What Is Cat Hospice Care? Understanding End of Life Care for Cats

Intense emotions often weigh on pet parents when a feline family member reaches their final life stage. Accessing veterinary hospice care for your cat may ease this burden and can help map a smoother path at their end-of-life crossroad.

What Is Cat Hospice?

Similar to hospice care for people, veterinary hospice provides supportive, medically guided comfort care for patients near or at the end of life—regardless of their age—and when treatments directed at a cure are no longer viable. 

Veterinarians tailor hospice care to help cat parents manage their cat’s comfort and the challenges of caregiving. Ailing cats who receive hospice care may continue to live their fullest life possible and reach a peaceful goodbye, whether pet parents choose humane euthanasia or natural death.  

Cat hospice care includes: 

• Palliative care to ease symptoms with medications and other therapies. 

• Guidance for how a pet parent can boost their home environment to ensure comfort.   

• Enrichment suggestions based on the cat’s abilities that allow pet parents to continue to share favorite activities with their cat. 

• Recommendations for care that align with the pet parent’s time and with their physical, emotional, and financial resources. 

• Quality-of-life assessments tailored for cats and their caregivers. 

• Helping pet parents acknowledge the grief they may experience before losing their cat and planning for the cat’s end of life. 

What Is Palliative Care for Cats?

Palliative care aims to improve quality of life for cats who have serious ailments that may or may not directly limit their lifespan.  

This care can start at any stage of a serious illness and can be given for many months or years along with treatments intended to cure an underlying condition. Palliative care is a component of hospice, but it isn’t limited to end-of-life care, as is cat hospice.  

Veterinarians recommend palliative care when: 

• A cat has a serious condition that diminishes their quality of life, such as a major injury, infection, inflammation, or other type of disorder.  

• A cat’s disease progresses despite ongoing treatment. 

• A pet parent decides against treatments to slow their cat’s disease progression or resolve a serious illness. 

Palliative care includes medications and other supportive measures to: 

• Manage pain 

• Control anxiety 

• Support calorie intake 

• Control nausea 

• Maintain hygiene 

• Prevent infection 

What Types of Illnesses Lead to Cat Palliative Care or Hospice Care?

Common feline diseases or other situations that may lead to palliative care or hospice care in cats may include: 

• Kidney failure 

• End-stage heart disease 

• Aggressive or late-stage cancer 

• Severe mobility problems 

• Serious nervous system disorders 

• Severe lung disease or other causes of breathing problems 

• Trauma such as a severe accident 

• Severe cognitive dysfunction 

• Overall physical decline with increased vulnerability to stressors such as a minor illness 

• Any condition that requires extended intensive medical care 

• When pet parents elect not to pursue curative treatment or when curative treatments have failed  

What Treatments Can You Expect for a Cat in Palliative Care or Hospice?

There are various ways you can help to comfort a cat in hospice or palliative care. Most of these measures will revolve around relieving and preventing pain, helping to manage anxiety, modifying your home environment, and preventing infections. 

Medications 

Various medications are available to relieve pain and anxiety in cats, depending on their individual case.  

It’s important to work with your veterinarian to determine the appropriate medications or other therapies that will help your cat.  

Do not give your cat your medications or another pet’s medications without your veterinarian’s instruction.  

Veterinary Physical Rehabilitation Therapy 

A variety of animal rehabilitation techniques can help cats maintain mobility or function and enhance comfort. These are especially beneficial for cats with nerve, muscle, or joint conditions, and can help reduce inflammation and pain.  

Veterinary physical rehabilitation therapy for cats may include: 

• Massage or acupuncture  

• Passive or active exercises (such as stretching, stair climbing, or utilizing balance discs) 

• Laser therapy 

• Cooling or warming packs to help with inflammation and help reduce pain 

• Hydrotherapy 

Home Environment Adjustments 

Ensuring a comfy and enriched home environment is important for cats during every life stage, and extra modifications may be helpful during end-of-life care. Depending on an ailing cat’s abilities, pet parents can help cats continue to:  

• Reach their lookout or favorite resting areas  

• Easily get in and out of litter boxes 

• Comfortably eat their meals 

• Stay clean and safe 

Home modification options and cat-assist devices that can help cats live comfortably include: 

• A pet step or ramp near their bed or favorite perch  

• A cat bed with supportive, warm, and easy-to-clean materials  

• Scratching posts placed near resting areas 

• Low-entry litter boxes or shallow boot trays  

• Cat litter that is easier (soft and light) to paw around in, like Fresh Step Crystals litter  

• Cat litter filled to a supportive depth (ailing cats may not stay steady in deep litter) or litter sprinkled over a potty pad in a boot tray  

• Elevated food and water bowls 

• Non-slip mats placed at the cat’s bowls and other locations as needed to support stable footing 

• Water fountain to help with ensuring hydration throughout the day 

• Cat calming products such as diffusers  

• A mobility-assist harness, wheelchair, or mobility cart  

• A pet gate with a cat door, or a pet pen to allow alone time for the cat and safer interactions with children, other pets, or guests 

• Potty pads, cat diapers, and cleaning supplies kept handy to manage urine or fecal incontinence 

Nutrition 

Nutrition for cats in hospice emphasizes on highly tasty, easy-to-eat food that provides enough calories, protein, and water.  

If cats refuse their regular food or veterinary therapeutic diet, your vet can suggest a more appealing food, new treats, food toppers, or food preparation tweaks to spark interest at mealtimes. A cat’s lack of interest in food may stem from pain, nausea, or dehydration, and medications such as buprenorphine to reduce such discomfort are often used in hospice care for cats. 

Despite flavorful enticements and supportive medications, there often comes a point when cats receiving hospice care will refuse to eat and drink. This is a natural part of the late end-stage of life. Gently offer food and water and ensure that these are easily accessible, but avoid forcing a cat in hospice to eat or drink, because it can cause distress. 

Does My Cat Need Hospice or Palliative Care?

Cats nearing the end of life often show much less interest in activities they previously enjoyed, such as playing with toys or with family members, grooming themselves, using their scratching posts, or being brushed.  

Cats may be more aloof or clingy, nap during the day more than normal, have frequent restless nights, and lose interest in food.  

It’s important to work with your veterinarian to decide on the best course of action for your cat, based on their health condition and symptoms. The vet will also discuss the time, physical, emotional, and financial resources you must manage during this stage of your cat’s life.  

Pet Hospice or Euthanasia?

Veterinary hospice care can help ailing cats continue to live their fullest life possible and reach a peaceful goodbye.  

Regardless of the type or extent of care you choose, it’s helpful to prepare and discuss an end-of-life plan for your cat with your veterinarian. This plan can be adjusted as your cat’s health circumstances shift or your resources change, so take comfort in this.  

Part of planning for the end means knowing how to evaluate your cat’s quality of life and tracking your cat’s good days and bad days. Many pet quality-of-life assessments are available to help you, including Lap of Love’s support resources.   

Be honest with yourself about whether your ailing cat is still enjoying life. Talk with other trusted friends and your veterinarian about their impressions of your cat’s quality of life. If your cat no longer enjoys life or is suffering, choosing euthanasia is an appropriate and humane option.  

A hospice veterinarian or your primary care veterinarian can tell you what occurs with a cat’s euthanasia or natural passing. Veterinarians are instrumental in sharing the information you need to decide when it is time to tell your cat, “Thank you for sharing in my life” in a peaceful final farewell.