Senior Pet Care at Branchburg Animal Hospital
The process of aging is difficult, no matter if that loved one happens to be two or four-legged. In fact, due to their immense loyalty and unconditional love, seeing your senior pet fade away due to various age-related conditions. While it is a blessing that pets are living longer nowadays due to increased medical advancements and dedication to veterinary care on the part of pet parents, at some point, our aging pets will need to visit a veterinarian for senior pet care.
Is It Time for A Pet Hospice?
One way you can make this difficult process a little easier to bear is to set your pet up with pet hospice. Often, when your furry friend is diagnosed with an advanced, terminal condition, you are left grasping for direction as to what to do. Should you fight the disease and gain a little more time with them or euthanize them? This can be an extremely difficult decision. Pet hospice allows you to keep your pet comfortable, while they go through the final stages of their disease, giving you a few more precious days, weeks or months with them. At the end of the hospice process, when life-sustaining efforts are no longer able to keep your pet pain-free, you schedule your beloved pet’s euthanasia appointment. In addition to keeping your pet as pain-free as possible and giving you more time with them, there is a vital counseling aspect included in many pet hospices.
What Does Pet Hospice Include?
While each pet hospice will vary slightly as to the services offered, most will include having access to an on-call veterinarian at all times to ensure your pet has access to urgent care. Extended vet appointments, as well as the counseling element already mentioned, are also features offered within most pet hospice services. Hospice care for pets means you can keep your pet at home, where they are most comfortable, and still keep them pain-free via various treatments and medications, whether they are suffering from cancer or other age issues like puppy Alzheimer's.
Hospice Services Can Include (But Are Not Limited To):
- Providing loving contact and mental stimulation with family members.
- Symptom management to ease pain, treat nausea, aid in breathing, etc.
- Helping pets move around within their environment.
- Cleaning pets, ensuring they are well-groomed.
- Helping pets defecate and urinate.
- Making sure pets are properly hydrated.
- Offering nutritional support.
How Hospice Care Differs From Standard Veterinary Care: How Do You Know if Your Pets a Good Candidate For Pet Hospice?
In general, hospice care for pets is designed for pets who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, with only a few days to a month left to live. It also helps you as a pet parent, process the reality of what is about to happen. It provides you with any help you need to schedule euthanasia and subsequent cremation service and walks alongside you through the whole process.
Your Next Step
Contact us at Branchburg Animal Hospital to learn more about our senior pet, hospice, and puppy Alzheimer’s services. Our goal is to help you enjoy the time you have left with your pet, no matter how long or short that might be.