First International Symposium on Veterinary Hospice Care to Take Place at UC Davis Vet School on March 28-30, 2008

For the first time ever in history, veterinary medicine and human hospice care meet as one in a ground-breaking event that stands poised to change the face of veterinary medicine as we know it today! Experts from both fields are coming together to address an extraordinarily diverse audience ranging from veterinarians to pet-sitters and from hospice volunteers to the general public in order to discuss a new option for pet caregivers that provides home palliative care for terminally ill companion animals.

Davis, CA (PRWEB) March 28, 2008 -- The Nikki Hospice Foundation for Pets and the Assisi International Animal Institute are proud to sponsor the First International Symposium on Veterinary Hospice Care, to be held at the University of California at Davis, on March 28-30, 2008, at the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Anastasia's Angel

This event (the first of its kind) is for veterinarians, holistic veterinarians, veterinary technicians and students, clinical practice managers, hospice professionals and volunteers, nursing personnel and medical staff, psychologists, grief counselors, social workers, bereavement facilitators, death educators, veterinary chaplains, pastoral counselors, animal health care workers, shelter and SPCA staff, animal communicators, pet cemetery personnel, pet massage therapists, pet-sitters and the general public. Continuing Education Units are being offered to LCSWs, MFTs, veterinarians and veterinary technicians. World-renowned practitioners of veterinary hospice care, human hospice professionals, and other well-known experts will be coming together to discuss a fascinating and emerging field that is quietly revolutionizing both human hospice care and veterinary medicine.

Symposium Overview

This symposium will explore veterinary hospice care, based on human hospice models, which addresses the needs of people who wish to care for their dying animals in the comfort of their own homes--under the guidance and assistance of veterinarians and a professional, qualified staff. By training caregivers to provide comforting palliation for their pets and by offering extensive support services as well as effective pain management, veterinary hospice care gives dying animals and their people the opportunity to spend meaningful, quality time together before the pet's final journey. By compassionately closing the "circle of care," veterinary hospice care honors the human-animal bond, never losing sight of either the companion animal or its caregiver in the total equation--and ultimately serving both in the best possible manner.

Symposium Highlights:

• The relevance of human hospice to veterinary hospice care
• The mobile hospice veterinarian
• Pharmacological protocols in veterinary hospice care
• Setting up a veterinary hospice facility
• The value of holistic medicine in veterinary hospice care
• The role of pet nutrition in veterinary hospice care
• Working with grieving and dying companion animals

###