At Home Dignity

A Pet Euthanasia Service

Dr Christopher Carrier DVM

Care Animal Clinic, 2030 Edgewood Drive South, Lakeland FL 33803

At Home Euthanasia for companion animals is a choice. It is a choice for reducing the fear, anxiety and stresses of the last car ride, the last cold exam room table, and the last strange place.  It is choosing comfortable , familiar surroundings and in the presence of all caretakers.  It is choosing a favorite lap or e-z chair or bed for a peaceful, graceful goodbye. 

Some of us have to use search bars and search engines throughout our days. They’re easy, fast, rewarding and satisfying. However, sincere soul searching is not a daily task and when needed to consider the end of life of our pets, the process intimidates and overwhelms. The decision to euthanize is not easy. Even talking about euthanasia brings up discomfort, so much so, that is avoided by use of indirect language and use of euphemisms. Euphemisms like โ€œbuying the farmโ€ โ€œpassingโ€ and โ€œrainbow bridgeโ€ are avoidant of the real discomforts surrounding end of life discussions. 

The when and why of humane pet euthanasia is not straight forward. Instinctively, we all recognize caring is ending suffering and is good and right. Deciding to do good and right with our rational brains does not mean our hearts are automatically on board. Coordinating our hearts and minds can be punishingly difficult. 

Tools exist for getting our hearts and minds on the same page. Most obvious is the treating veterinarian. He or she likely has their finger on the pulse of the reduced quality or dwindling quality of life. Another tool is a quality of life survey that has a scoring system (Link Below). One common survey is found with internet search words “honoring the bond how do i knowโ€. With all this at hand, one of the most difficult decisions still isn’t easy. 

Pet euthanasia in one’s home offers a more comfortable and peaceful experience. Favorite couches, sofas beds and other creature comforts are exactly that. Comfort when there can’t be enough.

Standard at home pet euthanasia services include house call, euthanasia, removal and private cremation, with urn and ashes returned. The standard urn package includes wooden urn, name plate, a death certificate, hair clipping and paw print.   

The basic service fee is structured around the following: pets weight, time of day, day of week, holidays, travel times/distance and long or short time notice. Same day and weekend services cannot always be available and come at a higher cost. The cost ranges from $470.00 to $950.00, the average cost, with the above considerations, is around $550.00. This service is limited to dogs and cats.

Humane at home pet euthanasia, is a peaceful three part process with complete anesthesia arrangement of private individual cremation. Doorstep return of urn adorned with specialized name plate with ashes secured inside though accessible. Urn name plate can be specialised up to ~100 text characters. Also standard is a paw print and a death certificate.

The Procedure

Upon choosing an in-home setting, be it a patio, pool deck, cat tree or simply on the floor, the carers gather and brief review of the next steps is given. Euthanasia is meant to be graceful and hopefully nonclinical. First step is to use a sedative, tranquilliser and muscle relaxer as a single injection. Usually this stage takes about 5- 10 minutes and sets up a tranquil and relaxed pet for the next phase. The second effort is to create, through intravenous injection, total and complete anaesthesia. No feeling, no awareness, no sense of self or surrounding is a working definition for anesthesia at this stage. The anaesthesia is followed by IV euthanasia solution. The slowly stopping the heart while consciousness is absent is a guiding principle for gentle and good death. 

Meet Our Vet

Dr Christopher Carrier was born and raised in Lakeland, Florida. He attended Lakeland High School and graduated in 1992. He went to college on a baseball scholarship and graduated in 1997 with an undergraduate degree in International Business with a minor in Spanish, a focus in finance and a concentration in marketing. He went to Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine.

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Client Reviews

Here are some reviews from clients that have used us for this service.

Shannon Johnson

“I had my beloved dog euthanized today, she was about 12 years old and well loved. Dr. Chris gave us ample time before and after to say goodbye. Then he delivered the cremations of our baby to my house after. Truly a heartfelt experience.”

Karl Hart

“I cannot say enough good things about this vet. Dr. Chris came over and we got to say goodbye to our cat Trig on our own terms. Thank you again.”

Carter Lee

“I called on a Saturday morning and Dr. Chris came by that afternoon! He made a really sad and difficult decision and time much easier to handle for myself and my family.”

Kimberlee Mann

“Dr. Carrier was very helpful and spent lots of time with the animals. He definitely loves his patients and gave us so much support and compassion. We really can’t say thank you enough.”