![]() If loss of vision or reduced mobility is an issue, it might be necessary to lay down carpets to make floors easier to walk on or to rearrange furniture to make the home easier to navigate. In addition to regular vet checkups to screen for diseases and a healthy nutrition plan tailored to the dog’s age, a comfort care plan might include providing medications to treat symptoms of dementia, heated bedding to help them stay warm, and diapers to control incontinence. Dogs in advanced age are also more sensitive to hot and cold temperatures and are more prone to other diseases such as liver disease, thyroid disease, and kidney failure. Your dog might also require changes to your home, such as placing all bedding, toys, and belongings on the lowest level and blocking off staircases, or providing ramps or shallow steps to make it easier to climb onto decks, porches, beds, or furniture.īesides arthritis, other debilitating conditions common to geriatric dogs include vision and hearing loss, incontinence, and dementia. Pain-relieving therapies such as hydrotherapy, cold laser treatments or acupuncture.Changes to your dog’s diet to help manage a healthy weight and relieve stress on joints.Nutritional supplements like glucosamine, chondroitin and omega-3 fatty acids.Palliative care for arthritic dogs would likely include prescription pain medication, but it might also include: While arthritis isn’t a terminal illness, it can severely diminish a dog’s quality of life if left untreated, and there is no cure. Arthritis and Joint PainĪrthritis is a common ailment among senior dogs, but joint pain can also affect younger, otherwise-healthy dogs. Here are some examples of how various conditions might benefit from palliative care. Dogs with any type of painful or limiting illness or condition can benefit from comfort care, even if the condition isn’t life-threatening. Palliative care, also known as comfort care, isn’t reserved for terminally ill pets. ![]() Different Types of Palliative Care for Dogs That might mean managing pain and making the pet comfortable during a natural death or providing relief for unmanageable suffering via euthanasia. The goal of hospice is to provide dogs with a dignified death that’s as peaceful, humane and pain-free as possible. Hospice takes over when palliative care has done all it can do and is no longer effective. While the terms hospice and palliative care are often used interchangeably, pet hospice focuses more on managing the process of dying. This is done through medications, therapies such as acupuncture, chiropractic care or laser therapy, and home care such as administering fluids, applying heat therapy, and helping dogs do more of what they enjoy for as long as they’re able to enjoy it. Whether senior dogs in decline or terminally ill dogs in the last stages of disease, palliative care focuses on managing pain and other symptoms and extending quality of life as long as possible. ![]() It starts when the focus shifts from trying to treat an illness or extend the length of a dog’s life to helping the dog stay happy and comfortable while nature takes its course. Palliative care focuses on making dogs as comfortable as possible and improving their quality of life as they near the end of their lives. But while euthanasia was long considered the most humane option for aging or terminally ill pets nearing the end, the growing fields of veterinary palliative care and pet hospice provide dog owners with options that can extend both your companion’s quality of life and the time you get to spend enjoying them. As the end of your dog’s life approaches, whether due to illness or old age, you might be contemplating some difficult choices. It’s a difficult subject, but one every pet owner must face eventually. Even under the best circumstances, a dog’s life is too short.
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