Animal Hospice from the Perspective
of the Veterinarian, the Animals and their People

 

CONTENT AND PURPOSE:

At the first indication of a serious health condition with our animals we usually gear ourselves into action to find and provide the best possible care for them. It is often a time of exploring every potential treatment known for the condition, a time of moving all energies toward physical healing. It is a time of hope.
 
And in the instances when the time comes that it is clear that our animal’s condition will not heal and is terminal, we are then presented with the painful challenge to surrender to what we cannot change--that our loved one will die. This shift from providing the best possible quality of life to the best possible quality of end-of-life time is an essential one that our animals deserve. However, it compels us to face our own pain rather than run from it. Perhaps, this is the emotional core of hospice for us: acceptance versus resistance of the impending death of our love one, and acceptance versus resistance of our own emotional pain of anticipatory grief. This energy of acceptance gently and significantly reduces suffering and invites in the presence of peace and grace. It opens the door for what Dr. Karen Randall of Solace Veterinary Hospice calls moments of “joy therapy” for every day that we have left with our animals.

It can be hard to come to such acceptance and to not be overwhelmed by our anticipatory grief. Preparing to say goodbye to someone we profoundly love is not easy. We all need loving support and practical assistance during these times. The energetic, emotional and spiritual issues of hospice as well as the practical issues of physical care are covered in this class to provide you with such support. You’ll hear stories about real people and animals and the journeys they have experienced, as well as specific guidelines and practical tips to help you through the sacred and challenging time of hospice with your beloved animal.


And what is hospice on the philosophical level? What does it involve? Hospice is a time when we decide to forego further extensive medical treatments and hospitalization to focus on the palliative care and emotional and physical comfort of our love one for their remaining time on earth. Hospice may also mean we’ve made a decision to provide a time of quality life at home for our animals rather than deciding to have them euthanized just because their condition is terminal with no possible cure. However, hospice does not preclude the choice of euthanasia.  There are instances when suffering and pain become unbearable and untreatable, and euthanasia is the only choice to allow our beloved animals a dignified, pain free death.  As Dr. Karen Randall of Solace Veterinary Hospice says, “hospice neither hastens or delays death.”  It is a time of pain free, quality of life before death.

The decisions we make with our animals and on behalf of our animals--with medical information from our veterinarians about which choice may be best at a given time in our animals’ end of life journey--are private ones, sacred ones and are unique to each situation. There is no one way to die that is right for every animal. The choices of euthanasia or unassisted death can both be part of a hospice experience. Each situation, each set of circumstances and perhaps most importantly the desires of each individual animal, are different. One of the purposes of hospice time is to be present and quietly attuned with our animals, helping us know what they want and what they need.

In her article Is Veterinary Pet Hospice Right for You? Laurel Lagoni, of VeterinaryWisdom.com and a pioneer of pet loss grief services at Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital says:
 
In most cases, a pet hospice is not a specific place. Rather, it’s a philosophy of care that offers an alternative to extended treatments and repeated hospitalizations for your pet. However, pet hospice doesn’t replace the option of a well planned, sensitively conducted euthanasia. When it’s time, pet hospice programs can help facilitate a peaceful death in your pet’s familiar home environment or in a home like setting called a “comfort room” at your veterinary clinic.
 
The purpose of the class is to inform, educate and support you, not to attempt to impose dictates of right or wrong ways of managing this difficult time, or to judge your decisions.

I hope you will enjoy this panel discussion of professionals as they share their expertise, insights, and perspectives and stories from years of client support and integrative hospice care for beloved animal family members.

May you be inspired, informed and supported on your own journeys of acceptance, grace and service during hospice with your animal loved ones.

With Love and Blessings to you and the animals you love,
Teresa

Issues that are addressed in the teleclass:

This features panelists Dr. Karen Randall, DVM, and professional animal communicators Kristin Thompson and Carol Schultz class is moderated by Teresa Wagner .

You will receive guidance for both practical issues of physical care and the emotional and spiritual aspects of providing hospice care with your animal loved ones. You'll hear stories about real people and animals and the journeys they have experienced, as well as specific guidelines and tips to help you through the sacred time of hospice with your beloved animal.

• Hospice as a focus on “caring vs. curing”

• How is animal hospice different from human hospice?  How is home hospice for animals different from sanctuaries that take in older animals for the rest of their lives until their death?

• Does hospice mean “no euthanasia?”

• How animal hospice involves far more than home euthanasia service

• Tips for how we can all become more comfortable with administering medications, giving sub cu fluids and other specialized care that animals in late or end stages of life may need.

• The most important and best possible things we can do for our animals during their end of life period:  Specific things we can do to make the situation the best it can possibly be for the animal and the person, things that are not helpful to the animal, and things that definitely are helpful.


• What physical things do we need to be prepared for during the end-of-life period for our animals?

• How we can best work with out animals’ veterinarians during this emotional and stressful time?


