PET PARENT GUIDANCE

Person petting a tabby cat lying on the floor near a gray sofa.

Guidance for Every Stage of Your Pet’s Journey

Caring for a senior or chronically ill pet—especially one nearing the end of life—is one of the most tender and emotionally complex roles a person can hold. It can bring love, uncertainty, fear, gratitude, and heartbreak all at once, along with decisions no family should have to navigate alone.

We’ve gathered trusted tools, expert guidance, and local and national support resources to offer both emotional comfort and practical clarity—from pain-assessment tools and quality-of-life frameworks to grief support for the days before and after.

Wherever you are in this journey, this page is here to serve as a compassionate roadmap, reminding you that you and your beloved pet are not alone.

Supportive Tools & Trusted Guides

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

    • Please call or request a Quality-of-Life appointment online

    • We work closely with families to determine the appropriate path-

      • Palliative care

      • Hospice support

      • End-of-life guidance

      • Transfer for curative care

    • Whether your experience with us is hours to weeks to months to years - we hope to provide the best care possible tailored to your deeply loved pet and family.

    • Review of your pet’s lifelong medical records

    • Physical Exam

    • Assessment of your pet’s current health concerns and limitations

    • Determination if any diagnostics either through us, your lifelong veterinarian or medical specialist are indicated

    • Develop a good understanding of both your pet and your family’s quality of life status.

    • Create an individualized treatment plan and provide a corresponding financial estimate.

      • We do not believe in paying for what you do not use so we charge separately for all services and ongoing appointments.

    • Our goal is to make sure we are optimizing all aspects of your pet’s life (regardless if your pet has a stable chronic illness or is facing a life-limiting condition).

    • We focus on understanding and supporting their whole health including:

      • Medical history, current issues, diagnoses

      • Current physical exam

      • Pain or discomfort levels

      • Appetite, nausea, nutrition factors

      • Mobility limitations

      • Your pet’s preferences, likes, dislikes, sources of enjoyment

    • Development of individualized treatment plans in partnership with your family, offering multiple care pathways.

    Honestly- all exams should be about quality of life!


  • Age is just a number- we accept any pet who is experiencing chronic changes in health that need extra support.

  • Primarily dogs and cats- please call and ask about others.

    • Quality of Life is the encompassing term including all of the things that makes an animal’s life worthy of living.

    • It is a very specific and individualized concept that varies for all pets and their caregivers.  

    • The basic foundation is built on:

      • Willingness to eat and drink

      • Ability to easily urinate and defecate

      • Breathe well

      • Ambulate without overwhelming discomfort

    • Our treatment goal is to significantly improve upon this basic foundation to provide enjoyment of life.

    • We provide multiple pathways to help you assess and define this for your loved ones.

    • It is supportive care focused on managing the symptoms of chronic diseases and life-limiting conditions (rather than focusing on curative treatment).

    • It can be used for added support in conjunction with curative or treatment therapies.

    • Or used instead of curative care when that treatment is no longer effective or considered too extreme or harsh.

    • Palliative care can be provided for weeks, months, or even years and may eventually transition to hospice care.

    • Hospice care is a subset of palliative care designed specifically for animals who are in the last stages of life-limiting diseases.

    • It is used to improve quality of life by supporting their physical, social and emotional needs prior to euthanasia.

    • Cancer

    • Chronic degenerative diseases such as kidney failure and heart disease

    • Inflammatory bowel disease

    • Degenerative myelopathy and intervertebral disc disease

    • Arthritis and degenerative joint disease

    • Neurologic diseases, brain disease, dementia

    • And many, many more

    • As your pet ages their ability to participate in activities declines 

      • Due to debilitation from chronic illnesses

      • Pain from arthritis

      • Loss of vision and hearing

      • As well as many others

    • However, their social and emotional needs persist.  

    • Our goal is to not only provide medical care to help make your pet as comfortable as possible but also to help support all aspects of enhancing their quality of life.

    • Multimodal pain therapies

    • Hydration support

    • Mobility support

    • Nutritional and nausea support

    • Acupuncture, therapeutic laser, PEMF

    • Environmental modification recommendations

    • Social/emotional health support including:

      • assessment of your pet’s sources of enjoyment/preferences

      • brainstorming alternatives to their limitations thereby helping your pet to continue to participate in things they love

    • Euthanasia translates to “good death”.

    • Providing the best end of life that we can once a good quality of life is no longer achievable.

    • Our goal is to help you determine what is considered a “good death” for your pet/family and work with you to achieve this as best as we can.

    • In veterinary medicine peaceful euthanasia is typically accomplished by an overdose of intensive sedative medications.

    • Death is truly a part of nature. We work hard to carry out our client’s wishes to provide a peaceful, dignified experience but there may always be moments outside of our control.

    • We create an individualized euthanasia plan to best help each pet that may include oral medications as well as injections.

    • Our goal is to decrease pain, stress and anxiety while allowing your pet to pass as gracefully as possible.

    • We utilize a two injection protocol including an initial quick injection of a combination of pain relievers and sedatives allowing your pet to slowly relax and then fall asleep.  Then we give the euthanasia injection (a very strong sedative) that allows your pet to fall into a very deep sleep and then pass painlessly.

    • Signs you may see during the euthanasia:

      • Injections may cause a very brief pinch or sting when given but are often painless.

      • Panting and/or disorientation are normal as the medications take effect.

      • As your pet passes you may see muscle tremors, final breaths, urination, defecation as the body lets go.  Your pet is not feeling any of these sensations.

      • It is common for the eyes to remain partially open.