Quality of Life Considerations
How do I know when it’s time?
Assessing Quality of Life for your pet and making end-of-life decisions
Our treasured friends bring us so much joy, and more love than we can ever imagine. Making the decision to euthanise your much-loved pet may be one of the most difficult decisions you ever make.
Often, we make the decision to put our pets to sleep when they no longer have the quality of life we know they deserve.
Their quality of life is based on their physical and mental wellbeing, not just one factor, but many factors that all tell a story. We have provided a chart below to help you put all these pieces together.
It is important to remember that all pets are different. What may be considered a good or poor quality of life for one, may be different for another.
Using the chart, you can assess each factor on a scale of ‘all the time’, to ‘never’, to help you work through this difficult decision. A higher score equals a better quality of life.
In some cases, even one or two factors being on the left-hand side may indicate an overall poor quality of life (i.e. uncontrolled pain or inability to ambulate) even if many factors are still positive.
Some items or symptoms on the list may be expected side effects of the treatments that your pet is undergoing. It is important to discuss these symptoms and side effects with your veterinarian.
Important questions to consider.
- What has my pet always looked forward to? Perhaps playing at the park, swimming or food. Are they still eager and able to enjoy these activities?
- How did my pet look prior to becoming unwell? It can be difficult to appreciate gradual changes when we are always with them, but looking at photos or videos when they were healthy may help.
How do you know when it’s time?
- Ask your veterinarian to help. While they cannot make the decision for you, it is helpful for them to know that you are considering euthanasia and to talk through the situation with you.
- It might be helpful to keep a record of your pet’s days, marking good and bad days on a calendar. This could be as simple as a happy or sad face. If the bad days start to outweigh the good, it may be time to discuss euthanasia.