Quality of life and ongoing care
Look at your animal’s experience across daily life. Comfort, enjoyment and the ability to meet basic needs matter alongside changes in memory or behaviour.
Comfort and rest
Notice whether your animal can rest comfortably, find a suitable place to sleep and settle after activity. Discuss pain, disrupted sleep or repeated toileting difficulties with your veterinarian.
Enjoyment and connection
Consider interest in food, preferred interactions and suitable activities. Adapt opportunities to current abilities, and allow your animal to choose whether to take part.
Anxiety, confusion and access
Record episodes of anxiety, confusion or distress, including their duration and what was happening at the time. Check whether your animal can reach food, water, resting places and toileting areas comfortably and safely.
Your needs matter too
Interrupted sleep and increasing care demands can leave owners exhausted. Tell your veterinary team what is becoming difficult. A useful care plan needs to be realistic for your animal and your household.
Discuss changes in supervision, support and daily care before they become unmanageable.
Review patterns over time
Share meaningful changes with your veterinarian, including improvements, difficulties and activities your animal still enjoys. Repeated observations can help guide a conversation about care.
Plans may need adjustment as needs change. Decisions about quality of life require an individual discussion with your veterinarian; this website does not calculate a quality-of-life score or make end-of-life recommendations.