Pet Euthanasia &
End-of-life Care
We provide compassionate pet euthanasia services, ensuring a peaceful and dignified transition for your beloved companion. Remember that the Alpine Veterinary Hospital team is here for you during this challenging time. We also offer at-home euthanasia services for your convenience.
Pet Euthanasia & End-of-life Care in The Gorge
We understand that each individual and pet is unique, so we offer the option of euthanasia either in the comfort of your own home or at our clinic. Whatever your preference, we will ensure a compassionate and respectful farewell for your dear friend.
Pet Euthanasia & End-of-life care
Saying goodbye to a beloved friend is undoubtedly one of the most difficult experiences you’ll encounter, but you don’t have to face it alone. At Alpine Veterinary Hospital, we understand the profound bond you share with your pet, and we are here to support you every step of the way.
Our compassionate team is honored to be a part of your journey, ready to share your burden and celebrate the cherished memories you hold. From the moment palliative or hospice care begins, we offer a range of options to ease your friend’s pain and adapt their environment for maximum comfort during their final months. When the time comes, we stand by your side to help you make the compassionate choice of painless euthanasia if it is in your pet’s best interest.
Euthanasia is a selfless act of love, granting your beloved companion the peace of quietly slipping away in your comforting embrace. While your own grief may deepen, your friend’s pain will be no more. Providing comfort, peace, and dignity in their final moments is our way of giving back after a lifetime of unconditional love from them.
Euthanasia, When is it time to say goodbye?
As pet owners, we may be faced with difficult decisions involving caring for a pet that is terminally ill or in the end stages of life. How long do we provide care? How do we evaluate the quality of life? How can we objectively make decisions about ending or prolonging our pet’s life? None of these questions are easy, and no one solution fits all. End-of-life decisions are personally and emotionally difficult to make. The doctors at Alpine Veterinary Hospital have been asked many times over, how do you make a decision to end a pet’s life? As difficult a question as this is, Dr. Foss has composed a simple chart to help with evaluating your pet’s quality of life. The information presented in this article is to help guide you in your decision process. We hope this helps when you are faced with making the most difficult of all decisions when to euthanize your pet.
Dr. Foss’s personal viewpoint is quality of life for your pet should be the most important consideration when deciding when to euthanize a pet. Quality of life is best determined by asking several questions.
- Is your pet eating and drinking?
- Is your pet eating an adequate amount of food to maintain its weight?
- Is your pet in pain?
- Can your pet get up and move around?
- Can your pet get up to do their bathroom habits (go outside, use a litter pan, etc.)?
- Does your pet have a great deal of difficulty urinating or defecating?
- Is your pet happy to see you?
- Are there more bad days than good days?
If your answers are mostly positive, then your pet is probably still doing well, and you have more time to enjoy their company. On the other hand, if most of your answers are negative, you may need to consider that your pet’s life is nearing an end. Dr. Foss strongly believes that if your pet is not eating or drinking and is unable to get up to perform their bathroom habits, then it is time to consider euthanasia. At this point, your pet’s quality of life is greatly diminished. Emotionally this is one of the most difficult decisions. As pet owners, we are responsible for the care and comfort of our beloved pets, and prolonging death only makes our pets suffer longer than they would have naturally survived.
Please use this information to help you consider the care options for your terminally ill or elderly pet. We are also here to help if you wish to schedule an appointment for your pet to evaluate your pet’s health and to assist you in the decision process. Our phone number is (541) 386-6658. We also have information on grief counseling to help you with the loss of a pet. Please let us know how we can help. We hope this information is useful to you in this difficult situation.