ArticleJournal of the American Veterinary Medical Association2026
The Dog Aging Project End of Life Survey reveals owners' perceptions of canine death and highlights areas to improve client education.
Article in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Objective: The Dog Aging Project (DAP) launched the validated owner-facing End of Life Survey (EOLS) to better understand companion dog death. Methods: Participating owners whose dogs died between December 26, 2019, and March 24, 2021, were surveyed. Responses were reported descriptively. Student t and χ2 tests were utilized to assess differences in dog demographics among response-variable groups. Results: Owners whose dogs died within the study period (n = 793) were invited to complete the EOLS. Response rate was 85.7% (n = 655 respondents; 29 invitees with unexpired response windows). After respondents lacking baseline DAP survey data (n = 9) were excluded, 646 EOLS responses were analyzed. Mean age at death was 13.0 ± 3.0 years. Most dogs (536 of 646 [83.0%]) experienced euthanasia rather than unassisted death, with most instances of euthanasia performed in a veterinary clinic (411 of 536 [76.7%]) or the owner's home (122 of 536 [22.8%]). Ninety-five of 646 dogs (14.7%) died without any veterinary involvement. The most common owner-perceived causes of death (CoDs) were cancer (192 of 646 [29.7%]), "old age" (190 of 646 [29.4%]), and organ system diseases (144 of 646 [22.3%]). Perimortem quality of life (QoL) was negatively associated with age at death. The most common reason for euthanasia was pain and/or suffering (260 of 536 [48.5%]), followed by poor QoL (133 of 536 [24.8%]). Conclusions: Owner-perceived CoD varies among dogs of different ages. Owners' perceptions about canine pain and suffering, QoL, and old age influence euthanasia decisions. Future analyses will heighten veterinary professionals' understanding of these perceptions. Clinical Relevance: Understanding end-of-life factors that are important to dog owners enables veterinarians to thoughtfully educate clients and optimally care for and support aging dogs and their families.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.