10 Essential Tips For Managing Your Pet’s Chronic Illness At Home
How I adjusted to daily life with a sick dog
No one really thinks about what life is going to look like when their pet gets sick.
We adopt a puppy or kitten and only envision all of the happy, healthy days ahead. If you’re lucky, that’s how things will be for many years. But one day, often seemingly overnight, you will wake up to find your fur baby grey in the face, and managing a chronic illness that you know very little about.
How do you modify your routine and adapt to daily life with a sick pet?
As a veterinarian, I’m advising people on this topic every day. But when my own pet fell ill, I struggled with the adjustment all the same. Reflecting back on how I managed the transition from “healthy dog that’s never been sick before” to “dog that will be sick for the rest of his life,” I’ve compiled a list of ten essential tips for anyone adjusting to life with a sick pet.
If you follow these tips, you’ll ensure that you’re adequately informed, prepared, and supported in providing the best possible quality of life for your sick pet.
Here’s how you can manage your pet’s chronic illness without skipping a beat:
1. Do your research
Make it a point to learn everything you can about their disease, prognosis, what you can expect over time, emergency signs to look for, and things you can do at home to help.
Do they need a special diet or supplements? Can they travel by plane or car? To what degree can they play or interact with other animals? Essential Do’s and Don’ts? Are there any novel treatments coming out?
Your veterinarian knows best, but a 15 minute consultation may not be enough time to run through disease management at the level of detail that you would like. If you have a lot of questions, ask the receptionist to book you in for a bit of extra time at your next appointment. That way, you won’t leave feeling frustrated that you were rushed through the appointment or left with questions unanswered.
❗️DO NOT listen to Dr. Google. DO acquire as much information as possible from Dr. Google, then confirm your findings and ask your vet before making any changes to your pet’s treatment plan.
2. Set up a regular recheck schedule
How often should you be following up at the vet? Before you leave the office, make sure you have the next appointment booked. Put a reminder of the appointment in your phone.
If you split time between two different places, make sure you have a vet established in both places who both have complete records and are in communication with eachother.
Make sure you keep all records from each appointment yourself so you can easily access and share them when needed (including any bloodwork or imaging results). This will save you time and money if you need to see a new vet for whatever reason.
Have an emergency vet on speed dial no matter where you’re at. This includes each place you regularly spend time and any new place you’re going on vacation.
3. Realistic financial planning
No insurance? Bummer. Cause you’re definitely not going to be eligible now. How are you going to afford care?
What will the monthly costs be (meds, food, rechecks, supplies, etc.)? Make sure you budget for that.
What’s the worst case scenario that your pet could face with their disease? How much would that cost you? Have an emergency fund for that.
Ex: In a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with mitral valve disease (MMVD) or a Maine Coon cat with a cardiomyopathy (HCM), the obvious worst case scenario is that they go into heart failure. For this, you should budget a minimum of 3 days in oxygen in the ICU and $/€ 3-5K (costs highly variable by location, get an estimate for what this will cost by you).
4. Monitor their behavior with a calendar
Set up a physical calendar so you can easily record and track your pet’s behavior over time. Report any concerning trends or abrupt changes to vet.
Symptom tracker (e.g. respiratory rate, urination volume or frequency).
Quality of life trends. Seems sleepy today? Note it down. Only ate half his breakfast? Note that too.
5. Streamline medication management
Set up a medication log. This should include information on the dates any medications were started or changed, and details of administration at home (for example: “Fluffy had a poor appetite so I could only get him to take half of his tablet this morning”). This will enable you to monitor medication response against the trends in their behavior that you recorded (above), and provide your vet with all the objective data they need when making decisions about your pet’s treatment plan. This will be especially valuable in emotional situations where your mind can mix things up.
Set up a pill box or order your medications from a company that offers pill packs, like Koala Health. This is especially helpful if there are multiple people caring for your pet at home, and helps you prevent any missed or extra doses.
Auto ship medication refills so you never run out.
6. Modify their diet (as needed)
Would they benefit from a prescription diet? Are there any foods or treats they need to avoid? Do they need to eat more frequently, or smaller amounts? Changes to the feeding schedule?
Ex: Luca’s meds have to be given on an empty stomach, so I give him his meds and then wait 1 hour before I give him his breakfast. This means that I had to allot myself 1 extra hour in the morning after he got sick.
7. Adjust their activity
Consider your pets energy levels and their ability to exercise and get around comfortably. Can they play with other pets or do you need to pull them from daycare? Make sure the dog walker, pet sitter, and anyone else involved is aware of your pet’s current condition and physical capabilities.
Can they do the stairs? If not, move all their essentials to a single floor (preferably the ground floor, so they can also get out to the bathroom easily). For cats, make sure the letterbox is easy to step into.
How long of a walk can they handle? Do you need to make sure someone is home to go out with them more frequently?
Ex: When Luca got sick, he was PU/PD (polyuric/polydipsic = increased thirst and urination) so he had to go to the bathroom much more frequently. Our usual three walks per day suddenly became six.
8. Keep your bag stocked with their essentials
If your pet leaves the house with you, make sure you have all of their essentials on hand. This includes any necessary care supplies and emergency medications.
For example: if your dog has epilepsy, make sure you have seizure medications at the ready. If they’re urine incontinent, pack an extra diaper, a wee pad, and urine cleaning spray. If they’re at risk of dehydration, always have a travel bowl and fresh water on hand.
9. Modify your calendar to be with your pet more
You’re busy, I get it. But if you can switch up your routine to spend more time with your pet, I would do it. This might include working from home, bringing guests to your home instead of going to theirs, or going to places your pet can come along (if they have the energy). This will:
1. Give you extra precious time with your sick pet
2. Enable you to monitor their health better, and
3. Allow you to provide better emotional support for your pet. This is just as important as the physical and medical support. In addition to feeling sick or in pain, pets experience emotional distress and anxiety in association with illness, and sick pets will require additional love, comfort, and attention.
Spending more time with your pet and bringing familiar people around will prevent social isolation and enable your pet to maintain social relationships which may alleviate stress and improve long-term health outcomes.
10. Lean on your community
This is huge. Do you have people around you that can help care for your pet, support you emotionally, and help to ease the caregiving burden? Who will watch your kids if you need to rush your pet to the ER in the middle of the night? If it takes a village to raise a dog, it takes a small city to care for a sick one.
Talk to your therapist, join support groups, and make sure you’re doing whatever you need to do to take care of yourself. On their worst days, your pet is going to need the best of you. Make sure you’re healthy enough to show up when that day comes.
Adjusting to daily life with a sick pet can be physically, financially, and emotionally taxing.
There will be good days and bad days, and despite your best efforts, there will always be things that go wrong or could have gone better. That’s part of the deal. But if you heed the 10 essential tips listed above, you’ll ease this major lifestyle change for you and your pet, and have all your ducks in a row to ensure the best possible quality of life and long-term health outcomes for your pet.
You’ve got this,
Dr. Sami
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