Palliative care for dogs and cats in France: A qualitative and descriptive study based on professionals of the field

Background

Little academic research has been done on palliative care for dogs and cats in France. However, palliative care (PC) is often practiced in veterinary hospitals without naming it precisely, providing great opportunities for the management of pets’ life-threatening diseases.

Method

In order to assess how pet end-of-life support is performed and PC could alleviate associated ethical dilemmas, we performed a qualitative study by interviewing two human PC professionals and nine veterinarians who often deal with pet end-of-life. After these interviews, we also made a comparison with existing literature, which mainly consists on experience sharing.

Results

Globally, the interviewed veterinarians define palliative care for dogs and cats as the support of a dog or a cat with a life-threatening disease intended to treat clinical symptoms, pain and suffering without curing the patient, giving its quality of life a high priority. It can be done at any stage of the disease. Support should also be provided to the pet's owners, always with emphasis on the quality of life of the animal. All veterinary interviewees, as opposed to human medicine professionals, overlooked the support to the veterinary team included in a structured PC approach. Such a platform should include both in clinics and ambulatory care in order for the severely ill pet to stay as much as possible in a familiar environment. This also requires render to owner competent in pet nursing.

Conclusion

This preliminary work tends to show the relevance of the ethics of care approach structured PC would provide to pets. Support from professionals such as veterinary nurses is mandatory.