareness and availability of pet hospice services increase, the approach to euthanasia and ‘natural death’ will become more nuanced, allowing for a more ethical and compassionate management of end-of-life care.  

· Comfortable End-of-Life Experience: Provide pets with a safe, caring, and intimate end-of-life experience in the comfort of their familiar environment.

· Support for Caregivers: Offer one-on-one support to caretakers to help them adjust to their pet’s progressive illness and allow them to say goodbye in their own way.

· Pain and Comfort Management: Focus on controlling pain and ensuring both physical and emotional comfort for the pet throughout their final days.

· Training for Caregivers: Educate caretakers to recognize and respond to their pet’s physical and emotional needs.

· Dignified Passing: Facilitate a natural and compassionate death, making the process kinder and more personal for both the pet and their human companions.

· Acknowledgement of Unique Bonds: Emphasize the special bond between the pet and their caretaker, addressing the unique needs of both as the terminal illness progresses.   

Palliative care focusses on maintaining the highest quality of life while managing treatment and other needs. Any stage of illness, best provided soon after a diagnosis. The condition is serious, but not necessarily terminal. Goals are pain management and durative treatment

Hospice care is a type of palliative care and focusses on period near death. The condition is terminal. It focuses on pain management but there is no curative treatment.

Both palliative and hospice care take place anywhere you call home and include the veterinary team, the pet’s caregivers, and if wished a pet doula.

• Terminal prognosis
• Chronic, progressive disease
• Progressive, undiagnosed disease
• Chronic disability
• Terminal geriatric status

• Implementing Non-Medical Aspects of the Animal Hospice Care Pyramid (see bottom of page): Pet doulas ensure that the non-medical needs outlined in the Animal Hospice Care Pyramid are met, focusing on comfort, emotional support, and quality of life.
• Advising on Home Adjustments: Pet doulas provide guidance on adjusting the home environment to accommodate the pet's changing needs. This includes recommending routine changes and supportive accessories to enhance comfort and ease.
• Offering Complementary Care: Pet doulas integrate complementary therapies that can improve the pet’s well-being, such as massage, physiotherapy, or other holistic practices.
• Personalizing the Experience: Pet doulas tailor their care to the individual pet and family, creating a customized plan that reflects the pet’s unique needs and the family's wishes.
• Addressing Anticipatory Grief: Pet doulas support families in managing anticipatory grief, helping them prepare emotionally for the pet’s impending transition.
• Supporting Caregivers and Children: Pet doulas assist caregivers, including children, in coping with the pet’s imminent passing, providing emotional support and guidance.
• Assisting with Euthanasia  Planning: Pet doulas help families navigate the process of planning for  euthanasia, ensuring that the experience is as peaceful and respectful as possible.

Understanding "Natural Death" in Pets

When animals were wild, they would often seek out a secluded place to pass away quietly. In nature, frail animals quickly become part of the ecosystem due to predators or harsh conditions. Domesticated pets, however, rely on us to ensure their end of life is handled with care and compassion.

Natural Death vs. Hospice Care

A "natural death" doesn’t always equate to a painless, peaceful, or less traumatic experience. While it may sound ideal, it can be challenging to achieve this without intervention. Instead, aim for a hospice-supported death. Pet hospice care, similar to human hospice care, focuses on alleviating pain and suffering to ensure your pet's final journey is as comfortable and peaceful as possible.

Making the Decision

There is no perfect way to manage end-of-life care. You know your pet best and are best positioned to make these decisions. Engage with your pet, spend quality time together, and trust your intuition. Grief can cloud judgment, so try to maintain a clear perspective by considering your pet's daily quality of life and imagining their experience from their perspective.

Questions to Consider

• What are the potential outcomes of delaying euthanasia?
• Can we manage my pet’s pain effectively if euthanasia is delayed?
• Are there valid reasons for delaying euthanasia, or might this be denial of the inevitable?
• How might a "natural death" unfold, and how should I prepare for it?

Your pet’s comfort and dignity should guide your choices. Reflect on what is best for them and how to provide the most humane and compassionate end-of-life care.      

· Understanding: A good death starts with a thorough understanding of your pet's condition. It’s crucial for pet parents to be informed about their pet’s medical status, treatment options, and prognosis. This includes knowing what treatments are possible, what medications are being used, and when adjustments may be needed. It's also important to recognize that a complete cure or return to normalcy might not be achievable.

· Quality of Life: Assessing and maintaining a good quality of life for your pet is essential. Every pet has unique needs, preferences, and tolerances. Understanding these factors helps ensure that your pet's final days are as comfortable and fulfilling as possible.

· Collaboration: Effective communication and teamwork are key. Pet parents should work closely with their veterinarian to manage the pet’s condition and keep family members and caretakers informed. This helps ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding the pet’s health and any changes that occur. In some cases, involving a compassionate pet doula may also be beneficial.

· Informed Choices: Knowing your options for euthanasia and end-of-life care is important. Your pet may pass away peacefully at home, or you might face the decision to euthanize if their quality of life deteriorates. While your veterinarian can provide medical guidance and recommend euthanasia, if necessary, the final decision rests with you. Your veterinarian’s role is to offer information and support, but they cannot make the decision for you. 

Yes, it is completely natural and normal to grieve the loss of a companion animal. Grieving involves acknowledging the reality of your loss, accepting the accompanying pain, and adjusting to life without your pet. Understanding this process can help you manage your grief and support other family members who are also affected.

Grief is neither good nor bad; it simply is. However, grief for a pet might not always be fully acknowledged by others. Friends and family may not realize the depth of your bond or the intensity of your sorrow. Be honest about your feelings and seek support from those who are receptive and nonjudgmental.

You might also experience anticipatory grief—the sadness felt before the actual loss. This form of grief can begin long before your pet's passing and adds its own unique pain.

Sit with your feelings
It's normal to grieve even while your pet is still with you. Anticipatory grief helps prepare you for the eventual loss. Allow yourself to feel whatever emotions arise—anger, sadness, or acceptance. It’s important to acknowledge these feelings as part of the grieving process. If needed, a pet doula can offer support during this time.

Ask for help if you need it
Caring for a terminally ill or elderly pet can be exhausting and challenging. Whether it's managing medications, dealing with accidents, or attending frequent vet visits, you don’t have to go through this alone. A pet doula can provide both practical and emotional support.

Plan ahead
Knowing that the end is approaching gives you the chance to plan, even though it’s a difficult task. Discuss end-of-life options with your vet, including the possibility of in-home euthanasia if it would be less stressful for both you and your pet. Consider your preferences for aftercare, such as cremation or burial. Exploring these options in advance can help ease the process. A pet doula can also assist with planning and offer compassionate support.