It’s Always Hardest to Take Your Own Advice: When Animal Hospice Care Hits Home

Over the years, I’ve done so much continuing education in animal hospice and palliative care and have gotten to work with so many pets and their families at end-of-life to help support them through the ups and downs that inevitably occur. But it’s been a while since I’ve put these skills to work in my own family. Until now.

Our sweet little 15 ½ year old English Bulldog, Wanda, has already been enjoying the life of a princess on bonus time since we celebrated her 15^th birthday last October. Afterall, 15 years for an English Bulldog is roughly the equivalent of a 105 year old human, so we knew that every day was a gift. But she’s always been such a healthy, active little girl, so it’s been easy to trick ourselves into believing that she’s partially immortal.

Wanda celebrating her Quinceanera last October.

Yes, we’ve been dealing with increased mobility challenges and hind end weakness as she ages, but she still loves walking around the backyard and getting out during her stroller walks to get some steps in and try to keep up with her bulldog brothers.

And yes, vision and hearing have been deteriorating over time, but for the most part, she navigates pretty well and let’s be honest, bulldogs are never known for their great listening skills anyway! 

Cognitive function has definitely changed in the past year and it’s safe to say that she has some Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (also referred to as Doggy Alzheimer’s).  Her sleep cycles have been getting more out of whack over time and she sometimes seems a little disoriented, like she can’t remember why she walked into a room (99.9% of the time it’s probably for food).

But all of these things seemed like run-of-the-mill aging issues that we were managing well and she was still ‘doing great’ by senior bulldog standards. 

Then a couple of weeks ago, we noticed some sudden changes in her body. At first, I thought she had developed a lipoma on her belly. But then more swollen areas popped up and her body shape suddenly looked like she was potbellied and just…off. She had what I thought was a vestibular episode where she fell over one morning while going out to potty and couldn’t get back up. In general, she just seemed weaker and more uncoordinated all of a sudden.  I was worried. 

I took her into the veterinarian last week for a full workup, with the suspicion that she was having heart issues. We did an ultrasound and saw fluid in her abdomen and around her heart, and a heard a heart murmur for the first time. Bloodwork also showed some abnormalities, including a BNP result off the charts.

An echocardiogram performed a few days later confirmed what we already suspected – Wanda is in congestive heart failure (CHF).  Likely due to some chronic bronchitis that she had developed after having pneumonia last year.

So here we are. Starting a whole new cocktail of heart meds in addition to the joint, immune and skin & coat supplements she’s already been on. Thank goodness she loves food more than anything – she is so easy to give meds to as a result! Animal hospice care has new meaning for me as we start implementing it here at home.

We’re taking each day as it comes and are grateful to at least have a diagnosis to work with so we can have a plan of attack and try to manage her symptoms and keep her comfortable for as long as possible. We know that time is extra precious now, but honestly, isn’t time with our loved ones always a precious thing? None of us knows what tomorrow will bring.

In the coming days and weeks, I plan to share with you some of the challenges and lessons that this chapter with Wanda will inevitably bring, to try to help other pet parents who are going through something similar with their furkid. My hope is that all of my previous experiences and training in animal hospice and palliative care will help me do the very best I can for my sweet Wanda Marigold, and that I can take some of my own advice to live fully in the moment with her for as many days as we get to spend together.

Wish us luck!

Kerry