In Home Hospice and Palliative Care 

If you have transitioned from finding a cure for your pet’s illness to focusing on comfort care, pet hospice may be a good choice. Pet hospice focuses on providing comfort and dignity to your pet in the days and weeks leading up to the end of life. It also focuses on you, the pet parents, as the primary caregivers and supporting you in the difficult decisions that come with advanced illness. 

The goal of pet hospice is to provide pain management, nutritional support, and mobility options until natural death occurs or the decision is made for humane euthanasia.

Initial hospice consultations are performed in your home by Dr. Orvin. A hospice assessment is then created to allow us to establish goals for pain management, nutritional and hydration support, and to plan for ongoing care. It will also help us to establish end of life wishes tailored to your pet and your family. Assessments and records will be shared your primary care veterinarian and specialist to maintain the continuity of care for your pet. 

Initial Hospice Assessment: $295

Your initial hospice visit will be with our IAAHPC certified veterinarian. During this appointment you can expect the doctor to perform the following:

• Full review of previous medical records including communicating with specialists and primary care veterinarians

• Initial in-home consultation: approximately 60 minute appointment**

• Written comprehensive care plan emailed to your primary/specialist veterinarian

• Education on necessary nursing care (i.e.: medication administration, fluid administration, hygiene support)

On going care:

If the decision is made to continue either hospice and/or palliative care, we will enter into agreed upon treatment plan to support the needs of your pet and family. To provide the best care, our highly trained technician will perform in home rechecks every two weeks based on your pet’s condition. During follow up appointments the technician will administer prescribed medications and preform any necessary diagnostics. They will assess any changes and communicate them with the doctor to help make adjustments as needed. Our staff will communicate by phone, text and email regularly as to ensure treatment compliance and to relay any adjustments to the treatment plan as necessary. Cost of ongoing care will be discussed at the intake appointment based on your pet’s medical needs.

Inclusive services of care

As part of our on going care plan we will provide the following inclusive services to best ensure quality of life and regular treatment:

• Direct communication with medical staff and the veterinarian

• Follow up appointments

• Tier I medications and diagnostics

  • A list of all inclusive medications and diagnostics will be made available during the initial appointment as well as any additional Tier II medication cost your pet could benefit from if necessary.

• Preferred appointment availability and scheduling

**All appointments are scheduled for 1 hour with an additional hour for travel as we serve families across the entire Tricounty area based on their desired time requested or available. If additional time is needed to make a decision, we can schedule a follow up appointment for the next available day and time to discuss further options or possible euthanasia. In cases of an aggressive pet we will preschedule a second appointment same week/next day for euthanasia if the pet is not tolerable to strangers and injectable medications.

Cancellation Policy: We realize that end of life decisions can be difficult. If there is apprehension about a scheduled euthanasia appointment, please consider using the time for a quality of life assessment with no obligation to continue care. If cancelling after business hours of the day prior to the scheduled appointment, a cancellation fee of $180 will be applied.