How to Advocate for Your Pet
When you bring home a family member, you aren’t typically thinking about advocating for their health. Unless you are adopting a pet that knowingly has a disability or have experienced caregiving before, you likely don’t think about the medical journey that is inevitable for most pets. It’s an exciting time and all the joys and adventures of bringing home the pet are top of mind. But, all pets at some point need medical care and most guardians will turn into advocates for their pet’s care.
We asked pet guardians how they learned to advocate for their pets, and this is what they shared.
There are five key ways to advocate for your pet:
Managing Expectations
Before every appointment, go over the plan to handle your pet, especially if they get stressed and require sedation. Consider booking extra time during appointments to allow things to move at a slower, more comfortable pace. Discuss the goals of each appointment, prioritize them, and agree on what on the list is a ‘want’ or a ‘need.’ This will allow you to skip a task if your pet is showing stress signals.
Collaboration
Some of our pets will require an immense amount of treatment throughout their lives. . This care may require coordination between specialists, general practitioners, physical therapists,support staff, and more. The members of your pet’s care team may also speak directly with each other to collaborate on your pet’s care. Your team should allow you to propose ideas or potential treatments that you feel could be successful for your pet, and should be willing to consider you as well as your pet in all the decisions that are made. You should feel comfortable to speak up and share why a proposed solution would not work for your pet or for your household.
Boundary Setting
Boundaries can be set before and during the appointments to ensure that your pet will be comfortable. These boundaries can include discussing handling options (i.e. muzzle versus cone — also known as an elizabethan collar), oral and/or injectable sedation, asking for longer appointments and recovery times, and what stress signals are unacceptable and would warrant an end to the handling and/or visit. Your pet deserves stress free medical care and you can help make sure they get it.
Follow Up and Monitoring
It’s important to clearly communicate what signs and symptoms you are seeing at home, as many pets are stressed in veterinary settings and it can be difficult to observe natural behaviors and movements in a clinic or hospital. Consider keeping notes, videos, and/or photos of improved or abnormal behaviors or side effects to ensure medications are at an ideal frequency and dosing, and are the right choice for your pet.
Compassion and Vulnerability
Your pet’s care team should have mutual respect and understanding of each other with a goal of providing your pet with the best care possible. Most vets and their staff have their own pets and have experienced caregiving, anticipatory grief, loss, and grief too. It is a good idea to share your concerns or fears about your pet’s health. When a care team understands where you are coming from, they can help you navigate those concerns.
How may your advocacy be received?
Most of the time, people should be understanding. You may initially receive some questions as you get to know the team and staff, and learn what policies they have and where there may be some flexibility. More often than not, explaining what is needed for your pet to receive safe and minimally stressful care should be met with understanding.
This should also include flexibility on your end — booking additional time to allow for minimally stressful handling, approving sedation if recommended and appropriate, or being willing to scrap a visit altogether that is not going well and schedule an additional appointment to attempt the tasks on another day.
Ultimately, your advocacy should help you form a team of veterinarians who are willing to get creative, compassionate, and collaborative.
Why is it so important for you to advocate for your pet?
We are our pet’s entire world. We know them best. We see them day in and day out. And, we are their voice.
No matter what situation you find yourself in — unexpected or not — we get to choose how we show up for our pet in those moments. Advocating for your pet can take practice. Be patient with yourself and give yourself grace. Making a list ahead of time can help make sure you do not forget anything during the appointment and that all your concerns are addressed.
What are the best ways someone can advocate for their pet?
Here are seven tips when advocating for your pet:
Share your concerns for your pet and speak up if things are not improving.
Lay out expectations before your in-clinic appointment. Schedule a separate appointment or phone consultation to discuss handling concerns if needed.
Express the boundaries you’ve made for your pet, what has and hasn’t worked for them in the past, and why. It can be helpful to write these down or practice ahead of time.
Ask questions about their diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and plan.
If a suggested treatment is not something that will work for your pet or your household, share that upfront. It is okay to say, “thank you for all the treatment options, but I know that would not work for me and my pet. Is there something else we can try?”
Be vulnerable about your fears and concerns. These will help guide your pet’s care too.
Take care of yourself so that you can take care of your pet. Ask for help from friends, family, or trusted people in your life. Prioritize lessening your load or batching tasks together, like using a pill sorter or sending out laundry. Some other ideas are hiring a pet sitter for a bit of respite or taking shifts with your partner to get a break.
Joining Your Journey
Advocating for your pet can be hard, but we’re here to help. Gentle Journey Vet Care prioritizes collaborative and customized care for you and your pet.
If you are struggling or needing more support in your pet’s care journey, we can help. You can schedule a virtual consultation where together we will review your pet’s medical records, discuss their current health status, and come up with the best set of options for you and your pet. We’d be honored to help with your pet’s care
