How to Get Ready for Your Pet’s Death
Even though losing a pet is never easy, being mentally and emotionally prepared for it helps lessen your suffering. Here are four strategies to help you prepare for and deal with your pet’s ultimate death.
#1. Assess the quality of life for your pet.
While your pet cannot communicate its illness to you, it might show poor physical and mental health signs. As your pet ages or suffers from a chronic medical condition, you can evaluate their health and happiness using a quality of life scale. Using the quality of life scale, you can objectively evaluate your pet to see if it is suffering.
#2. Decide when to arrange for your pet’s euthanasia
While a pet’s unexpected death relieves the burden of deciding when—and if—euthanasia is the best course of action, you might question whether you were blind to your pet’s condition. On the other hand, figuring out your pet’s readiness to die and when to schedule euthanasia is never easy. However, keep in mind that few animals die peacefully when they are sleeping, so humane euthanasia might be your final act of compassion for your suffering animal.
#3: Go over how to treat your pet’s body.
You might not be ready to take care of your pet when they pass away. Talking about how you would like to care for your pet’s body might help relieve stress if you know the end is near. You can decide to receive your pet’s ashes after cremation, which is a common option. Aquamation is becoming more and more popular as an alternative to aftercare, even though it is still not easy to get.
#4: Use grief support groups to cope with the loss of your pet.
As you grieve, reach out to support groups as well as your family and friends. Numerous veterinary colleges provide pet loss support hotlines, and there are a ton of pet grief organizations on social media that can be a good fit for your particular scenario. Never go through a difficult time by yourself.
If your pet’s health or happiness is deteriorating, ask our staff for assistance in determining their quality of life and making arrangements for their eventual death.