Palliative care, hospice, and euthanasia are things most of us will someday face with our beloved cats. It’s wise to understand the differences among these three options.
While the meaning and goal of euthanasia is quite clear, hospice and palliative care vary somewhat in their goals. Palliative care focuses on maintaining quality of life and providing medical treatment as indicated. Hospice care steps in when your cat has a distinct life-limiting problem with no viable treatment options. With hospice care, the focus is on providing quality of life and managing symptoms.
Make a Note for Reference
Your goal with a chronically ill or old cat should be for your cat to live well during the time she has left. This requires a lot of cooperation and coordination between you and your veterinary team. You are trying to maintain mobility, manage pain and anxiety, provide appropriate hygiene care, and make sure your cat can eat and eliminate. Your cat’s best interests come first, but you also want to keep that human- animal bond strong.
You need to objectively evaluate your cat’s current life. Ask yourself the questions below and write down the answers and the date in a notebook that you can reference again to compare:
- Is she eating?
- Does she respond to you and to her surroundings?
- Does she cry a lot? What is she doing when she cries?
- Is she staying in her familiar places or has she moved?
- Where has she moved?
- Does she use her favorite spot?
- Is she using her litterbox, or is she soiling the spot where she is sleeping?
You can then do this weekly to see if things have changed. It also helps to do a “traffic-light” chart for the cat’s daily status. At the end of each day, you decide if it is a green or good day, a red or bad day, or a yellow, neutral day. Looking back over a week or month, you can see how your cat is feeling.
It will be important in your decision-making process to have a black-and-white reference like the traffic-light chart for comparison so you can objectively determine how she is doing.
Making Her Comfortable
Consider what changes you can make to help her. For example, if she has a window seat she loves to use to be in the sun or watch the birds, you may need to add a stool or ramp to help her reach that area now.
Trimming down the sides of the litterbox so she can easily walk in as opposed to having to jump or climb in, can really be a plus. You may need to move food, water, and litterbox to new areas for easier access.
Most senior cats will need some medications to maintain quality of life. You might need to add some smelly toppings like tuna juice to your cat’s food to get her to eat a powdered drug.
You can ask your veterinarian about possible long-acting injections or compounded transdermal medications so you can avoid having to pill your cat multiple times a day. Options like Churu paste that allow you to hide a small capsule may fool your cat into just licking her meds down.
Assuring adequate nutrition is extremely important for older cats. They need plenty of high-quality protein (barring health conditions that dictate otherwise). It can be tricky to get your cat to eat enough to maintain her body weight and muscle mass. Hospice veterinarians may recommend placing a feeding tube for this purpose.
Feeding tubes can make life better for both you, the caregiver, and your cat. Tubes placed in the esophagus (esophagostomy tubes) can be left in place for weeks or months. The tube is secured to your cat’s body so she can’t easily bite it or pull it out. You will be trained in how to use it properly. Food will need to be liquefied, and you must keep the tubing clean, flushing it thoroughly and regularly.
Most cats tolerate feeding tubes just fine. Your cat can still eat and drink on her own with them in place. The tube provides an easy way to supplement your cat’s diet and provide proper hydration. It also can be an easy way to give oral medications, saving you and your cat from the hassle and stress of pilling.
For many ill cats, you must help with grooming. A soft slicker brush often works well, as it mimics the feel of a cat’s rough tongue.
You also may need to learn to express your cat’s bladder and help with bowel movements. Cats usually tolerate cleaning up with a warm, damp wash cloth fairly well.
When Things Worsen
When the bad days start to greatly outnumber the good days, euthanasia is one of the most courageous and unselfish decisions you will ever make. You are putting your cat’s needs before your desire to keep her forever.
Some veterinarians will come to your home to help you with this. If your cat must go to the clinic, ask about a sedative you can administer ahead of time, so the car trip is not traumatic.
If you are comfortable with staying with your cat, please do so. Your familiar presence and smell will help her as she passes over. Having a plan in place for burial or cremation prior to euthanasia can be helpful in avoiding decisions at this difficult time.
It is reasonable and perfectly understandable to experience grief. After all, you have lost a beloved family member. Your friends and loved ones can serve vital roles in help you cope with this grief.
The Cornell Feline Health Center provides a printable brochure that can help you understand and cope with grief associated with losing a feline friend. Visit tinyurl.com/565n76du. If you need additional support, you can contact the Cornell Pet Loss Support Hotline at 607-218-7457, which is a free service.
