Have you got any tips to help a pet reaching the end of their life stay happy?

Thank you. My dog is suffering with stage 3 kidney disease and he has starting having small seizures. I'm a Registered Nurse and I see people who have power of attorney over their loved ones keep them alive way past when they should and I don't want to do that to my little guy. I've been giving subcutaneous fluids at home but it's not working as well as it was. He's starting to have a hard time getting up and down as well. I know if the seizures get worse I will have to think about euthanasia so he doesn't have to suffer from scary seizures. I want him to die at home with us. I don't want to take him to a scary vet clinic for his last moments and I don't know what to do about it. No vets here will come to my house to euthanize. All I know is human beings would rather be at home with their loved ones than in a hospital when they are dying. Why don't our dogs deserve the same?

Why do vets charge outrageous amounts for pain medications that come from substances thousands of years old? The cost should be pennies, not $50-100 per refill. And why do vets even charge to euthanize a pet after the pet parents already were soaked for $10, 20 or $30,000? In Houston vets refer sick animals to MedVet, the only ‘specialty’ vet hospital in the entire Houston area? Apparently, MedVet has bought up all the vets who used to be ‘specialty’ vets. MedVet is a nationwide corporation so they only care about the bottom line and soaking worried pet parents out of as much money as possible. Just 15 years ago vets used to be decent people who mostly cared about the well being of animals and pet owners. But now it seems obvious that most vets are only concerned with bleeding as much money from pet owners as possible. It’s sad that corporations are buying out vets and destroying healthcare for animals. Corporations have already destroyed the healthcare system for human beings. CEOs of insurance companies or big pharma make up to $600 MILLION a year. How many people do they deny service to (kill) to take that much money? Only psychopaths could accept the. Immoral amounts of money they take from the healthcare system. Now veterinarian medicine is just a smaller version of the corrupt system we have in the FOR PROFIT healthcare system. Only the rich will be able to own pets any longer. The poor or middle class can’t afford $20,000 vet bills, with that $20,000 just padded bills. Vets charge up to 2000-5000% more than they cost for medications. And since vets have lobbied governments a lot of products that were once available at feed stores are no longer there. Vets want monopolies on everything. They did have monopolies on flea drop chemicals but now people can buy them over the counter. I had one corrupt vet who told me she would have to see each of my 6 pets to dispense Revolution flea drops to them. She tried to charge me $100 office visit fees for each pet and then charge more for Revolution drops that had costs that were outrageously overpriced. She told me she had to see each pet because “it was the state law”. If it was the state law it was vets and their lobbyists who created that law to screw millions of people. Ahh, capitalism. This is what it really looks like. It’s the worst system for people on the planet. But the best system for psychopaths who live preying on the vulnerable. The last good vet I had was over 15 years ago. Ever since then vets have become nothing but predators who live in their mansions built of the bodies of countless animals and the countless tears of pet parents. What a sick country the US is becoming because of wanton greed. Greed should be outlawed. But that would kill capitalism and $600 MILLION a year salaries. And some less than bright people equate capitalism with ‘freedom’. What freedom? The freedom to be constantly ripped off by psychopaths?

I'm going through pallative care now with my bigfoot dog he has severe arthritis and cancer but we are doing good now I'm doing everything under the sun to keep him comfortable I can't think of giving him up he is old but still young at heart a true blessing to me. Thank you Dr Alex for doing this video you are a very good man 👍 buddy.

i am so glad to have found this.! i wish all vets would be more compassionate! my cat had surgery for FGESF 4 yrs ago. she is now 17 yo and the disease is kept at bay w/pred. i kept crying pls help my baby girl. she is in some kind of pain. finally her onco offered me supportive care! God bless the caring vets of the world!

Very good 👍 advice and informative video Dr Alex. Second time I have watched this video.. Bigfoot is still a happy with all of his conditions.. he does go in my bedroom when he isn't feeling good I think. But he is also sensitive to noise since he got old he doesn't like loud sounds..he is still eating really good to be at the end of his life..

I just got the phone call today that my 2 year old cat is in the later stages of lymphoma. He saved my life during lockdown, I wish I could save his. It’s going to be hard to let him go

I started care today and I'm so devastated but Ben (cat) gets to be at home and there's no sudden dying on a table with bright lights. He has pain medicine to take for two or three days. It was so fast. He can't even walk. It's leukemia. He purred for me.

Thank you for this.

Great video - my 11 year old Malshi is coming up to her final days and I’m having a hard time letting her go. She is disagnosed with stage 2 heart failure and her liver is 30% enlarged … food and water intake is minimal and today was a hard day. Looking forward to watching more of your videos

Thank you.

Make your own wholesome dog food and feed by hand. Same with drink.

Thank you

I will be putting her to sleep soon but until than how to keep her pain level down till I do? So far they gave me steroid and an antibiotic to make her comfortable they say but why didn’t they give her pain meds? Can i request something? What should I ask for? She has lymphoma and it is all over her, she seems to want to hold her head up Roth now because the lymph odes are so swollen and the prednisone isn’t seeming to get it smaller. I just am not sure what to do.. she has some goods days still but just laying down is difficult for her.

My 7 1/2 year old english mastiff has soft tissue sarcoma in her lower left leg. She is not a good candidate for amputation or removal and repeated skin grafts. We have opted to go with palliative care and loving attention. At first I felt guilty and selfish for choosing this, but this has helped me come to terms with this decision. Her pain is mostly manageable and we just don't encourage activity she's not enthused about. She is just not near the point where euthanasia is realistic yet. But if she can be comfortable most of the time and cuddling (her favorite thing!) is not painful for her then this truly is the right choice. She seems to understand something is about to change and she comforts me more than I am comforting her these days.

Great advice for coming up on your final days, but what about advice on the final days? This is a very long winded video that is not answering the question.

Can aspirin and prednizone be given as comfort care?

If we just able to be treated as humans so well as our pets at end of life.

Lol, I won't be turning in for ur Singapore tour, ur just a vacationing veterinarian.

I feel mislead. You appear to be a salesman of a vet (albeit successful). Ok, so everyone should talk to a vet. 😑