Loving care for your pet in your own home
At Stillwaters Veterinary Care we offer compassionate geriatric, rehabilitative, and end of life veterinary care programs that allow you to care for your pet in the comfort of your own home. Our care programs are designed to provide you and your pet the additional supportive care usually required during the final phase of a terminal illness, with increasing medical needs as your pet ages, or during the recovery phase of a major illness or surgery.
The first step in our program begins with our staff meeting with you and your pet in your home (or virtually) for a Quality of Life Assessment to get an idea of what your pet's day-to-day life is like and the specific health care problems they face. We will contact your veterinarian to get their medical records prior to the first visit so that we know as much as possible about your pet before meeting them. We will guide you as you decide whether a care program is right for your pet or if more traditional care is recommended.
Our Goals:
- Keep your pet at home for as much of their care as possible - Your pet is happiest at home but increasing medical needs often means increased trips outside the home. We truly want to help keep your pet where they are the happiest and most comfortable.
- Increase your pet's comfort and quality of life - We use traditional medicine, alternative therapies, laser therapy, and environmental and nutritional modifications. We also encourage mindfulness during the time you spend with your pet.
- Provide you with the knowledge, tools, and skills to care for your pet - It is often not realistic for all of your pet's care to be done by visiting professionals so it becomes the family's task to complete their daily nursing care and treatments. We give you the tools and the confidence to help your pet through this time of increased needs.
- Help you navigate the difficult waters of having a pet with increased health needs - This includes helping you make decisions and prepare for what is to come. We help you plan financially, logistically, and emotionally. For those with pets in hospice care, we help prepare for the eventual process of having to say goodbye to your beloved pet - whether through a planned euthanasia or a natural death at home.
Hospice & Palliative Pet Care
At this time, due to staffing constraints and demand for in-home euthanasia visits, our in-home Hospice & Palliative care programs are on hold and our waiting list is at capacity. Thank you for understanding. We encourage you to continue to work with your veterinarian for your pet's care and we are still here for you if you would like to make your pet's last moments as peaceful and dignified as possible in the comfort of your own home or in our Comfort Center located on Onondaga Hill in Syracuse.
When your pet is diagnosed with a terminal illness it is devastating. It often means increased physical, mental, and emotional strain for everyone involved. We are here to help guide you through these difficult decisions and provide compassionate home-based care for your pet. Our Hospice and Palliative Care is focused on comfort and quality of life rather than a cure and is appropriate for pet's with terminal illnesses that require intensive care in their last days. The purpose of this care is to control your pet's pain and other areas of discomfort as much as possible until they pass on their own or you elect humane euthanasia for them. We may use non-conventional methods of pain control to achieve this.
Hospice and palliative care require a great deal of time commitment, physical work, emotional burden, and often increased expenses. Please call to schedule a Quality of Life Assessment session to discuss whether hospice is the right choice for your beloved pet. Pet hospice is not meant to push your pet beyond their natural lifespan but is meant to add comfort and care during their end of life when diseases and aging issues can cause significant pain and stress. "It is not about adding years to their life but adding life to those years."
Our Hospice & Palliative Pet Care Program Includes:
- A weekly virtual visit with one of our care providers
- A daily phone check-in with your family
- On-going communications and evaluation of your pet's medical plan
- Delivery of supplies and medications as needed
- Coordination with your primary veterinarian and other specialists that are involved in your pet's care
- General emotional support through this heartbreaking time of saying goodbye to your pet
Geriatric & Rehabilitative Pet Care
At this time, due to staffing constraints and demand for in-home euthanasia visits, our in-home Geriatric & Rehabilitative Pet Care programs are on hold and our waiting list is at capacity. Thank you for understanding. We encourage you to continue to work with your veterinarian for your pet's care and we are still here for you if you would like to make your pet's last moments as peaceful and dignified as possible in the comfort of your own home or in our Comfort Center located on Onondaga Hill in Syracuse.
Geriatric and Rehabilitative Care is for pets that may not have a terminal illness but require additional in-home support that your veterinarian may not be able to provide. Situations may include postoperative or accident recovery, severe illness recovery, and general aging changes including kidney disease, chronic liver disease, heart disease, arthritis and mobility changes, incontinence, senility or cognitive changes, seizures, chronic wounds or slow growing cancers, or other processes that decrease their overall quality of life. The purpose of this care is to keep your pet at home where they are most comfortable and to reduce their perception of getting medical care and the pain and anxiety that can go with that care. We can help keep your pet at home while continuing care for their short or long term illnesses as long as you need us. If your pet is a rehabilitative care patient they may graduate from needing our care once they are recovered.
Our Geriatric & Rehabilitative Pet Care Program Includes:
- A monthly virtual visit with one of our care providers
- A weekly e-mail check-in with your family
- On-going communications and evaluation of your pet's medical plan
- Delivery of supplies and medications as needed
- Coordination with your primary veterinarian and other specialists that are involved in your pet's care
- General emotional support through this heartbreaking time of saying goodbye to your pet
In-Home Laser Therapy
We now offer in-home laser therapy that allows us to treat a larger range of conditions in a large range of patient sizes. Therapeutic lasers use light waves of a specific wavelength to cause photobiomodulation, or the alteration of cellular and tissue physiology. Light absorbed by cellular components stimulates electrons and activates cells to promote growth, proliferation, migration, and repair. Laser can be a tremendous tool for pain relief and healing and offers a medication-free, surgery-free option for pets that is side effect-free. This can be an effective treatment for pets that do not tolerate other modes of therapy. It can also be used in conjunction with medications, surgery, and other therapies to provide maximum relief and speed healing.
Conditions that could benefit from laser therapy:
- Arthritis, hip dysplasia, and mobility discomfort
- Trauma, sprains, strains, edema, and post-surgical pain and inflammation
- Wounds, pressure sores, and lick granulomas
- Spinal column disk pain
- Chronic inflammatory conditions such as recurrent urinary tract infections and pancreatitis
Which option is best for your pet?
Following our Quality of Life Assessment of your pet, we will help classify your pet as a true hospice and palliative care patient versus a geriatric or rehabilitative care patient based on their needs and the level of support you require as well. We will also make recommendations for specific types of therapy and pain control, if applicable.
We understand that this is a very difficult process to go through and that often there are not black and white answers for your situation. We provide our professional experience and empathy to help you navigate these difficult decisions. Because we want the best care for your pet as possible we may determine that is it best to discontinue our services if we cannot adequately meet you or your pet's needs and we will try to refer you to a facility that can provide appropriate care for your pet.
