Complete Care for Your Aging Cat - Amy Shojai [41]
Hospice is essentially end-of-life care, when medical treatment will no longer help, and the veterinarian explains the end of the cat’s life is near. In these instances, the owner—or sometimes veterinary staff—provides nursing support at home, keeping him comfortable in a place he knows and loves and with beloved people nearby.
Angel’s Gate
In most cases, hospice for pets means the cat is made comfortable in the owner’s home. Owners unable to care for their animals’ end-of-life needs have few other options but the hospice movement for pets is slowly gaining recognition. In early 2002, the American Veterinary Medical Association approved guidelines for animal hospice care, and today there are a handful of model pet hospices set up similarly to their human counterparts. Angel’s Gate, founded nearly a decade ago by registered nurse Susan Marino and partner Victor LaBruna, was one of the first and is still the largest of its kind.
Angel's Gate is a non-profit animal care facility where animals who are terminally ill, elderly or physically challenged come to live out their days in peace, dignity and love. Marino cares for cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, and critters of all kinds in her Long Island sanctuary. “Our focus is on wellness and quality of life,” says Marino. “We provide for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of each animal with a holistic approach to caring.”
Marino hopes that Angel’s Gate will become a model for animal hospice all over the country. Currently she charges no fee for hospice care and relies on private donations to fund the cost of pet food, veterinary visits, acupuncture, massage, swim therapy and other care options offered to maintain quality of life.
Pain Management
Everybody has experienced pain at some point in their life, and pet lovers strongly empathize with their cats and do not want them to suffer. But it’s very difficult to objectively evaluate pain in animals—they can’t tell us that hurts the way people do, says Dr. Marks.
Instead, cats hide their pain and discomfort. This evolutionary trait is designed to protect them from predators that would take advantage of an infirmity. Rather than hold up an injured leg, or whine and cry, cats more likely will hide under the bed. Consequently, owners and veterinarians have to become pain detectives to figure out if the cat is uncomfortable, and to what degree.
Historically, veterinarians have been taught only about disease and how to cure it. “We have never really trained veterinarians to think about pain associated with disease,” says Dr. Tranquilli. “We need to incorporate these principles and get the culture changed so new veterinarians learn more about pain and the role it plays in disease processes.”
Depending on the type of pain and length of treatment, different medications are available for cats, says Dr. Little. To control post-operative pain for elective procedures such as spays, neuters or dentistry, drugs like oxymorphone and butorphanol work well. Ketoprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug helpful for arthritis relief, is used often in combination with other pain relievers. More severe pain benefits from fentanyl (Duragesic) that’s administered in a pain patch, and Dr. Little says the smallest size used for human babies, can be used for all but the smallest cats. The fentanyl patch often is prescribed for use at home because once applied to the shaved skin, it dispenses pain relief through the skin for three to five days.
Not all pain is severe or sudden. Chronic pain is more typical in older cats, and may be alleviated with something as simple as a heat lamp or warming pad the cat can sleep on. Arthritis is the most common chronic pain syndrome in aging cats.
Post-operative pain may be more severe and require medical intervention. “The majority of the patients I work with are elderly dogs and cats,” says