Categories: PETS

‘A Sacred Time’: Local vets help pet owners cope with end-of-life issues | News, Sports, Jobs

Vet assistants Mary Riley (left) and Brittany Stufft (center) hold Bella, an 11-year-old Yorkie, as vet Dr. Charles Bloomquist gives her a shot during an appointment Friday.
Mirror photos by Rachel Foor

CURRYVILLE — All dogs go to heaven, but before they get there, local veterinarians work to offer advanced treatment options, grief support for pet owners and even hospice or palliative care for sick pets.

“For people, we have hospice, morphine patches, wheelchairs and all that,” said Dr. Charles Bloomquist of Cove Veterinary Services. “We don’t always have those options with our pets.”

When an animal is sick or nearing the end of its life, Bloomquist can offer painkillers, fluids through an IV or even anti-anxiety medication.

“We don’t want our pets to suffer mentally,” Bloomquist said. “When they’re suffering from anxiety, we’re obligated to treat it. I mean, they have Prozac for people.”

Although his practice doesn’t offer advanced treatment options such as chemotherapy, dialysis or organ transplants, Bloomquist can refer clients to veterinary hospitals that do.

Vet assistant Jennifer Cogan (left) holds 5-year-old Pierre the pug while vet assistant Brittany Stufft trims his nails during a check-up at Cove Veterinary Services on Friday.
Mirror photo by Rachel Foor

Oftentimes, pet owners will be directed toward Sylvan Veterinary Hospital in Duncansville or a university veterinary hospital in Pittsburgh, Cornell or Ohio.

“I’m not big on that,” Bloomquist said. “With chemo or radiation, you’re looking at a living death most of the time. But I make sure (clients) are aware that there are extreme measures.”

The Mirror’s attempts to speak with Sylvan were unsuccessful.

Christa Bartko, office manager at State College Veterinary Hospital, agreed that those services would be handled by specialists and that they always provide clients with options.

“A lot of times, with some cancer treatments, we’re going for more remission than curative,” Bartko said. “We’re looking at a much smaller window of time with pets. We try to get them into remission to prolong their life.”

Vet assistant Brittany Stufft holds Bella, an 11-year-old Yorkie, as vet Dr. Charles Bloomquist listens to her breathing during an appointment at Cove Veterinary Services.
Mirror photo by Rachel Foor

While there aren’t any specialist facilities or board-certified surgeons in the State College area, the State College Veterinary Hospital does work in conjunction with those providers.

“We can do monitoring care here,” Bartko said. “A lot of your local vets can be a point of contact and work to facilitate care. We don’t just send them to an oncologist and then wipe our hands clean of it.”

Bartko said they can draw blood and perform certain tests so pet owners don’t always have to travel hours away for an appointment.

“It’s a cooperative effort,” she said.

Nancy Kinzey, a lifelong dog owner, said she did try to treat one of her dogs with chemotherapy and Bloomquist referred her to Sylvan. The chemo came in the form of a pill, she said.

While she wasn’t quite sure what was making her dog sick, she said “when she would eat, it wouldn’t go where it was supposed to.”

Once treatments have stopped working and “hospice isn’t doing it, that’s the time” to have your pet put to sleep, according to Bloomquist.

Kinzey brought her 11-year-old Yorkie named Bella into Cove Veterinary Services to check on a cough and get her nails trimmed. Bloomquist said she might have bronchitis and prescribed medicine for the nine-pound rescue dog.

Kinzey said she has two more Yorkies and a Maltese at home and that she used to have cocker spaniels.

“I love dogs, I think they’re the most precious gift God ever created,” Kinzey said.

One of her cocker spaniels, named Bud, had to have surgery on his ear, and when her former veterinarian was done, Kinzey said Bud had a lump under his ear. She quickly switched vets to Bloomquist and has been his client for more than 20 years.

When it comes to euthanizing a pet, Kinzey said “it’s always the same.”

“It’s never easy,” Kinzey said. “You don’t want to do it, but you have to do what is best for your dog, or cat.”

Amy Miller, who stopped by the practice with 5-year-old pug, Pierre, said she knows it’s time “when the bad days outweigh the good.”

A longtime dog owner, Miller gave the example of her Chihuahua-rat terrier mix, Vinny, who she had to put down when he was 13.

“He was just very old, was going blind, was easily startled and just wasn’t healthy,” Miller said.

The pain of losing a pet hasn’t deterred either Miller or Kinzey from adopting again.

“It doesn’t get easier, but I would never go without having a dog,” Kinzey said.

Miller said she has always had a dog in her house.

“They have a shorter lifespan so when you get another dog, you know you’re going to go through it again,” Miller said.

Bloomquist is “really, really mindful of the end of life process,” Miller said. He prays over pets before euthanasia and follows up with sending a sympathy card signed by the staff.

“That stuck out to me,” Miller said. “He makes you feel like he understands.”

Bloomquist said his practice does provide hospice to clients’ pets, while also helping pet owners through the difficult process of deciding when it’s time to say goodbye to their animal.

“I feel it is such a sacred time,” Bloomquist said. “It is one of the hardest times of the person’s life, especially when they’ve had them for a decade-plus.”

He provides pet owners with literature, including an article addressing theories on why pets go to heaven, a poem from the perspective from the pet that ends “I know how sad this day will be, but, thank you my friend, for being there for me” and Revelation 21:4-5 that reads, in part, “Behold, I make all things new.”

When it is time, Bloomquist said, before euthanizing, he gives the pet a localized shot of anesthesia and leaves the pet owner with their pet for a while to say goodbye.

“I want to be there for the pet, so it doesn’t just suffer and die, and be there for the pet owner so they know, at least based on my feelings, that pets go to heaven,” Bloomquist said.

It’s a pain that Bloomquist is familiar with. He said he had a 9-to-10-year-old dog that started to have seizures that nothing would stop.

“Usually when older dogs get seizures, it most likely means a brain tumor,” Bloomquist said.

It was harder to decide if it was time for another one of his dogs, as he was having trouble walking.

“Could I have kept him going?” Bloomquist asked rhetorically. “I just didn’t know. Most people wait too long.”

Once a pet has passed away at Bloomquist’s practice, pet owners can have Chimney Rocks Animal Rest and Crematory collect the body for cremation.

State College Veterinary Hospital used to offer at-home euthanasia but had to stop offering the option after the pandemic, as they were dealing with staffing and time constraints, Bartko said. Currently, the hospital only provides end-of-life services to its existing clients.

“It’s not a decision that neither the client or the doctor takes lightly,” Bartko said.

While they don’t offer hospice at the hospital, vets will give pet owners the medication needed to keep their pets at home with them for as long as possible.

“The pet owners are the ones who can judge it better than we can because we’re not there in their daily life,” Bartko said. “We don’t know how many good days they have versus bad days.”

To help pet owners with their decision, Bartko said they provide a quality-of-life scale that gives a score on if it’s time.

“Our job is just to keep animals as happy and healthy as possible, in cooperation with the owners,” Bartko said.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.

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