Compassionate End-of-life Care
At-home palliative care might be an option if your pet has been diagnosed with an un-treatable condition, but there is still quality of life, if they are old and just generally deteriorating, or if, for whatever reason you are not wanting to pursue any further investigation or diagnosis.
At Belgrave Veterinary Clinic, we will work with you to help relieve discomfort and distress of your pet and maintain the highest possible quality of life for the time that remains. Medications prescribed during palliative care will unfortunately not cure your pet’s illness but will just reduce their pain and suffering. Palliative care may allow more time to make the most difficult of decisions, euthanasia.
It is important to understand that this option requires full commitment from yourself, the primary caregiver. This could be days, weeks or sometimes even months. Pets under palliative care will require active supervision. Your pet may develop incontinence or loss of bladder control. Please ensure regular checks throughout each day, to ensure your pet has not wet or soiled their bedding.
Change in behaviour such as loss of consciousness, vocalisation, loss of appetite or panting might indicate the progression of pain and/or illness. If there are any changes in your pet, please ring us for advice, as these changes might mean that palliative care is no longer effective, and you may need to consider euthanasia.