Death Doulas for Dogs

Big Ideas:

1. What is a Pet Doula [0:30] – There are people in this holistic end of life care space who are being drawn to work specifically with animals. It is incredible and incredibly needed. We have known for a long time that we need to start offering more support to people at the end of life, but what about our pets? Death is a natural experience, and all living beings will experience it and the people who love them really need that help and guidance. Now those who are end of life care providers can choose to focus their services within this niche or include this as part of their other services. End of Life Pet Doulas are a new calling! How beautiful is that?

2. My Personal Story with My Dog’s Death [1:58] – I used to have a Golden Retriever named Max. He was one of the greatest loves of my life. My heart bursts with love for him still when I think of him. He was 11 years old, and my son called me up while I was out of town one day and told me he wouldn’t eat his food. I knew something was wrong right away because Max never (and I mean never) skipped a meal. When I got home, he wouldn’t take treats and no matter what we tried to do or give him; he would reject all sources of food. As a hospice and oncology nurse who dealt with death daily as a professional, I still wasn’t able to wrap my head around the news that he was nearing the end of life after taking him to the vet and they diagnosed him with a late stage and aggressive form of cancer. It was very sudden, and I just wasn’t mentally prepared for it. The vets were quick to suggest putting him down and I was stunned and taken aback by it. I felt like I could take him home and manage his symptoms because of my background working with end-of-life patients and the fact that he still had quality of life. I discovered that it does not work quite the same way and I think that having a Pet Doula would have helped me so much throughout Max’s end of life process.

3. How Pets Die Differently Than People [8:04] – Animals operate differently than people. One of the similarities when they are nearing end of life, is that they stop eating and drinking. The biggest difference, on the other hand, is that there is no verbal communication between the animal and the caregiver. This is huge. For someone to assist an animal well at end of life, they must be incredibly in tune with non-verbal communication and know what to look for so that they can identify signs of discomfort and know the best course of action to take in a given situation. Animals cannot tell you when they are in pain or suffering. Another difficult aspect of this is that you cannot explain to an animal what you are doing for them and why. With Max, we had medicine to help with his pain and relaxation, but he absolutely hated it. He would try to fight taking it and it added so much stress to an already stressful situation. In hindsight, I would not have assumed that I could take care of him at home comfortably without additional support or more knowledge specific to animals and pets. There is definitely a great need for Pet Doula services that can assist people through this devastating experience. The grief and loss of losing a pet is a little different than what we go through with people, and the care that they need during their end-of-life process is also a little different.

 

Resources: FREE Level 1 End of Life Doula Training: https://www.doulagivers.com

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xoxoxo Suzanne