Quality of Life Checklist
Not sure where your dog is right now?
A short list of questions to write down and bring to
your veterinarian. No scoring, no verdict.
Free download
Download a printable Quality of Life Checklist →
Two pages of questions to write down and bring to your veterinarian. Print it, or fill it in on your phone.
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What you’re seeing
A Quality of Life Checklist
Questions to bring to your veterinarian
If you’re reading this page, it’s already time to talk to your veterinarian. You don’t have to wait until you’re sure.
This isn’t a test, and it doesn’t give you an answer. It gives you words for what you’ve been watching, so you can say it out loud to someone who can help.
Write your answers down before your appointment. Your mind can go numb in that room. You drive home and realize there was something you needed to ask.
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What they always do
Write down two or three things your dog is known for. Greeting you at the door. Following you from room to room. The one spot on the couch that’s theirs.
Are they still doing those behaviors?
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Eating and drinking
Are they eating without being coaxed? Are they drinking on their own?
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Getting up and moving
Can they get up without help? Do they still want to go where they used to go?
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Signs of pain
Panting while resting, pacing at night, trembling, hiding, or a change in how they hold their body. Write down what you see, not what you think it means.
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Their days, week to week
Look back at the two or three things you wrote down in the first question, whether that was the greeting at the door, the walk, or the spot on the couch.
How many days this week did your dog still do those things? How many days last week?
You don’t have to decide whether a day was good or bad. Plenty of days are both. Just count the days those things happened.
Something else may come to mind while you’re counting, maybe a day that felt off and you can’t say why. Write that down too. It counts.
Fewer days of their normal behaviors than last week is worth telling your vet, even if you can explain why.
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What this is costing you
Sleep, work, money, the ability to leave the house. This one counts too.
If you answered “not anymore” to more than one of these, call your vet this week.
Not to make a decision. To have the conversation.
Call today, not this week, if any of these are true:
They can’t stand up without help. They haven’t eaten in a full day. Their breathing looks like work. They haven’t gotten up at all.
You don’t have to interpret any of it.
Take what you wrote and hand it to your vet. If you don’t know how to start, try this:
Here’s what I’ve been seeing. What does it tell you?
That’s enough. They’ll take it from there.
Download the printable checklist →
K9Hearts isn’t a veterinary practice. This page is here for information and support. Your veterinarian is the one who can tell you what you’re looking at.