Companion animal hospice and palliative care helps animals live comfortably through terminal illness. Understanding these services enables welfare-positive end-of-life planning.
End-of-life welfare for companion animals is shaped by the decisions made in the weeks before death - whether adequate pain management is provided, whether quality of life is honestly assessed, and whether euthanasia is timed to prevent prolonged suffering. The hospice movement has transformed human end-of-life care by focusing on comfort rather than curative intervention, and the same philosophy applied to companion animals enables deaths that prioritize dignity and comfort. The welfare failure mode is prolonging life through aggressive interventions when quality of life has deteriorated severely, or allowing suffering to continue because euthanasia decisions feel premature. Proactive quality of life assessment and hospice planning enables more welfare-positive end-of-life trajectories.