Common End-of-Life Conditions

Most families find their way to these articles after a diagnosis. Your veterinarian has put a name to what’s been happening, and now you’re trying to understand what it means for your pet and for the time you have left together.

Every pet’s illness follows its own path, but a handful of conditions are behind most of the goodbyes we’re part of: dementia, cancer, kidney disease, heart failure, and losing the ability to get around. Each one brings its own questions, so each has its own article.

The articles all follow the same shape. They cover what the later stages usually look like, how to keep your pet comfortable, the signs that things are getting harder, and what families tend to weigh as they think about the decision ahead. They’re written for cats and dogs alike.

Some questions come up whatever the diagnosis, and the rest of our guide covers those: recognizing pain, tracking your pet’s quality of life and keeping your pet comfortable at home. The condition articles lean on them, so you may find it helpful to read them alongside the articles below.

→ Dementia in Dogs and Cats
What cognitive decline looks like in its later stages, how to keep a confused pet calm and comfortable, and how families decide when it’s time.

→ Cancer in Dogs and Cats
How cancer usually advances, what to expect with lymphoma, hemangiosarcoma, bone cancer and mouth cancer, and what families weigh along the way.

→ Kidney Disease in Dogs and Cats
What the later stages of kidney disease look like, how to keep a pet comfortable, and what families weigh as it progresses.

→ Heart Failure in Dogs and Cats
The signs of end-stage heart failure, how to count sleeping breaths at home, and why many families plan the goodbye before a crisis.

→ Losing Mobility in Dogs and Cats
When arthritis, degenerative myelopathy or spinal disease take away a pet’s ability to get around, and how families weigh comfort, care and their own limits.