• Advice for those who use multiple service providers (i.e. a western vet, a holistic vet, an oncologist, an acupuncturist, an animal communicator, energy healer)--how to manage this to make it work harmoniously and to derive and share the important information for the sake of our animal.


• How do we provide love & support for our beloved animal when our heart is breaking at the thought of losing them?

        Stories shared by professional animal communicators Carol Schultz and Kristen Thompson regarding:
        
1. Their most significant learning from animals and people they have worked with at end-of-life


2. Thoughts and reminders about what they found to be helpful when moving through compassionate dying experiences with their own animals

3. Thoughts and tips on how we can handle others placing pressure on us--for instance telling us that euthanasia is a bad thing, that only unassisted death is ok, or, conversely when someone attempts to push us into euthanasia when we may think it’s too soon.  Or when we feel pressured into doing a very expensive medical treatment that is beyond our budget capability, or feel guilty when we can’t afford certain treatments or procedures

Visit the sections on comfort and support and other resources to help you with grief

Comments from Class Participants:

This class was extremely informative from all perspectives. I took it mainly because because I have had to say good bye to five of my best friends. I had no idea about animal hospice and I wanted to know more about exactly what, who, where, etc..was involved. I was very impressed with the overall class.  ~ Kristin

So timely for me, and Kristin, Carol and Teresa all provided very compassionate and gentle guidance to navigate these very difficult and emotional waters. It was just what I was hoping for. It is the perfect class for someone who has just had a close animal friend transition or is about to have one do so. It gives you some of the medical options and things to keep in mind as well as how to deal with it on both an emotional and spiritual level.  ~ Ellie
 

I would definitely recommend this class to others. The most positive experience was listening to Dr. Randall because i am hoping to get into animal hospice work and possibly open a hospice in my area.
~ Veronica  

I feel so much more prepared now for when the hospice time comes for my animals. I thought hospice was a "place" and now understand it is a philosophy of care. I don't look forward to the day when this comes for my little ones, but I feel I now have support, knowledge and tools to help me. Thank you!
~ Olivia

I especially enjoyed part 2 from the animals perspective. I am a animal Reiki practitioner as well as a person who has had to make some tough decisions recently regarding my animal companions passing. I found the class to be extremely helpful. It was very informative, understanding, insightful, compassionate, honest, and helpful.  Highly recommend.    ~Kirsten

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Flower Essences for Illness, End-of-Life Care, Caregiver Stress
and Healing Grief:

Learn how to use healing flowers essences to support the sacred transition of death, the grieving process, caregiver stress & grief support roles

Left to right:  Gracie collecting flowers; Olivia helping to bless the making of a flower essence blend;
Morgan enjoying his garden

The sacred drops of flower essences have changed my life, and have been life enhancing for many, many of my human and animal clients. If you feel a resonance with the flowers, and want to become more knowledgeable and proficient in using them, please consider taking this workshop. It will empower you to bring life-long energetic assistance to animals, your clients and yourself.



Left to right: Mickey, Bleeding Heart, Grief Relief Flower Essence Formula, Bleeding Heart alba, and my beloved KK
(KK's portrait by Leslie Heathcote)

CONTENT AND PURPOSE

Death from the physical body is one of the most sacred periods of time on earth. Yet it also often brings tremendous emotional pain to those of us who grieve the physical loss of loved ones, intense stress to those of us in caregiving roles, and sometimes uncertainty for those of us wanting to provide support to those who grieve. And, of course, most of us have a great desire for a peaceful death experience for our loved ones. Flower essences provide us with gentle yet powerful energy to support both our loved ones, our clients and ourselves during the transition of death, grieving, caregiving and supporting others.

Flower essences are natural, inexpensive, non-intrusive to administer, and can be used in conjunction with any medicines or holistic remedies without any contraindications. Learning about and using the dozens of essences available to support us during the sacred period of death and grief can change the nature of these experiences from suffering to grace, and add peace to the pain, as Eckhart speaks of in the quote below. I hope you will join us for this teleclass to learn how to use the essences to bring more grace, peace and relief from suffering to your experiences of caregiving, loss and grief. The information can be used the rest of your life and the lives of the animals you love and care for during those critical and emotional stressful times.

