The HHHHHMM quality of life scale provides a structured framework for assessing dog cancer welfare, helping owners and vets make end-of-life decisions with their dog's experience at the center.
The HHHHHMM scale represents a welfare tool that centers the dog's experience in end-of-life decision-making. Without structured assessment, owners often make decisions based on their own emotional state - delaying euthanasia beyond the point of good welfare out of grief, or making premature decisions from fear. The scale externalizes the assessment, providing an objective framework that can be revisited regularly. Importantly, tracking over time identifies trajectories - a dog that was at 45/70 but has declined to 28/70 over three weeks is clearly deteriorating, while one stable at 42/70 for months may have adequate quality of life despite serious illness. The welfare-centered question is always whether the dog has more good experiences than suffering.