End-of-life care for cats requires balancing quality of life against quantity. Understanding palliative options and euthanasia timing helps owners navigate this difficult stage.
End-of-life decision-making for cats requires honest assessment of welfare that transcends the emotional difficulty of loss. A cat's quality of life rather than quantity of days must be the guiding criterion — the willingness to euthanase before suffering becomes entrenched is one of the most important welfare decisions an owner makes. Quality-of-life assessment tools provide structured frameworks for evaluating whether good days still outweigh bad, whether the cat can still engage in things it previously enjoyed, and whether pain and discomfort are manageable. Palliative care including pain management, anti-nausea medication, and nutritional support can maintain quality of life for extended periods. The option of in-home euthanasia, where the cat dies in familiar surroundings without the stress of a final clinic visit, is a meaningful welfare choice for appropriate cases.