Palliative Care For Senior Dogs And Cats

Here’s how palliative care for senior dogs and cats can improve quality of life, manage pain, and offer compassionate support for aging animals and their families.

When our beloved dogs and cats age and develop serious health problems, we want to do everything we can. Our goal is to keep them with us as long as possible. Sometimes this involves invasive and expensive tests and treatments — but surely that’s better than euthanasia? 

In fact, the human healthcare field offers another option — palliative care. Veterinarians and other animal care professionals can apply the guiding principles of human palliative care to animals. Read on to learn how palliative care for senior dogs and cats can benefit your aging companion – and yourself. 

Translating palliative care to companion animals 

In human medicine, palliative care is a distinct but often underutilized specialty service. People often confuse it with hospice and believe it means giving up treatment. However, this is not the case. 

“Quality of life is at the heart of palliative care,” says Tara Liberman, DO, Associate Chief of Geriatric and Palliative Care Medicine at Northwell Health in New York State (see sidebar on page xx). “It doesn’t mean stopping treatment but looking at the various options.” 

Until recently, palliative care hasn’t been used much for companion animals, as highlighted in the following quote from a 2023 case study in Frontiers in Veterinary Science: 

“As animals benefit from improved chronic disease care, more pet parents and veterinarians face issues of late life and terminal care. Management of life-limiting diseases commonly considers the timing of euthanasia, often overlooking the role of supportive palliative care. Necessary communications between vet and pet parents are rarely emphasized.”

How palliative care for dogs and cats is evolving 

“Palliative care for pets is an emerging field,” says Stepanie Coco, a licensed master social worker. For nine years, she helped human patients receiving hospice and palliative care. She now provides that support at Cornell University Hospital for Animals (CUHA), assisting animal parents, their four-legged companions, and their veterinary teams.

Stephanie adds that, so far, palliative care for animals is more of “a concept or approach than a specialty service”. It helps animal parents and vets discuss care goals, treatment options, symptom management, and what quality of life means for each dog or cat. 

A few palliative care treatment options 

1. Veterinarian Dr. Jordynn Boesch, a pain medicine specialist at CUHA, says treatment options may include NSAIDs, steroid injections, or nerve blocks.
2. “We use acupuncture as a palliative care measure for many disorders such as arthritic pain, and to help with digestive issues like poor appetite or constipation,” says veterinarian Dr. Rosilyn Isaac, who works at a cat-only integrative hospital in Media, Pennsylvania. 
3. Dr. Isaac also uses cold laser therapy, which targets low-level light at specific areas of the body. “We use it to reduce inflammation and for pain management,” she says. “We may use it alone or in combination with acupuncture.”

Tara suggests veterinarians and animal care providers adopt a palliative approach for older pets with chronic or terminal conditions. This is especially important in areas without trained palliative care specialists — human or veterinary.

If your older animal has a serious or chronic condition, talk to your veterinarian about palliative care. Together, you can create a plan focused on quality of life and comfort instead of more testing or premature euthanasia. Tara agrees: “Have a conversation with your practitioner about what matters most in terms of [your dog or cat’s] quality of life.”

Palliative care — quality of life and pain management are key

1. Quality of life includes a dog or cat’s ability to eat, sleep, and move normally. Palliative care aims to support these basic functions with comfort. Animal parents can also provide pleasure through activities their dogs and cats enjoy. “It can be as simple as watching the squirrels play outside,” Stephanie says.

At Cornell, Stephanie’s team uses assessment tools from websites such as Lap of Love and Caring Pathways to help pet owners evaluate their animals’ quality of life. 

1. Pain management is another big part of palliative care, but we may not always recognize pain in our dogs and cats.

“Some symptoms that could point to pain in pets are a change in appetite, a change in activity levels, or an inability to perform normal daily activities,” says Dr. Jordynn Boesch.

“Palliative care for pets is an emerging field.”

“We use acupuncture as a palliative care measure for many disorders such as arthritic pain….”

The post Palliative care for senior dogs and cats appeared first on Animal Wellness Magazine.