Dogs and Cats and Hospice Care Equals Love.

You can read about my experiences as a hospice nurse in my nonfiction book- One Foot In Heaven, Journey of A Hospice Nurse.

I’ll be doing a promo in a week or so and I thought it might be fun… Hmmm, maybe fun is the wrong word when one is talking about death. I thought it might be interesting to add a few more stories. Who knows? Might could end up in the next book.

Here is a truism. Hospice patients love animals. Cancer patients, the elderly, sick children, all bond with animals in a way they simply cannot bond with people. My Alzheimer’s patients may not remember their children or their spouses, but they will always smile when they see a dog.

And it’s challenging because many care facilities do not allow animals. Some facilities allow visits from therapy dogs, but the problem is that the therapy dogs stroll the hallways and interact with those patients who are easy to interact with. Only very special therapists bring their dogs to visit the dying. Sad but true.

I did have quite a number of patients in one pet-friendly skilled nursing facility - dogs, cats, birds, provided there was someone to take the dog outside regularly. This made a huge difference, not only for the patient but for the staff and for me. You can imagine how much happier my patients were to keep their beloved pets close, not to mention the fact that the presence of a dog or a cat decreased the need for pain medications. (Parrots not so much because parrots are narcissists. It’s all about them. With one exception- Winston, a blue-fronted amazon who saved my life when my dryer caught fire and could sing the Star-Spangled Banner in a terrific vibrato. Winston could sing the Star Spangled Banner, not my dryer.) A dog is a terrific remedy for agitation. There’s no question in my mind that animals provide comfort and joy. Theirs is a calming presence.

My favorite Board and Care home came complete with a pet cat. I can’t remember his real name, but he was known by the staff as The Death Cat because he could always be found cuddled next to a resident who was about to die. His presence was, forgive the pun, a dead giveaway. Exactly five days before a death he’d enter a particular room and spend all his time curled up next to the resident, purring away.

I’ve noticed that every once in a while I get a review for One Foot In Heaven in which the reviewer says that there is no way these stories could possibly be true.

I may give the hubster a hard time on occasion, you know, tease him with my posts, but when it comes to hospice nursing I do not make this up. Believe me, there’s no way I could make this stuff up.

Tomorrow - The dead man, the minister and the comfy couch.

Oh… Let me know if you want the Winston saves the day story.