When a form that you have unconsciously or consciously identified with as part of yourself leaves you or dissolves, that can be extremely painful. It leaves a hole, so to speak, in the fabric of your existence. When this happens, can you face and accept that hole, that strange empty space? If you do, you may find that it is no longer a fearful place. You may be surprised to find peace emanating from it.
~Eckhart Tolle,Stillness Speaks

In this comprehensive, interactive and hands-on class you will have an opportunity to:

• Review the practical basics of flower essences:
  
  • What they are and how they are made
  • How do they work?
  • How to administer them to animals and take them ourselves
  • The difference between stock/concentrate bottles, formulas and dosage bottles
  • Whey to buy flower essences
• Learn the important difference between “rescue” formulas such as Rescue Remedy and Five Flower Formula which are helpful for immediate short term relief, and the multitude of additional essences available for both immediate and longer term healing of specific feelings and issues
• Learn how to maximize the effective use of flower essences by matching specific essences to specific feelings and energy states vs. relying exclusively on pre-blended formulas
• Hear case studies of how flower essences have helped others during caregiving, death, and grief
• Ask questions and receive coaching about which essences would be helpful for your personal situation or your clients’ situations
• Become intimately familiar with dozens of individual flower essences that heal and support specific feelings or energy states associated with:
  
  • End stages of illness/hospice or trauma before death
  • The transition of physical death
  • The role of direct caregiver to one who is dying
  • Being witness (direct or indirect) to the trauma or death of another
  • Grieving the loss of a loved one--dealing with the death of a pet
  • The role of supporting others through grief

Teresa’s background in flower essences and loss and grief:
Teresa has been working with flower essences both personally and professionally since 1989. She has studied with the founders of the Flower Essence Society, Desert Alchemy and Perelandra. She also created the formula and conducted the early research for the Animal Relief Formula, available from FES. Teresa has had an active animal communication practice since 1991 and has been working professionally in grief counseling since 1986. She holds an undergraduate degree in psychology and a masters degree in counseling. Bringing the healing energy of the flowers to animals and people is one of her greatest joys.

Read an article describing Teresa's work in FES's International Newsletter.

You may also find support in Teresa's articles on dealing with the death of a pet.

Feedback from Class Participants

It was a great class on how to use Flower Essences for the specific use during end of life issues.
Teresa's connection and knowledge of the energies of flower essences is amazing. Gave me a renewed respect for the healing powers of flower essences, and another energy to lean on during a very difficult time. Teresa's amazing connection to the flower essences will energize you to learn more. She has such a compassionate way with dealing with these issues, you will find support from her during this very difficult time. ~ Tresa Laferty

I debated whether it would be too repetitious for what I already knew about the subject and whether I should take it. I am VERY glad I did. This is an amazing class. Take it!!
The incredible knowledge of the instructor and her warm, compassionate delivery. All of her classes are amazing! ~ Penny P

Teresa's workshops always exceed my expectations, she has a voice and knowledge which make learning a joy! Having lost my beloved Alfie dog a year ago, many helpful ideas came forward from other students who talked about their troubles, for which Teresa gave great insight and flower essence suggestions. ~ Diane D

I learned so much in four hours- she packed so much in!! I really want to take more of her classes. I didn't know i would really become passionate about essences but she made it so pleasant I'm hooked! Using now in addition to ttouch with puppy mill and shelter dogs. Realizing how much essences can truly help. ~ Judy S

I am much more comfortable about recommending flower essences after taking this course - and about being able to choose them for myself - without waiting for advice from the practitioner I work with. I especially appreciate your help with the hedgehog PTSD issue. It's helping me with ways to deal with care giving issues in my own life - and also providing thoughtful information that will help me help my clients. A wonderfully thorough introduction to using flower essences for a wide variety of grief and loss issues. I especially liked the second class - the use of the meditation to identify an issue (I was surprised at what came up for me!) - and then how those issues were woven into the instruction as a way to learn about using essences. I found the series of questions and the followup discussion especially helpful. ~ Dawn W

Shooting Star is a profoundly healing essence for animals and humans who feel alienated and not at home on earth. It helps us find our sense of belonging on earth when we have lost a deeply beloved one to physical death. Photo: Sacred preparation of the Shooting Star Mother Essence, co-created in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the FES practitioner program in 1989

My beloved cat Olivia, healing angels, and sacred stones of larimar, rose and Lemurian quartz help in the blessing of the Animal Relief Formula, created to help all animals who have been or are in rescue, foster and shelter situations or any trauma.

The flowers in the well known Rescue Remedy created by Dr. Edward Bach are the same essences in the powerful Healingherbs blend Five-Flower Formula, distributed by FES in North America. All of the English essences made by the Bach company are available through FES.

If you were to see your true self, your own brilliant soul,
you would find that you are worthy of great love.
If you were to see yourself as you really are,
you would realize that you are truly a most beautiful light of God.
The highest truth of this exists within the heart of each one of us.
Getting just a glimpse of that can change our lives.

~Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

Sometimes, when we are ill (animal or person), the focus on our dramatically changing bodies and physical life can impact remembering who we are at our core, for true healing or preparation for death to come with peace. The essence from the Inmortal flower helps us experience this glimpse, helping transform feelings of inadequacy—not strong enough, worthy enough, beautiful enough, deserving enough, especially compared to others—into pure, unconditional love for oneself at the root of one's being. It is one of my most frequently recommended essences for people and animals. Learn more about all of the Desert Alchemy flower essences.

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