Animals Unfolded

The five pillars of animal enrichment (and why they matter more than ever) Every pet has a  telos  — an essential nature, a "beingness" — and that idea shapes how I work with them and their families. Being able to express themselves in ways aligned with their species, their telos, is essential to their well-being. Their well-being has always mattered to me and the families I've worked with over the last two decades. But over the last several years, one piece of that puzzle has risen to sit right alongside their physical health:  enrichment . Enrichment is more than a game of fetch (or keep-away, if you know what I mean), a walk around the block, an occasional chew bone, or hanging out with trusted humans and other pets. It's a whole framework — five pillars, in fact — and the pet guardians I partner with have embraced it enthusiastically, especially during the times their pets need it most: recovering from illness or injury, or on crate rest after surgery. Enrichment ...

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'...

The most important asset that I’ve been able to hone in my practice is that I’m deep in the trenches with providing hands-on care to pets with very special needs. That regular exposure as I tend to pets, no matter if they’re recovering from illness or injury, or senior, geriatric—even moving through their final months or days—it gives me a perspective that’s nuanced, rich and humbling.  Working in the area of animal hospice, I feel like it’s really easy to tell a pet guardian, ‘Oh, use this product’ or ‘ This is why XYZ is going to be beneficial ’. Basically, ‘I’m an authority, and you should do this’. The truth is that there isn’t anything that I recommend or dissuade a pet guardian from doing, a product that I don’t think would be useful in their case because I’m often doing it myself. I’m never too far removed from the caregiving experience of the families I’m connected to. One of the topics that comes up has to do with hygiene care. It’s more important during these life event...

One of the most common topics that comes up with the families I'm connected to these days is cognition—especially dementia—in pets.  It’s no surprise, really, with the focus of my practice being on seniors, geriatrics, hospice and end-of-life care support. With pets living longer and better, yes—more dogs and cats are developing noticeable cognitive changes. There is a lot more available to us in the way of understanding cognition, and how that can and does decline with age and is more palpable in advanced age. We also know how it can be supported medically, non-medically with environmental safety, with enrichment and so much more.  And as with other hot topics, canine and feline cognition can get us a little too far into the weeds which doesn’t serve pets, their families nor their vet teams in a way that makes best sense. In fact, I often observe that the line gets so blurry, that good common sense often goes by the way side and what begins is, well, pardon the expression, a...

With each passing month, I take stock of what I need to be considering when it comes to the weather here in Michigan as I take the reins to care for the pets in my care, most of which are in fragile health. With four seasons, we see all manner of weather and after two decades in the rear view with this work, and with changing climate, it’s hard to ignore that things have unfortunately become less predictable. That means I need to extra mindful of what I need to be doing. While some dogs hate rain, or the wind—and especially storms—I need to mitigate the impact of all that. But as you might guess, the cold, snow and ice pose some special challenges. Truth be told, I don’t worry so much about any of that. Pets, especially dogs, tend to struggle more in the warmer months. And when you live in a state where you’re surrounded by water, the atmosphere can feel oppressive with the climbing humidity and temps that can reach the 90° mark for stretches of time. There’s no doubt: summer is tough ...