 Hospice Care and Death
More Than a Pet: A Holistic Guide to Animal Hospice, Compassionate Pet Death and
Euthanasia, by
Pat Bradley, DVM, 2009.
— Pat’s approach is loving,
practical and nonjudgmental. She’s about helping you make decisions that work
with your beliefs and values, so you can feel confident and at peace with the
choices you make. In More Than a Pet, you’ll get valuable information
that few authors detail.
- The Introduction provides a discussion of death – and why no one
ever talks about it.
- Chapter 2 covers the anticipatory grief that arises when you
realize your animal is approaching the end of his life.
- Chapter 3 looks at the supplies you’ll need as you prepare your
home for hospice.
- Chapter 4 takes you step-by-step through the process of choosing
an assisted or natural death.
- Chapter 5 describes what to expect from a natural death.
- Chapter 6 prepares you to talk to your veterinarian about
assisted death.
- Chapter 7 explains the assisted death (euthanasia) process.
- Chapter 8 discusses whether you should be there for your
animal’s death, and how to prepare yourself.
- Chapter 9 provides information about being a hospice caregiver.
- Chapter 10 is about remembering and memorializing your beloved
animal companion.
- Chapter 11 introduces you to the grieving process and what you
may experience.
- Chapter 12 for your family and friends, to help them help you in
this emotional time.
- The Appendix contains many resources, guides and checklists that
you can print out for easy reference.
We just love lists, where details are provided simply, making them
that much more helpful. Dr. Bradley obliges well in this regard, with
the following:
- The signs that death is approaching, so you know what to expect
and can face this process with sense of calm and a feeling of peace
– if you choose to do so.
- A discussion on financial, legal and ethical issues.
- 12 questions to ask your veterinarian before a euthanasia, which
could prevent emotional and financial pain.
- A detailed description of the euthanasia procedure, so you can
approach it without fear.
- A path to help you decide if you want to be there for your
animal’s death – and how to prepare yourself.
- 15 supplies you’ll need for to prepare for your animal’s death
at home (and a resource guide of where to find them).
- 14 questions to contemplate when choosing a compassionate death.
- How to be there for your animal as a hospice caregiver – and how
to keep yourself from burnout during this demanding time.
- 10 things your friends can do to support you – including in a
full chapter to print out and share with your friends and family.
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Blessing the Bridge–What Animals Have To Teach Us About Death, by
Rita Reynolds, New World Library, Novato, California, 2001.
— Like a hospice worker, author Rita
M. Reynolds cares for sick and dying animals, helping them comfortably
cross the threshold into death. This book has functional appeal and
spiritual longevity. Reynolds shows us how to ritualize and soothe
animals' deaths, while also offering us abiding wisdom about life on
earth.
Animals and the Afterlife, by Kim Sheridan, EnLighthouse
Publishing, Escondido, California, 2003. Do animals have souls?
— What happens when they die? This
book offers some amazing answers…
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche, Harper
Collins Publishers, New York, New York, 2002.
— This perennial philosophy that is at once religious,
scientific, and practical. Through extraordinary anecdotes and stories
from religious traditions East and West, Rinpoche introduces the reader
to the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism, moving gradually to the topics
of death and dying. Death turns out to be less of a crisis and more of
an opportunity.
On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D., Simon &
Schuster, New York, New York, 1969. — This
book can help us face, professionally and personally, the end of life.
The Tunnel and the Light, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D., Marlow &
Co., New York, New York, 1999. —
Life-enhancing insights from the author of the classic On Death and
Dying.
The Handbook for Companioning the Mourner: Eleven Essential Principles,
by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D., April 2009. —
Partly a counseling model and partly an explanation of true
empathy, this handbook explores the ways companionship eases grief. For
caretakers who work with grieving people or for friends and family
just hoping to stay close, 11 tenets are outlined for mourner-led care.
These simple rules call for understanding another person's pain,
listening with the heart rather than the head, not filling up every
minute with words, respecting confusion and disorder, and relying on
curiosity rather than expertise. Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD, is a grief
counselor and the director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition.
He is the author of Healing a Spouse's Grieving Heart, The Journey
Through Grief, Transcending Divorce, and Understanding Your
Grief.
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