Animal Welfare Professionals

Has anyone developed a good network for fospice (foster hospice) for unadoptable animals that are not yet at the point of needing to be euthanized? If so, who pays the vet bills?: Who decides when it is time to euthanize vs symptom treatment?

Hi Cheryl! We do not have a formal network for fospice, but we have kind of figured out the strengths of our fosters and reach out accordingly (one seems to specialize in expectant and new moms, one seems to specialize in behavior cases, etc). When I say specialize, I mean they are interested or drawn to those cases, are willing to do those, and have excellent outcomes. So I suppose I am the fospice and senior dog person as well. 

When I have had very sick dogs, I am responsible for taking them to the vet that the county has an account with. I let the director know and I set the appointments, took the dog, and the bills went to the county account. Palliative care vs curative care is an individual basis and involves decision making by the vet, the foster, and the director, and euthanasia is based on vet-suggested criteria for quality of life. I am actually using a quality of life google form on a dog right now to track "good days and bad days" and have been checking in with the vet verbally every couple weeks to discuss how palliative care is going and when to make the decision. 

Has anyone developed a good network for fospice (foster hospice) for unadoptable animals that are not yet at the point of needing to be euthanized? If so, who pays the vet bills?: Who decides when it is time to euthanize vs symptom treatment?

Is the google form something that you can share? What do you do if you are the only fospice volunteer and there are more animals that need fospice than you can take in? 

Hi Cheryl! We do not have a formal network for fospice, but we have kind of figured out the strengths of our fosters and reach out accordingly (one seems to specialize in expectant and new moms, one seems to specialize in behavior cases, etc). When I say specialize, I mean they are interested or drawn to those cases, are willing to do those, and have excellent outcomes. So I suppose I am the fospice and senior dog person as well. 

When I have had very sick dogs, I am responsible for taking them to the vet that the county has an account with. I let the director know and I set the appointments, took the dog, and the bills went to the county account. Palliative care vs curative care is an individual basis and involves decision making by the vet, the foster, and the director, and euthanasia is based on vet-suggested criteria for quality of life. I am actually using a quality of life google form on a dog right now to track "good days and bad days" and have been checking in with the vet verbally every couple weeks to discuss how palliative care is going and when to make the decision. 

Has anyone developed a good network for fospice (foster hospice) for unadoptable animals that are not yet at the point of needing to be euthanized? If so, who pays the vet bills?: Who decides when it is time to euthanize vs symptom treatment?

Has anyone developed a good network for fospice (foster hospice) for unadoptable animals that are not yet at the point of needing to be euthanized? If so, who pays the vet bills?: Who decides when it is time to euthanize vs symptom treatment?