Pet Hospice rocks

I'm sure I've posted about it before (and if I weren't too lazy, I'd go back on my blog and link my previous posts -- but hey, it's Thanksgiving break, what do you want from me?) but I love, love, love my school's Pet Hospice program.

I start a new Pet Hospice case -- my fourth -- on Tuesday. The patient is a sweet little old man dog, a 14-year-old Pekingese/Poodle cross. (I refuse to call him a Peekapoo. I will not do it.)

As with my last hospice dog, this guy is in kidney and liver failure -- unlucky him. Unlike my last hospice dog, this guy is doing about a thousand times better. He's had kidney problems for over 2 years, and the liver issues are just a recent development.

Hospice Dog #4 (HD4) is supposed to be having SQ fluids every 2-3 days, which for awhile HD4's mom had been driving to a clinic 15 miles away to have done, but the drive and the time at the hospital were really stressful for poor little HD4, so his rDVM put his mom in contact with Pet Hospice -- enter me and my hospice partner.

And what a world of different. We've visited twice now, and HD4 does fantastically with his fluids at home. He sits quietly in his mom's lap, winces when the needle goes in, and then is perfectly happy for the next 2-3 minutes while we load him up with fluids. It's all over in less than 5 minutes, with almost zero stress for HD4.

To make things even more rewarding, I talked to HD4's mom on Wednesday, after our first visit the evening before, and she reported that HD4 was like a completely different dog. He'd been up and about, asking for attention, eating well, and even playing with the other dog (well, as much as he can, since he's pretty wobbly and prone to fall down any time the 18-month-old Chihuahua jumps on him).

It's a neat example of how much difference something as seemingly minor as staying well-hydrated can make. I'm sure HD4 feels like crap when he just can't drink enough water to keep up with the amount of uber-dilute urine that's coming through his failed kidneys, so when we can give him just a couple hundred cc's of fluid SQ, it's like he's a new dog.

As with all my hospice cases, I know it won't last forever. After all, HD4 is 14 years old. Even if he didn't already have known renal and hepatic failure, he'd still only have a couple more years at most. And HD4's mom feels like HD4 has had a good last few years, especially since she was told at the time of his diagnosis of renal disease >2 years ago that he would only have 6 months to at most 2 years to live.

But for now it's pretty heartwarming to see how much Pet Hospice can help HD4 to stay happy and comfortable in his own home. Based on what I've learned from all the hospice families and patients I've worked with, every vet student should get the opportunity to have these kinds of experiences before getting out into practice. It's too easy to see the sick old dogs and cats in the clinic and then just send them out the door without really knowing how life is for them (and their owners) at home.

P.S. This is my 4th hospice case in the last 9 months. And before that, it was about 14 months until I got my first case last February! Guess I'm packin' 'em in junior year....