Vet shares 'free and easy' method to know if your dog has a good quality of life

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Pet owners will inevitably have to face the heart-wrenching moment of saying goodbye to their cherished companions.Our beloved cats and dogs don't live as long as we do, and part of being a responsible pet owner is ensuring they don't suffer in their final days - a decision that is never easy to make.Thankfully, a vet has come forward with a 'free' and 'easy' method to help assess a dog's quality of life.

Dr Faith Banks, who specialises in geriatric and palliative care for pets, has been gaining attention on TikTok.She shares her expertise on caring for elderly animals and after recently having to euthanise her nearly 15 year old Bernese mountain dog, Dr Banks received numerous questions about her "thought process" behind the choice.She shared: "When I think about decision making, I talk a lot about quality of life and looking at her quality of life.

So how do I take all of those things and put it together? I use a quality of life scale and it's on our website. "People can look at it for free.

I really think it's a very, very helpful tool, especially in older pets. It doesn't work in every single situation but in most of the situations where we are talking and considering euthanasia, it helps." So, what exactly is this 'quality of life' scale?'The vet explained that there are 14 different categories used to assess a cat or dog's quality of life, with each category being scored from zero, indicating poor quality, to five, representing "very good or normal".