Our miniature poodle Rocky has the canine equivalent of Alzheimer disease. He began to experience dizzy spells when he was 13 years old, about September of 2015, and had a full evaluation at University of Pennsylvania at that time. Shortly thereafter, he also tore his ACL and underwent ACL repair in January of 2016. We discovered that steroids diminished his dizzy spells, and he has been on Prednisone since then.
We had been unable to vacation or even leave home for more than a few hours since Rocky became ill; he needs individual attention, and, even though we discussed the situation with his local veterinarian, we could not find anyone to give me respite until we found Rafaela's business card at the local restaurant.
We kept the card for several months before calling her. By then Rocky had become more confused, and he is also nearly blind and hard of hearing. He wears diapers , although he also is taken outside. He still loves to eat, and does still appear to enjoy our company, and we just were not ready to let him go quite yet. As it was becoming impossible to care for him at night (a symptom of the disease is insomnia), we finally called Rafaela, and she has been helping us out now for about 6 months.
She advertises that she is available 24/7 , and that she does hospice work and special care for dogs, and she is true to her promise in every way. Rocky is often up until 2 or 3 am, and she sits with him and adjusts the fan, gives him snacks and massages, and generally watches over him until he can sleep. She manages his evening Tramadol, and she is willing and able to handle any and all physical and emotional situations that arise from hospice care. She is as much of a dog lover as my wife and I are, and that is a pretty strong statement! She is always calm and kind with Rocky and with all the dogs in her care.
We enjoy seeing Rafaela and all of the dogs when I pick up and drop off Rocky. We find that we can talk to her about all of the end of life dog issues we are experiencing. My wife is a physician for humans, but having an aging dog is in a different category, and the veterinarians today, in our experience, are not particularly empathic.
It may seem excessive to use "hospice" care for a pet, but we know that there are many of us out there who are not that quick to euthanize, and we certainly need help during that last period of time. Rafaela's prices are very reasonable for how much she is able to help us, and she has mentioned that she will work with pet insurance plans that cover hospice.
We cannot recommend her more highly. She provides the exact services she promises, and you will not regret bringing her into the "family" it takes to care for aging animals. read more
