"What Would You Do?": How Cat Owners Make End-of-Life Decisions and Implications for Veterinary-Client Interactions

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Animal Behavior
• Human-Animal Bond

Background:

• Cats are New Zealand's most common pets, with increasing lifespans due to veterinary advances.
• End-of-life decisions for cats are influenced by owner-cat relationships and psychosocial factors.
• Owners face challenges in recognizing and interpreting their cat's end-of-life signs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how owners of older, chronically ill cats make end-of-life decisions.
• To understand the veterinarian's role in the feline end-of-life decision-making process.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study using retrospective semi-structured interviews with 14 cat owners.
• Thematic analysis of interview transcripts to identify key themes.

Main Results:

• Identified nine themes: four animal-centered (behavior change, pain, aging signs, external observation) and five human-centered (veterinarian understanding, normalizing death, veterinarian's role, owner validation, outcome prediction).
• Owners valued veterinarian expertise, validation, and continuity of care.
• Veterinarian's role in end-of-life decisions is often undefined.

Conclusions:

• End-of-life decision-making for cats is a complex process influenced by both the animal's condition and the owner's psychosocial context.
• Veterinarians are vital in providing expertise and validation, but their role requires clearer definition.
• Further research should explore the veterinarian's perspective in feline end-of-life care.