When It’s Time
If you have cats, you have probably had to make some tough decisions at the end of his life, or you will in the future. It’s THE decision that every pet owner dreads. How do we know when it's time? Is it too soon? Did I wait too long? How do we do this in a way that's best for the cat and the human?
Linda and Rita had the pleasure of discussing this sensitive topic with Dr. Diane Eigner, VMD, MBA, CVPM, CHPV. She is the owner of The Cat Whispurrr and is also the President-Elect of the International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care. Dr. Diane is here to tell us all about making these decisions, how to do what is best for our cats and ourselves, and the proper comforting way that euthanasia should be done.
BIO:
Diane launched The Cat Whispurrr in the fall of 2017 so she can offer seriously ill cats telehealth, comfort care and peacefull passings in their homes. Her practice's name reflects the way Diane interacts with her patients - she speaks cat! The Cat Whispurrr serves cats who live in Barnegat, Waretown, Forked River, Tuckerton, LBI and Toms River.
Diane is a 1980 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, and a 2015 Temple University Fox School of Business graduate. She was certified as a veterinary hospice and palliative care practitioner in the fall of 2017 by the International Association of Animal Hospice and Palliative Care. Diane founded The Cat Doctor in May 1983, serving as the practice's medical director for 33 years until August of 2016 when she sold the practice. 39 of her 40 years in practice have been spent providng care just for cats! In addition to providing comfort care and home euthanasia at the Jersey Shore she is an assistant adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine where she organizes their introduction to end of life care elective and the junior veterinary students' practice management elective. Certified as a registered yoga instructor by a Baptiste affiliated yoga studio, Diane regularly teaches yoga at Lovelight on Main in Forked RIver, NJ.
An avid Sailor, Diane loves living at the Jersey Shore where she keeps her sailboat, Purrfect. When not attending to needy cats and not on her boat you can find Diane in her local yoga studio, pra cticing or teaching vinyasa yoga. Since meeting her husband, Fred Turoff, Temple University's Men's gymnastics team retired head coach, her family life has been dominated by men's gymnastics. Her son Evan was a NCAA division 1 athlete, competing at The Ohio State University and was a member of OSU's 2016 Big Ten Championship team. He is a first team all-American Scholar Athlete and was the assistant coach for the University of Maryland's Women's Gymnastics Division 1 team from August 2016 to June 2018. He is now an assistant coach for the US Military Academy Men's Gymnastics Team at West Point. NY. Evan's favorite event is rings. Diane also shares her life with two very entertaining cats, Padi and Blu.