Mourned pets. About Coping with Animal Death in Veterinary Practice and Caregiver’s Experience

Abstract

The article is written from the first-person perspective as an autoethnographical attempt to describe the experience of loss of a pet companion, a cat, when the decision about euthanasia was challenged and undermined, causing regret and complex feelings about the situation. The author tries to provide explanation for her feelings and for veterinarian behavior, at the same time introducing new kind of veterinarian in-home services for palliative care and euthanasia.