Euthanasia is a kind act when a pet is suffering or struggling with illness/ old age and won’t get better. We have to remember our pets can’t tell us how they are feeling and if they are suffering, we have to read the signs and it can be really difficult. There are a few questions I usually ask pet owners during an end of life vet discussion:

• Do the bad days tend to outweigh the good days recently?

• Are they doing the things they usually do – barking at the postman or following you from room to room?

• What is their appetite like? Appetite is a key indicator of quality of life in our pets. It will often decrease and we may notice our pets becoming “picky” as they feel more poorly.

• Do you feel their quality of life as good as it used to be, and more importantly – is it good enough?

Please remember that our cats, in particular, will hide pain, suffering and illness from their owners. We must be really careful to read these signs properly and make sure our pets do not suffer in the latter part of their life.

I am always happy to give help and advice if you are unsure when the right time is for putting a pet to sleep. It can be a really difficult decision for owners who live with a pet every day, sometimes having someone to talk things through with can really help.

Often owners do not want to take their pets to the vets for euthanasia appointments as they know how distressed they can become in a vets practice. My hope is that knowing home visit euthanasia can be arranged means owners feel able to make this difficult decision at the right time for their pets.