Senior & later life
Quality of Life & End of Life
Facing what lies ahead, knowing when it is time, and saying goodbye with kindness.
6 stages · 33 guides from PetsLikeMine
Who can help near you
- Your vet1 kind
- Comfort care2 kinds
Listed by distance from you. Nobody pays to be listed.
Facing what's ahead
Stage 1 · 5 guides from PetsLikeMine
Anticipatory Grief: Mourning a Pet Who Is Still HereCrying over a pet who is still here, still eating their dinner, still pleased to see you when you walk through the door, is not a sign you have done anything wrong. You…18 min read · on PetsLikeMine Your Pet Has a Terminal Diagnosis: What Happens NowCertain words change the air in a consulting room. "I'm so sorry." "There's nothing more we can do." "It's terminal." "The outlook is poor." Most owners walk out having…17 min read · on PetsLikeMine The Questions to Ask Your Vet About a Poor PrognosisA scene plays out in the consult room more often than you would think. I say the word, the grave one, the one that changes the shape of the next few weeks, and something…19 min read · on PetsLikeMine
Is it time?
Stage 2 · 6 guides from PetsLikeMine
How Will I Know When It Is Time?Owners carry this question to me more than any other, usually in a near-whisper, often with a hand resting on a greying head. "How will I know when it is time?"…18 min read · on PetsLikeMine Measuring Quality of Life: The HHHHHMM Scale, and How to Use ItThe feeling moves too much to look at, and that is the cruellest part of watching a pet you love decline. Some mornings you are almost sure. By the afternoon, when they…17 min read · on PetsLikeMine More Good Days Than Bad: Tracking the Trend, Not the DayReading your pet one day at a time wears you down in a way few people warn you about. This morning he ate his breakfast, lifted his head when you came in, managed the…19 min read · on PetsLikeMine
Comfort and time together
Stage 3 · 6 guides from PetsLikeMine
Pet Hospice: Comfort Care at Home in the Final ChapterA decision has been made, by you or by the disease, and the aim is no longer to fix this. The aim now is to give your pet the best of whatever time is left, at home…18 min read · on PetsLikeMine Spotting Pain in a Pet Who Hides ItOne question tends to surface in the quiet of the final chapter, often at night, once the diagnosis has settled and the busy part is over. You watch your pet asleep in…17 min read · on PetsLikeMine Appetite, Hydration and the Final Weeks: What to Expect"He won't eat." Of all the sentences I hear in hospice care, that one comes up more than almost any other, and it is rarely said calmly. It is said over an untouched…20 min read · on PetsLikeMine
Saying goodbye
Stage 4 · 7 guides from PetsLikeMine
What Actually Happens When a Pet Is Put to SleepOnce the deciding is done, or very nearly done, a different fear tends to move in to take its place: not knowing what the day itself will be like. Owners ask me about it…17 min read · on PetsLikeMine After They Have Gone: Cremation, Burial and the Options (UK)One question tends to arrive at the worst possible moment, and it catches almost everyone off guard. You have just held your pet through the end, the room is still, and…15 min read · on PetsLikeMine At Home or at the Clinic? Choosing Where to Say GoodbyeThe hardest decision an owner ever faces is made, or very nearly made, and just when you thought the deciding was done, one more choice is waiting. Where. At home, in…16 min read · on PetsLikeMine
The first days
Stage 5 · 4 guides from PetsLikeMine
Is It Normal to Grieve This Much? Pet Loss Is Real GriefPeople come to me weeks after a pet has died and half-apologise before they have finished the sentence, asking some version of the same question: is it normal to feel…17 min read · on PetsLikeMine The First Days: The Empty Bowl and the Quiet HouseThe first morning is usually the one that undoes people. Not the appointment, not the long drive home with an empty collar in your pocket, but the ordinary morning…17 min read · on PetsLikeMine Do Other Pets Grieve? Helping the Companion Left BehindThere is a second animal in the house, and they have gone quiet. Maybe they are off their food, sleeping in odd places, or padding from room to room and pausing at a…18 min read · on PetsLikeMine
All 4 guides in this stage
Living with loss
Stage 6 · 5 guides from PetsLikeMine
Ways to Honour and Remember Your PetOnce the first shock has eased and the house has gone quiet, many owners feel a small, insistent pull to do something. To mark that this animal was here. That they…15 min read · on PetsLikeMine Pet Loss Support: Where to Turn When Grief Is OverwhelmingOne thing comes first on this page, on purpose. If you are reading this in the small hours and a thought has crept in that you cannot go on, or that you might harm…16 min read · on PetsLikeMine "It Was Just a Pet": Grief That Others Do Not UnderstandSomeone has said it to you. Maybe out loud, maybe with a look, maybe in the cheerful way a colleague asked whether you would be getting another one. "It was just a dog."…19 min read · on PetsLikeMine
All 5 guides in this stage
Find care near you
Your quality of life & end of life care team
These are the practitioners this condition can call for, from your everyday vet to specialists and therapists. Enter your postcode to see who's near you at each step.
- Your vet (primary care)
Mobile vet (home visits) ·Home & hospice end-of-life vet
With PetsLikeMine
Read the whole journey on PetsLikeMine
Every quality of life & end of life guide, in order, sits in its own space on PetsLikeMine, written by owners and vets who have been through it. We show the first few here and link to the rest.
Read every quality of life & end of life guide