106 Parraweena Road,
Miranda NSW 2228
Navigating the end-of-life process can be a challenging chapter in your pet’s life as well as your own.
At VSOS, we’re proud to introduce our Hospice and Palliative Care service, providing compassionate support tailored to ensure you and your cherished companions receive comfort and support during this tender phase of their lives.
“The goal of hospice and palliative care it to address all the physical, psychosocial, spiritual and practical burdens placed by serious illness on the patient and family.”
A hospice or palliative care appointment differs from a regular vet visit by emphasizing comfort care over curative measures. Our primary focus is to address any sources of pain or discomfort your pet may experience and assist you in preparing for the later stages of care.
Our lead, Dr Anna Markey, is a certified palliative care veterinarian who views palliative and hospice care as a philosophy aimed at preserving the bond between animals and humans. Our goal is to sustain a good quality of life for your pet whenever possible, while also supporting you through the challenging decisions that arise as your pet’s condition progresses.
Hospice care has a focus on creating care programs based on comfort rather than curative measures, acknowledging a point in a pet’s journey where curative options are no longer viable or if treatment side effects potentially outweigh the benefits.
Palliative care embodies compassionate comfort, whether or not curative measures are pursued. Its purpose is to alleviate discomfort, address symptoms, and ease the emotional burden for the pet at any point throughout their illness, offering solace, support and guidance for both caregivers and pets during their journey.
Dr Anna’s passion is animal gerontology, geriatric medicine, palliative care, animal hospice and the human-animal bond. She is one of only a handful of Australian veterinarians to complete the International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care’s ‘Animal Hospice and Palliative Care Certification Program’ (2023) and is qualified to call herself a hospice and palliative care veterinarian. She has worked in the animal hospice and palliative care field, as a mobile veterinarian, for the last 18 months and is excited to be at the forefront of VSOS’s new hospice and palliative care service.
Having owned two geriatric pets herself, she understands the turmoil a family endures when making end-of-life decisions for their fur-babies. She uses her personal experience, along with her background in internal medicine and emergency, and her certification to formulate individualised hospice and palliative care programs for your fur-babies.
Anna offers hospice and palliative care consultations, quality-of-life consultations, telehospice and tailored euthanasia experiences. For more information, contact our team directly at anna.markey@vsos.com.au.
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