End-of-life welfare decisions for cats are among the most challenging aspects of companion animal care, with significant evidence that many cats are euthanised too late — and some too early — due to inadequate quality-of-life assessment tools.
Cats at the end of life from chronic disease experience cumulative welfare deficits — pain, nausea, respiratory distress, inability to groom or access resources — that may persist for weeks before owners request euthanasia. Veterinarians sometimes fail to initiate end-of-life conversations proactively, leaving owners without guidance. Delayed euthanasia causes preventable suffering that constitutes a welfare harm as significant as any other care failure. Conversely, premature euthanasia removes animals before their welfare has genuinely declined past acceptable thresholds. Quality-of-life frameworks provide structured tools for navigating these decisions.