BOOKS AND ARTICLES
for the veterinary team
BOOKS
In Home Pet Euthanasia Techniques, by Dr. Kathleen Cooney, for veterinarians, students, hospice providers, and technicians to help them gain comfort providing pet euthanasia in the home setting, including well described illustrations.
Blue Juice euthanasia in veterinary medicine, by Patricia Morris. Offering a behind the scene look of this unique reality.
Hospice and Palliative Care for Companion Animals: Principles and Practice. The first comprehensive reference to veterinary hospice and palliative care, with practical guidance and best practices for caring for sick and dying animals.veterinary teams experience.
My Patients and Other Animals: A Veterinarian’s Stories of Love, Loss and Hope. A moving memoir of a life spent in the company of animals—a veterinarian sheds light on the universal experience of loving, healing, and losing our beloved pets, and the many ways they change our lives.
Small animal euthanasia, Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, Volume 50-3 1st Edition.
Forever Friend: A children's guide and activity book for saying goodbye to a special dog (Geriatric Dog Care). By Dr. Mary Gardner (author), Coleen Ellis (author) and Dusan Pavlic (illustrator).
Reference guide
Veterinary Euthanasia Techniques: A Practical Guide, by Kathleen Cooney and al. The textbook on euthanasia for all species.
Euthanasia reference manual, the Humane Society of the United States, 2013.
2016 AAHA/IAAHPC End-of-Life Care Guidelines. 15 pages of very relevant recommendations for practices.
Sample euthanasia protocol: to make sure no steps or details are forgotten by the team, in DMV360.
ARTICLES
Compassion fatigue: by Debbie Stoewen DVM, MSW, PhD. A great positive summary of what CF is and is not and how to prevent it.
Why I sedate every pet for Euthanasia and you should do too: by Cherie Buisson, DMV. The perfect euthanasia for a vet is not necessarily viewed the same by the family. I you are not convinced to sedate, you will be!
Practice Building Handling Euthanasia: by Mary Gardner, DVM and Dani McVety, DVM in TVP. Tips on how we can do better and make euthanasia an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with our clients.
The Art of Euthanasia and the Science of Death: a funny printable summary of the recommendations of this article.
Helping clients cope with the death of a pet: quality of life assessment, how to approach it with kids from VetFolio.
Why clients leave: a negative or neutral euthanasia experience can result in a client leaving even if they like the veterinary team. The plastic bag set a negative tone for the practice, in DVM360.
EUTHABAG and the Environment: This document will answer all of your questions regarding the composition of EUTHABAG and its environmental impact.
Why we should stop trying for a perfect euthanasia: by Dr. Andy Roark.
Compassion Fatigue: Compassion Fatigue is a state experienced by those helping people or animals in distress; it is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degree that it can create a secondary traumatic stress for the helper.
Veterinary Wisdom: Resources for clients and vet team for everything related to euthanasia.
6 Euthanasia Trends You Didn't know Existed: by Dani McVety, DMV.
Feeling better around end-of-life
Compassion Satisfaction: Finding the Right Words for Difficult Times by Celine Leheurteux, DVM. (July, 2022)
How to get to Compassion Satisfaction by Alexandra Yaksich, AHT. Making lemonade when vet med gives you lemons. (October, 2021)
Humanizing the Euthanasia Experience by Jocelyn Anne Mason, DMV, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine magazine. (Spring, 2020)
The Quality of Life Question we all should be asking. An article by Dr. Buisson on the questions to ask ourselves when we have to take the decision. (December, 2018)
Compassion fatigue
Euthanasia and the ‘Upside Down’ world it creates: Empathy is what makes us vulnerable to being profoundly affected and even possibly damaged by our work, by Jocelyn Anne Mason DVM. (October 8, 2020)
Download the CVMA suicide prevention sticker here for English or French.
dmv360: A summary of what Compassion Fatigue is, to help us understand why we sometimes feel so exhausted at the end of our workday. (May 1, 2015)
Tips
Is entrepreneurship the missing piece? by Céline Leheurteux, DVM.
A Quebec DVM shares her journey of professional fulfilment. (March 28, 2023)
Veterinary Practice News: The euthanasia appointment calls for empathy by Céline Leheurteux, DVM. Rituals allow us to honour the memory and regain some control over a situation we have no control over. Discover some guidelines for a gentle and empathetic discussion.(May 31, 2023)
The Rainbow Bridge: Putting your Aftercare Policy into Action by Alexandra Yaksich, AHT.
3 main points of the AVMA Companion Animal Aftercare Policy and examples of how they work in practice. (June 15, 2021)
AVMA Companion Animal Aftercare Policy: the sensitive handling of pet remains is an important aspect of veterinary practice. Veterinarians should provide adequate containment of the remains. Veterinarians must understand they may be responsible and may be held accountable, for the aftercare provider they recommend. More information in this youtube video by Dr. Cooney from CAETA.
Alternate Routes for Euthanasia by Mary Gardner, DMV. Euthanasia methods that minimize stress may not always involve an IV catheter. (March, 2018)
10 Things you Need in your Vet Practice by AHT Alexandra Yaksich. (July 30, 2021)
Pets and Cancer
Oncowaf was created by Dr. Laetitia Cicchelero, a veterinarian with a PhD in oncology, for dog owners with questions about cancer.
It offers an overview of clinical studies and reliable information in 5 languages.
Understanding Grief
Stages of Grief made simple.
Checklists
Euthanasia Materials checklist: To reduce the stress before euthanasia, here is a memory aid to remind you of the important topics to discuss with the family and the list of materials to bring.
Preparing families for Euthanasia checklist: To ensure families are prepared for what is to come, we have compiled a list of topics that be discussed prior to the procedure. This can help reduce stress for both the clients and the veterinary team.
Other Topic and Media
Euthabag: Dr. Celine Leheurteux designs eco-friendly way to say goodbye to pets. EcoLuxLifestyle, 2022.
