Dr. Kathy Fowler is deeply committed to helping all dogs and cats live comfortable lives. In addition to traditional medications, she offers in-home chiropractic care, physical therapy, and hospice care.
Dr. Fowler has advanced training in animal chiropractic, which can help your pets move more easily. Animal chiropractic is likely to help any animal, young or old, athtletic or couch potato, healthy or ill. Physical therapy can help animals recover quickly, smoothly, and fully from surgeries and injuries. Dr. Fowler also offers hospice care for terminally ill animals.
You can schedule appointments for chiropractic and physical therapy by calling us at . Hospice appointments are scheduled the same way but your pet must have been seen by your regular veterinarian before we accept them into hospice care.
Dr. Fowler was recently a guest on episode 107 of the podcast Your Family Dog, hosted by professional dog trainers Julie Fudge Smith and Tina Spring. In this episode, the three women discuss hospice care, euthanasia, and the importance of supporting both owners and pets through the last stages of a pet’s life. If you’d like to listen to the discussion, click here.
When a pet’s quality of life can’t be kept good any longer, many owners choose euthanasia. Dr. Fowler is always willing to help owners decide when it’s time, and when that moment comes she can help you say goodbye in the comfort and privacy of your own home.
When Dr. Fowler arrives for an in-home euthanasia, she has you take care of paperwork at the beginning, so that then you can focus on your pet. She tells you in gentle but clear language what will happen in the appointment, so that you’re not left wondering what’s going on and what’s going to happen. She will gladly answer any questions you have and give you as much time with your pet, at all steps of the process, as you need.
When you’re ready, she will give your pet an injection of pain medications and sedatives. From your pet’s perspective, this one quick needle prick will be the worst part. These medications take effect gradually over 3-10 minutes. Dr. Fowler will sit off to the side while your pet drifts to sleep gradually in your arms. Any pain or fear that your pet might be feeling should fade away, and your face will be the last thing they see. When these medications have taken full effect, your pet will be alive but unconscious, sound asleep and comfortable.
Once your pet is asleep and you’re ready, Dr. Fowler puts in a butterly catheter (a small IV) and gives the final medication. This is an overdose of anesthesia which will slow your pet’s heart until it stops. Your pet will be asleep the whole time and won’t feel it or be aware of it. It only takes 30 seconds to a minute.
After the euthanasia, you have several options for handling your pet’s body. Dr. Fowler provides respectful bags, made for deceased pets, that can be used for transport or burial. You can bury your pet at home in Georgia, Dr. Fowler can transport your pet to your regular vet for cremation, or she can have your pet cremated through Climbing Rose. For this service, Climbing Rose uses Pets in Peace with the help of the Animal Wellness Center in Athens GA. If you choose cremation, you choose whether you want to have your pet’s ashes returned to you or not.