Euthanasia Vets Provide A Peaceful Death

When the time came, Marie Commiskey's son and two daughters, who had grown up with Merlin, gathered at her Littleton, Colo., home - one flew in from Seattle- to bid farewell. They went on a picnic (Merlin got to have hotdogs, his favorite), then they returned home, lit candles, settled next to the old dog, and Merlin went peacefully, surrounded by love. "This, for us, was the only way to do it," says Commiskey, a portrait photographer.

The at-home euthanasia was performed by veterinarian Ann Brandenburg-Schroeder, whose Denver area practice, Beside Still Water, is devoted exclusively to providing that service. Brandenburg-Schroeder, who started the practice in 2000, was among the first of a new type of veterinarian specialists - home euthanasia vets - that in recent years has begun taking root in different areas of the country.

They travel to the pet's home at whatever time they're asked and administer the injection according to preferences stated by the owner - sometimes with friends and family gathered around, sometimes under a favorite tree, sometimes alone with the pet because the owner doesn't want to be in the room during the final seconds.

Less anxiety for pets and the people who love them

Some of the pet owners who opt for this approach have pets that hate going to the vet's office, and this is a way to spare them that anxiety in their last moments. But many, Brandenburg-Schroeder says, simply want the animal to die in familiar surroundings. "Most of us would like to die at home," she says. "Animals are no different."

There are, in some cities, other ways to arrange for a veterinarian to perform a euthanasia at home. Mobile vets who drive self-contained medical units to clients' homes to provide routine veterinary care are, in many cases, finding that home euthanasia now represents a significant portion of their business.

And a small number of conventional veterinary clinics will agree to send a vet to perform a home euthanasia - but it can be difficult to schedule them to arrive at the time that the pet and the owner need it, particularly if some calamity or downturn in the animal's condition makes immediate attention necessary.

Because euthanasia vets do only euthanasia, they are generally available on quite short notice. Their numbers are few - perhaps no more than a few score across the country.

But "I think in 10 years, perhaps less, it will be quite common," says veterinarian Jodi Freifeld, who started her home euthanasia business for pets, Peaceful Partings, in Colorado Springs more than a year ago after several years as a veterinarian in an emergency clinic, a relief vet for veterinarians on vacation, and a vet for the military.

"It is a very stressful time for pet owners," Freifeld says, "and the knowledge that they don't have to be concerned with transporting their pet when it may be in pain" or take the final torturous last drive to the vet's office is, to owners who opt for this, worth the additional cost - generally 30% to 90% higher, depending on the vet and city - for an at-home euthanasia vs. an office euthanasia.

An idea 'ahead of its time'

Brandenburg-Schroeder first launched a home euthanasia practice in the early 1990s. But it was an idea that "was well ahead of its time" and she abandoned it after about a year and plied her veterinarian skills in other ways, including as a vet for an animal shelter and doing relief vet work.

Then she euthanized her big, old, ailing dog, Bear, in a favorite spot when he indicated it was time to go. After that, "Bear kept coming back and nudging me, shoving me really, saying, 'You need to do this for others.' " In the nine years since she started Beside Still Water, she has performed about 3,000 home euthanasias.

She knows that most of the general public finds this kind of specialty sad, even gruesome. But "I have an opportunity to do work in which I'm always surrounded by a tremendous amount of love," she says. "The time of death is one of the most important times there is. The fact that people allow me to be there at this very intimate time is an honor."

Freifeld views it similarly. "I can see how much people appreciate it" when an animal "is sick or has a poor quality of life" and she arrives to tend to every detail, including transporting the body for cremation, so the owners can concentrate on being completely connected to the pet.

That was important to the Commiskeys. "There could not have been a better teacher for my kids than Merlin," Commiskey says. "We did everything together. And this was a very important moment that we needed to do in the right way."