Animals Unfolded

One of the biggest struggles that families face with pets who are aging or are on hospice is an appetite that's unreliable or absent. And it's understandable, given how much of a gauge that behavior is for us. In fact many pet guardians are convinced that their pet is choosing not to eat or eating less because they're dying. And in all my years of supporting people, and in educating them on how the dying process actually unfolds , I can say that they're relieved to learn that is often quite a stretch. Pets don't decide to stop eating. Something is standing in their way—like a symptom, a trigger or a disease process. Or less commonly, their body is moving through the process of actively dying and the body no longer has the need for food. But it's not an active choice.  Appetite does tell us a lot, and while it can be a barometer, it's not something we should ever be using on its own to determine what's going on with a pet. Because quite honestly, it'...

Eating is an activity of daily living (ADL) that looms large in the work that families & I do together. We track the usual aspects of this activity: the pet’s interest in food, how much they’re eating, when they’re doing so, & what they’re eating. And that gives the pet guardians, the core members of the vet interdisciplinary team (vets, vet techs) & me good information about how well a pet is doing & coping with symptoms & changing needs as they navigate this time, whether they’re senior or geriatric, coping with recovery through injury or illness, or, as is a focus of my practice—when they’re benefiting from the program of care that is a nimal hospice & palliative care .  If a pet is demonstrating a change in appetite, our identifying what’s happening, when, how often, to what degree, & what has or hasn’t worked is par for the course & then relaying that information to the vet team. Routinely submitting quality of well being assessments ...