Saying goodbye to a dog is one of the most emotionally complex decisions a pet parent will ever make. As dogs age, families often rely on QOL assessments to guide care decisions, yet today’s tools are subjective, episodic, and emotionally biased. This frequently results in delayed decisions, prolonged suffering, and lasting guilt over whether choices were made too early (or too late). This challenge is accelerating. Over half of US dog-owning households now have a senior dog (7+ years), and a new generation of pet parents (ie, Millennials and Gen Zs) are navigating EOL decisions for the first time. These owners are deeply bonded to their pets, expect transparency and data-driven insight, and are comfortable using technology to guide care. Yet the current veterinary and pet-care ecosystem lacks objective, continuous, and emotionally supportive tools to meet this need. The result is a growing and unaddressed crisis at the intersection of emotion, medicine, and decision-making.
