When is it time to let your pet go
AAH, #37 Knowing when to let your pet go.
hi welcome back to caddy Animal Hospital
and dr. Michelle Cahill so this is our
last video kind of wrapping up our
series of seniors senior pet care and
this week I thought we would talk about
something that none of us like to think
about we don't talk about a whole lot
but it's still it's a question I get
every single week and that is how do I
know when it's time to let my pet go and
that is you know something none of us
like to think about if we have seen your
pets but it it does it does happen and
then and we need to deal with that when
it does so there are certain guidelines
I try to to follow about you know what I
think is good quality of life and in
decent care at the end of end-of-life
and some of those things can be pet you
know kay is he still liking to eat or
are you having to you know force them to
eat and they're like avoiding food then
that's that's not so good but if they're
still eating you know that's that's a
good thing also how well can they get
around if you know they can relatively
get around the bathroom okay then that's
we're still doing okay we're still good
if they have a great difficulty getting
up and getting around that can
definitely affect their quality of life
and especially large breed dogs nursing
the providing nursing care for a large
breed dog at the end of their life can
be very difficult
things I have seen is with large breed
dogs if they go down and they can't get
back up they just give up and it is time
another another criteria I try to follow
is you know are they having any dementia
symptoms are they aware of how much is
going on there pretty much with it most
of the time then we're still having a
decent quality of life but if they're
not really aware you know aware of us
very well or you know we come home from
work or whatever and they're not happy
to see us anymore then that definitely
is is negative and tells me that they're
not having a good quality of life
anymore you know how much pain are they
in are they there arthritis so bad that
they just you know sleep 23 hours of the
day or more and just have a lot of
difficulty again getting up
around and every pet is is different
with this you know if I had personally
if I had my way I would love it if all
my senior patients just went home to
their own beds and and passed away in
their sleep but unfortunately that that
just doesn't happen for some of our pets
and definitely for those they have
certain chronic diseases they just don't
pass away peacefully like that and we do
have to choose to end their suffering
and in put them to sleep and some when
when we when we do that process
sometimes we do it here in the clinic
sometimes we'll go to the owners home
sometimes the owners want to stay with
the pets sometimes they don't there's no
right or wrong answer to that if an
owner just cannot be can't just doesn't
feel like they can be there a third pet
we do talk to them
you know trying to make them feel like
their love and care for it in this last
last few minutes out there through life
again this is not something that you
know we like to think about it or talk
about it that it is an important part of
what I do is to provide in of life care
for these senior pets that have given
their lives to us and taking care of
them in their last you know last days is
very important to me so again I think
that's it and we will see you back next
week goodbye
