How do I know it is time?
Resources to assess your pet's quality of life.
The HHHHHMM Scale
The HHHHMM is a quality of life scale developed by Dr. Alice Villalobos to assesses pain, hunger, hydration, hygiene, happiness, mobility, and more good days than bad. The HHHHHMM scale is a helpful tool to monitor a pet's quality of life as their disease or end of life process progresses.
Your Pet's List
A much more personal decision making tool can be created by sitting down and creating a list of 10 things that your pet has enjoyed in his/her life. This list should be displayed somewhere in your home where it can be seen daily. When 5 things are eliminated off of this list, it is time to consider if your pet's quality of life is suffering. On a more positive note, this list can serve as a "bucket list" to ensure that you take the time to do these things weekly if not daily to make sure you pet is still living his/her life to the fullest.