woman in white long sleeve shirt sitting on bed beside brown dog

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My Forever Pet

There’s something missing in my home,
I feel it day and night,
I know it will take time and strength
before things feel quite right.
But just for now, I need to mourn,
My heart — it needs to mend.
Though some may say, “It’s just a pet,”
I know I’ve lost a friend.
You’ve brought such laughter to my home,
and richness to my days.
A constant friend through joy or loss
with gentle, loving ways.
Companion, friend, and confidante,
A friend I won’t forget.
You’ll live forever in my heart,
My sweet, forever pet.

— Susanne Taylor

Peaceful home euthanasia explained: A Gentle Goodbye

As a pet parent, the most challenging decision you will have to make is to euthanise your pet. It can feel like a roller coaster of emotions especially if your pet’s health is up and down – it might feel like you’re making the decision too quickly, or perhaps too late. At a time like this, we feel that it is important to be in your own comfortable home, offering you and your pet a stress-free alternative to having this done at a veterinary clinic.

Home euthanasia is a service where a veterinary surgeon comes to your house to create a calm and comfortable euthanasia experience for your pet and your family. There are many reasons to choose home euthanasia notably for the privacy, allowing you to grieve and say goodbye in a personal setting. The stress of the car journey is also eliminated, allowing your pet to feel more relaxed and comfortable with their bed, toys and blankets around them.

Before the visit, we discuss your pet’s history via a phone call, sometimes for weeks prior, to guide you through the decision-making process. This process is based on your pet’s quality of life which we guide you in assessing, ensuring that the ultimate decision for humane euthanasia is not rushed. We then plan a date and time for our vet to come to your home to perform the euthanasia. Sometimes, this may happen last minute and we do our best to get to you as soon as possible.

We recommend setting up a comfortable space for your pet like ensuring there are blankets in their bed or they are on their favourite couch spot. If their favourite spot is in your arms, we ensure that this is safe for you and your pet before progressing. To ensure that your pet feels no pain or discomfort during the euthanasia, we give a sedative beforehand. The sedative relaxes your pet to allow our vet to place an IV catheter or give the final drug into your pet’s abdomen. Your pet will not feel any pain during this process and will pass away gently and peacefully while they are sedated.

Once your pet has been peacefully euthanised, we give offer paw prints and/or fur clippings for you to keep on the day. It is completely up to you whether you would like these. We then give you time to say a final goodbye to your pet and confirm cremation options. If you aren’t sure which urn or casket option you’d like, you can take your time to decide, and we will follow up with you a few days later. We organise all aspects of the cremation process for you, so that you don’t have to face any further stresses. Once we have your pet’s ashes back with us, we will hand deliver them to you, utilising the time to check in and discuss grief resources with your family as needed.

We also leave a small token memory booklet to help guide you through the grieving process, recounting precious memories and cherished moments. We then invite you to post a picture on our website to honour your pet with a remembrance paragraph – a little legacy for us to remember them by. You can send these to us at info@pawprintsvetcare.com and we will upload them to our page. It is a great support for others and lovely to see the beautiful memories you shared.

At-home peaceful euthanasia respects the bond between you and your pet allowing you the time and space to make the choices that feel right for you both.

Raisins, antifreeze, macadamia nuts, cake with alcohol, onions & garlic, grapes, xylitol, eggnog, chocolate. These are just a few! Also look out for bones, tinsel, toys, hard treats like pig ears,

Can Pawprints help with toxins?

There are many unsuspecting toxins lurking around our homes and gardens that our pets can get their paws on. Typically, exposure is through eating the toxins, but our pets can also be exposed through skin contact. If your pet has eaten something that you feel may be toxic or you are uncertain, feel free to give us a call for advice. Hopefully it’s nothing serious, but it’s always better to check.

We have access to a database of information on toxins and will guide you through what your next steps should be. For example, we may advise that we induce vomiting, give them activated charcoal or refer to a vet hospital in more severe cases. For toxins like grapes/raisins, we can perform a house visit to induce vomiting. Once these are out, we then administer a drug to stop the vomiting and leave you with activated charcoal, which you will need to give to your pet every 4-6 hours for 24 hours. You are then advised either to go to your own vet the next day for a follow up blood test, or to monitor your pet closely.

Sometimes, toxins can be more complicated like with xylitol toxicity. Xylitol is a sugar substitute which can be found in chewing gum and can cause your pet’s blood sugar to drop dangerously low. It can also cause liver damage. For this type of toxin ingestion, we would therefore recommend going into a vet clinic for more intensive care.

Some common toxins that we see in dogs are chocolate, raisins/grapes, onions/garlic, marijuana and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories like Meloxicam. In cats we usually see lily intoxication, antifreeze poisoning and permethrin intoxication. Permethrin is an ingredient present in some over-the-counter flea medications – so be careful who you buy these products from! Oh… and don’t forget that eating things like corn on the cob, toys, socks, tinsel and string can also cause major life-threatening issues – so it’s best to get advice if any of these things have been eaten as we can often make your pet sick – and problem solved! Finally, we see toxins in bunnies too – mostly chocolate and rodent poison.

If your pet is showing clinical signs of toxin poisoning, please call your emergency veterinary surgery in the first instance. If your pet is not showing any clinical signs or you have just seen it happen, give us a call and we will advise on whether we can help, or whether your pet is better placed going to a veterinary clinic.