A Place For Those Trying To Do Hospice Care.

[kskatt]

Please tell me where the right place is to ask this, if this isn't it.
Would there be a way to add a forum about Hospice care for kitties? I'm struggling with two boys who are dying and I'm sure someone else deals with this at any time. With this many cat lovers, it's probably every day. If there was a forum about Hospice, perhaps someone might try that had never thought about it. There is no telling how many people never thought Hospice was even possible.
Anyway, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. Please think about it.

 

[AbbysMom]

Hello!

I just wanted to let you know this has been brought it to the Team for discussion.

 

[kskatt]

Thank you. Really big thank you! Just considering the possibility means so very much to me.

 

[Anne]

Thank you for making the suggestion kskatt ! Sorry about the delay in reply but we had a long discussion about this in the moderators team and that took a few days.

Accompanying your cat on her or his last weeks and days is certainly a very special, delicate and painful time. We have had many long threads where members posted about their sick kitties and these threads developed into what is in essence hospice care threads.

The problem with a dedicated hospice care forum is that it may put pressure on people to acknowledge the fact that their cat is terminally ill. In our experience, there isn't always a clear line where one moves from caring for a very sick cat to hospice care. Even when owners know that there is no going back, not everyone will be comfortable with having to acknowledge the fact publicly in the form of moving a thread to a different forum. For some it may be a helpful but for many others too painful. I'm sure you'll agree it's not a decision that should be handled by staff members either.

Since that is such a sensitive topic, we think that at this point in time it may be too complicated to implement. We'll carry on with our current policy where threads about caring for sick cats will be placed in the health forum. Once the cat passes, we contact the cat owner and discuss moving the thread to the Bridge forum.

Again, I wish to thank you for making the suggestion and the internal discussion in created. I value feedback from our users so please don't hesitate to bring up more ideas. Thank you!