Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The researchers and clinicians within the Dog Aging Project (DAP), a longitudinal cohort study of aging in companion dogs, created and validated a novel survey instrument titled the End of Life Survey (EOLS) to gather owner-reported mortality data about companion dogs.

SAMPLE: Bereaved dog owners who participated in the refinement, face validity assessment, or reliability assessment of the EOLS (n = 42) and/or completed the entire survey between January 20 and March 24, 2021 (646).

PROCEDURES: The EOLS was created and modified by veterinary health professionals and human gerontology experts using published literature, clinical veterinary experience, previously created DAP surveys, and feedback from a pilot study conducted with bereaved dog owners. The EOLS was subjected to qualitative validation methods and post hoc free-text analysis to evaluate its ability to thoroughly capture scientifically relevant aspects of companion dogs’ deaths.

RESULTS: The EOLS was well received with excellent face validity as assessed by dog owners and experts. The EOLS had fair to substantial reliability for the 3 validation themes—cause of death (k = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.5 to 0.95), perimortem quality of life (k = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.73), and reason for euthanasia (k = 0.3; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.52)—and had no need for any substantial content alterations based on free-text analysis.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The EOLS has proven to be a well-accepted, comprehensive, and valid instrument for capturing owner-reported companion dog mortality data and has the potential to enhance veterinarians’ ability to care for the aging dog population by illuminating their understanding of companion dogs’ end-of-life experiences.