Giving Permission

Often experiences with my own pets have helped me empathize with clients and allowed me to offer heartfelt advice.  My dog K.C. who was with me from my early college days to just before the birth of my first child suffered from Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome (CCDS) in her senior years. As her quality of life slowly declined I remember wanting so badly for something else to fail than her mind.  I ran bloodwork and looked for cancer hoping for a disease that would make an end of life decision easier but her little mixed breed body was strong and healthy. Having a dog with senility and struggling with quality of life decisions for her has helped me countless times with clients and their senior pets.  

 Recently, I believe the universe sent me someone who desperately needed help with this difficult situation.  She brought her small and quite ancient little poodle in to see me for eye discharge and explained the hair around the dog’s eyes was long and matted because the groomer could no longer trim her due to increased anxiety and disorientation from CCDS.  I asked if the dog was waking up a lot at night, a common sign of CCDS, and she admitted that the dog disrupted both her and her husband’s sleep almost every night.  She was not complaining at all about her dog’s mental decline.  I could have just treated the eyes and moved on with my appointments but I knew SHE NEEDED PERMISSION.  I knew because of K.C.  This poor woman, who later admitted the dog was putting a big strain on her marriage, who was lacking sleep, who loved her dog immensely but could not bring up an end of life discussion, needed me that day to bring it up FOR HER, to let her know it was okay, to let her know that I had been in the same situation and we could talk about it.  I told her the first step was to prescribe drugs to help her dog sleep at night so they could all get some sleep.  None of us can make good decisions when we are sleep deprived.  A week later she reported the dog was now sleeping through the night and they were likely going to have a home euthanasia service come out in a couple weeks.  The timing of end of life decisions for pets is very personal and can be difficult to navigate.  Through Connected Veterinary Care I hope to offer guidance  and compassion to preserve a harmonious human animal bond until it is time to say goodbye.