Assessing Quality of Life, Palliative and Hospice Care

Any time you are faced with a tough diagnosis, poor prognosis, or difficult treatment regimen, you and your beloved cat’s quality of life should be discussed. As your veterinarian, I never want to recommend treatments that are going to negatively impact the human-animal bond you have with your cat, and at the same time if your kitty is untreatable using traditional therapies, we need to discuss what other options are available, and how you’re going to decide if your beloved cat’s quality of life is still good. We’ll want to talk about what makes your cat’s life worth living, what does s/he get the most enjoyment from, as well as what circumstances you think would make your cat’s life not worth living any more. Is it when s/he stops eating? Can’t get to the litter box anymore? Thinking about these things early can help guide you later.

Palliative care is the term used whenever treatment of a disease is not an option, but your beloved cat may still have 2-6 months of comfortable, good quality of life available. I’ll work with you on keeping your cat comfortable and happy for as long as possible, so you can keep checking things off kitty’s bucket list.

Whenever treatment is no longer an option, and your precious kitty’s life expectancy is two months or less, hospice care will ensure that kitty is comfortable to the end. I’ll work with you on pain management, home modifications, litter box adaptations – whatever will keep your cat happy – whether you choose to wait for the natural passing of your cat from this life to the next, or you decide that euthanasia will lessen kitty’s pain and suffering.