Comprehensive Consultation
Our consultation is designed to create a personalized, proactive, and compassionate plan for your pet’s final chapter. This process is a partnership that ensures you feel prepared and supported every step of the way.
The discussion covers four essential areas to build your custom end-of-life care strategy:
1. Defining Goals and Concerns: We start with a thorough assessment of your pet's current condition and your understanding of their prognosis. We then clearly define your primary goals for your pet’s remaining time—whether it's maximizing mobility, eliminating pain, or prioritizing social interaction.
2. Resource Mapping and Support: We openly discuss the emotional, time, and financial budgets you have for care. This allows us to create a sustainable plan tailored to your family's needs when saying goodbye.
3. Optimizing the Comfort Plan: We review all current treatments and make strategic adjustments (additions or subtractions) to proactively improve your pet’s quality of life and the ease of caregiving for you. The focus is always on maximizing comfort and minimizing distress.
4. Creating the End-of-Life Plan: We develop a clear plan for the final stages. This includes discussing the process of a peaceful euthanasia and providing guidance on what to expect
Pet Hospice and Palliative Care
Pet hospice care involves providing palliative support from the moment of a terminal diagnosis through the final stages of illness, until the pet's passing. It requires a collaborative effort between the family and veterinary team to develop and adjust a personalized comfort plan. When you decide on palliative care for your pet, the core goal shifts from curing illness to symptom management and maintaining dignity.
We focus on optimizing your pet's comfort and minimizing distress at any stage of illness. The goal is always to help the pet live well by managing symptoms and improving quality of life, regardless of whether a cure is possible. We seek to increase comfort and minimize distress for pets with any illness.
Dr. MacDonald’s passion for dignified, compassionate end-of-life care stems from her clinical experience—seeing many owners unprepared for their pet's passing in the critical care setting and her own personal experience providing comfort care at home. She created this service to ensure all pets can live comfortably and pass with dignity. Please contact us for more information and pricing.
Understanding the Services
Pet Hospice Care focuses on optimizing a pet's comfort and minimizing distress at any stage of illness. The goal is always to help the pet live well by managing symptoms and improving quality of life, regardless of whether a cure is possible. We seek to increase comfort and minimize distress for pets with any illness.
Pet Hospice Care is the dedicated delivery of palliative care from the time of a terminal diagnosis through the advanced stages of a life-limiting illness until the end of life. This involves a collaborative partnership between the family and veterinary team to create and modify a tailored comfort plan. The focus fundamentally shifts from attempting to cure disease to proactively managing symptoms and preserving dignity.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”.
George Bernard Shaw
In-Home Euthanasia $600
In-home euthanasia provides a peaceful and loving end-of-life experience for your cherished pet, free from the stress of car rides, waiting rooms, and unfamiliar surroundings. Our mission is to make this process as gentle and comforting as possible. Family and friends are welcome to be present to honor your pet’s life and to provide a calm, loving farewell.
Our goal is to provide your beloved pet with a gentle, loving transition and to give you and your family the space and support you need during this difficult time.
About the Process…
Arrival and Discussion
Upon arrival, our compassionate veterinarian will address any questions or concerns you may have. This is an opportunity to discuss the euthanasia process and complete the necessary paperwork.
Final Moments Together
You will have the opportunity to share meaningful moments with your pet, providing comfort and saying farewell. Whether you decide to be present for some or all of the process, we are here to support you.
Sedation
To ensure your pet feels completely at ease, we will first give a gentle sedative. This helps your pet drift into a peaceful sleep, free of discomfort, before administering the final injection.
Included: Travel to your home, all medications and supplies, a lock of your pet’s fur in a keepsake glass vial and a note to your veterinarian to inform then of your pets passing. Locations with extended driving times, weekend, an evening appointments may be subject to additional fees.
Kindest Farewell has partnered with Compassionate Care Aquamation. Aquamation of water cremation, is an environmentally friendly alternative to flame cremation that uses water rather than fire to create ashes. With aquamation, no fossil fuels are burned and no greenhouse gasses are released.
Cremation & Aftercare Services
Kindest Farewell offers professional cremation services to support pet owners during the difficult time of saying goodbye to their beloved companions. We offer both private and communal cremation options, ensuring your pet is handled respectfully and gently.
Kindest Farewell is honored to offer Aquamation, a gentle, environmentally friendly option that provides a peaceful final resting place for your beloved pet.
Aquamation—also known as water cremation or alkaline hydrolysis—is a quiet, water-based process. Using a combination of water and alkali, it gently returns your pet’s body to its natural elements over several hours, mirroring the same soft, natural process that occurs in the earth.
If your pet passes away at home, Kindest Farewell provides retrieval and transportation services. Standard service is offered Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM, for $350. Additional charges might apply for after-hours or weekend services, urgent requests, longer distances, or services during evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Additional fees may apply for pets weighing over 100 lbs, aggressive pets, exotic animals, extended travel distances or time, and appointments scheduled on holidays, weekends, or evenings starting at 6 PM or later.
Private Cremation
With private cremation, your pet will be the only animal present during the cremation process, ensuring the cremated remains you receive are exclusively those of your beloved companion. The ashes will be returned in an urn of your choice, and a personalized paw print can be provided upon request.
If you want to keep your pet’s remains, you are responsible for arranging aftercare. For those considering a home burial, it’s important to check your local town laws and other relevant regulations. Keep in mind that we do not offer home burial services or provide advice on its environmental effects.
Pets up to 49 pounds: $380
Pets 50–99 pounds: $399
Pets 100 + Pounds: $489
Your pet’s ashes will be hand delivered by Kindest Farewell in about 10-14 days.
Communal Cremation
Starting at $260
For communal cremation, your pet will be gently cremated alongside other cherished animals. Please note that cremated remains will not be returned with this option.
Pets up to 49 pounds: $260
Pets 50–99 pounds: $285
Pets 100 + Pounds: $310
Service Area
We proudly serve a wide range of areas in both Connecticut and New York. In Connecticut, our services are available in Fairfield County, Litchfield County, and New Haven County. In New York, we serve Dutchess County, Nassau County, Orange County, Putnam County, Rockland County, Suffolk County, and Westchester County.
