Palliative Care for Pets

Because they mean everything to us

Mobile Veterinary Practice Huber | Services | Palliative care at home

"We can't add days to life, but we can add life to days"

Cicely Saunders

Palliative Care for pets means all measures that alleviate the suffering of an incurably ill animal. The focus of palliative care for pets is the best possible quality of life until the end, not the healing of the patient.
The coming death of the beloved animal is accepted. If we succeed in accepting this thought, we no longer have to ignore the signs of aging and suffering in our dogs and cats for self-protection. By recognizing them, we can proactively do something about them.

What is Palliative Care for Pets?

Palliative Care for our pets considers all important physical and psychological aspects of your pet's life. This can include, among other things:

  • Pain management
  • Optimization of hydration and nutrition
  • Alleviation of strenuous circumstances such as anxiety, stress or chronic nausea
  • Incontinence management
  • Nursing measures to ensure hygiene and well-being, such as the correct application and changing of nappies or bandages
  • Physical support, including assistive devices, to remain physically and mentally active for as long as possible

Palliative Care at home

Palliative Care of your animal at home allows for individual, continuous care and treatment of your animal in its familiar environment. With my visit I support you on site in your sometimes very demanding task. Together we will come up with a care plan for your animal, according to your personal circumstances and needs. I will show you how you can carry out simple nursing measures correctly yourself. You will learn to recognise signs of pain and a limited quality of life in your animal. According to your needs, I will come by regularly for re-checks and therapeutic measures. Your animal is lovingly cared for in the last phase of its life.

Frequently asked questions

Palliative Care for Pets

A home visit for the Palliative Care of your dog or cat has two objectives: In cooperation with you I would like to optimize the quality of life of your pet for it's last period of life. At the same time it is important to me to support you as the owner in the best possible way in order to maintain and strengthen your connection to your pet. Having an animal in need of care can be very exhausting and stressful and sometimes the relationship with the animal suffers due to overstrain. But this does not have to be the case.
According to your needs, I will go through the relevant aspects of Palliative Care for your animal with you on site in 1-2 hours. If indicated and desired, I will carry out therapeutic measures during the first visit. For example, for a patient with chronic renal insufficiency, this could include an subcutaneous infusion and effective management of nausea. I will advise you in detail how you can do some nursing and supportive measures by yourself correctly. Together we will go through important questions regarding the quality of life of your animal and find individual answers.

A central point of palliative care of animals at home is to ensure that they do not suffer and are not in pain. Animals feel pain as we do. But they may show it differently. General indications of pain can be, for example:
Jumping, for example, into a car, onto a windowsill, onto a sofa, onto a favourite seat, is avoided or is only done after hesitation. The animals take a long time to find a comfortable lying position and even then they change position frequently. They sleep more restlessly. They have less energy, seem lethargic, have less appetite, breathe faster, even the heart rate can increase due to pain. Animals in pain retreat, sometimes appear apathetic, but some also become irritable to aggressive. Sometimes the pain is limited to a certain region of the body. The animals scratch, lick or gnaw these areas more often or avoid touching them. Very strong pain leads among other things to panting, vomiting and bent posture.
We will discuss together whether your animal shows signs of pain, how you can recognise them and what we can do about them.

Every animal has a right for pain relief. The Palliative Care of animals is about the highest possible degree of pain relief in the last phase of life. We apply the so-called multimodal pain management. This means that different pain management options are combined to achieve the best result for your animal.

  • A complementary combination of different painkillers
  • Herbs (Phytotherapy)
  • Acupuncture has also proven its worth in animals for the treatment of chronic pain and diseases. I offer acupuncture both for pain therapy and for general support and strengthening of my palliative patients.
  • Manual therapies like chiropractic, physiotherapy, aqua training
  • Measures to prevent stress and anxiety
  • Aids like harnesses and toe grips
  • Adjustments at home to prevent falls

Exhaustion, stress and anxiety can increase or even trigger pain. If we succeed in reducing these factors, we reduce pain in our animal.

Things like:

  • Stumbling, falls, bruises, injuries due to increasing insecurity and weakness when standing up, lying down and moving in general
  • Increasingly limited orientation due to diminishing sensory perceptions such as smell, hearing, sight
  • Increasing loss of control over urination and defecation
  • Stress of the owners, e.g. by overstraining with the care of the old animal

Old animals, especially palliative patients, have lost much of their muscle mass and strength. Their gait becomes less secure. Older dogs in particular often have difficulty getting up. They may slide away, stumble and fall more often.This painful experience increases insecurity and fearfulness. Aids that prevent slipping and falling are for example toe grips or a harness to support getting up and walking. Such aids can make a big difference in the everyday life of our pets and allow them a certain degree of safe mobility.

Perhaps you have already noticed that your dog reacts more insecurely at dusk than a few years ago? Barking at a bush or suddenly changing his hair for no apparent reason? Has your dog or cat ever been frightened when you approached them from behind?
Many old dogs and cats see, hear and smell worse as they get older. As a result, they are significantly restricted in their ability to orientate and react, which makes them feel insecure. In a busy household with several animals of different ages and characters, this can cause permanent stress or fear.

Have you already noticed that the really old animals, especially cats, are often very thin? This is due to various factors. One important aspect, however, is that throughout their lives they have been primarily oriented towards the sense of smell. If this is weakened, the food loses a lot of its attractiveness or is only found with difficulty. Food, which is of great importance for most of our pets, suddenly becomes uninteresting. As a result, geriatric pets consume fewer calories. But especially now a good supply of high-quality nutrients is important. For example, if proteins are missing, the body breaks down its own muscle mass. The fewer muscles, the less strength, the higher the strain on the joints and thus the pain.
Even small adjustments in nutrition, such as warming the food so that it smells and tastes more intense, can make a big difference.

Many of my geriatric patients suffer from insomnia, restlessness and cognitive dysfunction, mental confusion. Hours of meowing or barking at night for no apparent reason can be debilitating for all concerned. In order to accommodate the limited physical and mental possibilities of our animals, there are various strategies, such as medicinal support and adjustments in everyday life, which can help and which I will discuss with you individually adapted to your animal.

Our dogs and cats are usually house trained since puppyhood. In old age and especially in the last phase of life, there can be more and more problems. Difficulties with hygiene can lead to infections. Urine and faeces incontinence of the pet can put a strain on a previously very close human-animal relationship. Other problems like constipation can also become a problem.
I will inform you about possibilities of hygiene management for our animals in need of care at the end of their lives, which are acceptable and respectful for all parties involved.

Prices for Palliative Care

The first home visit for palliative care includes an in-depth interview, a thorough examination of your pet, an assessment of its quality of life, the creation and discussion of a treatment plan, and initial supportive treatments.
Follow-up visits are used for follow-up and ongoing treatments. In this way, your pet can be optimally accompanied continuously and the treatment plan can always be adapted to the current needs of your animal.

Prices

Basic fee for home visits: CHF 50,
per visit and household, regardless of the number of animals treated, if an appointment is made at least 24 hours in advance
Other rates apply for appointments arranged at short notice and appointments outside practice hours

Travel costs:
for zip codes 8964, 8965, 8967: no additional travel costs
other zip codes: CHF 2 per km driven from/to zip code 8965 center

Consultation: from CHF 35
The consultation is charged once per visit per household and is based on the duration of the consultation, regardless of the number of animals treated. Other services, clinical examinations, diagnostics, medication, bandages, external laboratory tests, etc. will be charged separately.

Phone/email consultations:
according to time spent: CHF 30 – CHF 50

I am on the road as a mobile small animal veterinarian up to 20 km around the Mutschellen (postal code 8965).