Dr Faith Banks, who specialises in geriatric and palliative care for pets, has shared a ‘quality of life’ scale that she uses to help her make the difficult decision of when to put a pet to sleep
Facing the heart-wrenching decision of when to say goodbye to a beloved pet is never easy but now a vet has shared her ‘free’ and ‘simple’ method for assessing a cat or dog’s quality of life. Sadly, our furry friends 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.
But deciding when that time has come can be incredibly difficult. Dr Faith Banks, who specialises in geriatric and palliative care for pets, has been gaining attention on TikTok by sharing her expertise with elderly animals.
After saying goodbye to her nearly 15-year-old Bernese mountain dog, Dr Banks was inundated with questions about how she decided it was time for euthanasia.
In a TikTok video, Dr Banks explained: “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.”
She added: “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 really does help quite a bit.”
So, how does this ‘quality of life’ scale work?
The vet explained there are 14 different categories used to evaluate a cat or dog’s quality of life. Each category receives a score from zero, indicating poor quality, to five, representing “very good or normal”.
These scores are then used to work out the pet’s overall quality of life percentage. In her own experience, her dog’s score was “dropping below a 60”.
She added: “You might say, well, that’s not so bad but it was dropping and it was dropping quickly. I had done it every week and I was seeing drop by drop by drop.
“I didn’t want it to get to a point where I said, okay, now she’s at 40 and I should do something about it. I wanted to be able to say goodbye to her on a good day, when she was still feeling good.”
Dr Banks also shared her wish to spoil her dog with delicious, indulgent foods she’d never tasted before, and she wanted “her to want them”. Her dog had been on a fairly strict diet due to skin allergies, making these treats especially meaningful.
The vet also pointed out the areas where her dog was most impacted, including falling energy levels, reduced mobility, loss of interest in previously exciting things, disrupted sleep, and an oozing tumour causing discomfort. Realising her dog “just wasn’t happy” helped Dr Banks make the decision.
How to use the ‘quality of life’ scale
Dr. Banks, who founded MMVHS in 2012, believes that when it comes to euthanasia, it’s better to be “a day too early than a month too late”. To help pet owners during difficult times, she has created a free ‘quality of life’ scale on the MMVHS website.
She developed this scale “for pets to use with her hospice, palliative and geriatric patients. It is meant to help families take subjective thoughts about a beloved pet and put them into a more objective framework”.
The scale can now be downloaded and completed here. However, if you’re worried about your pet’s health, the best advice is always to consult your vet.