Compassionate, at-home veterinary care

This #thankyouthursday, I am grateful for compassionate, at-home veterinary care.

Yesterday I spent the day with my sister and her cat, Carla, our feline friend of 19 years.

Carla has been part of our lives since we finished high school, and now we are nearly two decades into adulthood.

We had to say goodbye to Carla yesterday, and I am so grateful for compassionate, at-home veterinary care.

I’m so grateful Carla was able to stay home and receive the care she needed with minimal discomfort. That cat did not like the car, and also, she was too weak to move.

And the doctor and technician who came to see Carla yesterday could not have been kinder or more compassionate. In fact, both of them cried, which, I think a doctor crying in relation to the death of your loved one is a hallmark of true professionalism.

Yesterday was a sad day. Election results in my state did not uplift me, and losing a family pet was wrenching. But the day could have been even harder if we’d had to load our girl into a pet carrier and subject her to a car ride and a waiting room and an exam table, or if my sister’d had to walk out of the vet’s office with an empty carrier.

Instead, Carla got to be home until the end, and her final hours were filled with gentle strokes and loving words.

Death is natural—none of us gets out of here alive, after all. But we don’t all get to go as peacefully as Carla. So I am grateful for her life, and, thanks to compassionate, at-home veterinary care, for the graceful way she was able to leave it.

Love > fear,
Christina