FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE®: YOUR PET'S QUALITY OF LIFE & HOW CHALLENGES IN MIDLIFE CAN BE A GIFT

In this special guest episode, I’m joined by Dr. Christina Guttuso. She is a dedicated veterinarian and advocate for both pets and their families. 

Dr. Christina, as she is professionally known, founded Arizona’s first in-home pet euthanasia service and hospice program, pioneering a compassionate approach to end-of-life care that emphasizes education, communication, and pet welfare.

Dr. Christina shares how she came to specialize in this service, the best thing you can do as a pet parent, and what she says is the worst indicator of quality of life for your pet. She also tells us a bit about her challenging midlife experience and how it led to her favorite thing about midlife and beyond.

📍Connect with Dr. Christina:

🌐Website: https://www.gentlejourneyaz.com/

📸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gentlejourneyaz/

Want to know what Dr. Christina says in Part 2 of our chat?

Join my ELEVATE Membership at https://www.flipsideofmidlife.com/elevate-membership to hear Dr. Christina talk about how you can tell if your pet is in pain and a valuable resource she has on her website for pet parents. Then she goes deeper into how her painful midlife experience helped her find her voice.

Visit my website for a promo code to get your first month of ELEVATE for only $10 (Exclusively for women in midlife and beyond. New members only.) https://www.flipsideofmidlife.com/elevate-membership

🔔Don’t forget to subscribe and hit the bell for more inspiring conversations on navigating midlife and beyond!

Transcript

FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE®: YOUR PET'S QUALITY OF LIFE & HOW CHALLENGES IN MIDLIFE CAN BE A GIFT

{MUSIC INTRO} 

Karli: Hello, my friends. Welcome back to this episode of FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE®. I have here with me today, Dr. Christina Guttuso. She is a doctor of veterinary medicine and she is an advocate for both pets and their families.

Even more fabulous is that Dr. Christina, which is what she's known professionally, socially, you may know her as C. Today, she's Dr. Christina here on this episode, and she is the founder of Arizona's first in-home pet euthanasia service and hospice program.

So she is a pioneer in end-of-life care for our beloved pets, which emphasizes education, communication, and pet welfare. I'm so excited to have Dr. Christina here with us today. 

Welcome to you, Dr. Christina. Hello. 

C: Hi. Thanks for having me. 

Karli: Thank you for joining me. I really appreciate your time and we're just gonna dive right in.

I would love to know your story. How did you end up here where you are today, and how did you end up doing what you're doing? 

C: Yeah, it's a great story because I always knew I wanted to be a veterinarian since I was really little. And it was good advice to go volunteer in a vet clinic to make sure that's really what you wanna do.

So I was in high school and I remember telling everyone, I will never euthanize a pet. And they were like, what would you do? Oh, I'm gonna send them down the street. I'm not gonna play God. I'm not gonna euthanize a pet. 

And it was my senior year of vet school when we're working in the vet hospital and people are coming from all over to do, you know, everything they possibly can for their pets. They were coming from out of state, staying in hotels, and I was in the critical care unit and I remember a couple of patients like, I'll never forget the dachshund that threw up blood down my back. 

And it was moments like that when I saw how important euthanasia was. So these people that were desperate to do anything and everything were actually causing more suffering for their pet.

So everything changed for me then. We went to the professors and were asking if we can actually convince people to euthanize their pets. So I understood the value of euthanasia then.

And then how my service started was kind of by accident. I was a new mom coming out of vet school and I didn't wanna work long hours in a vet clinic.

So I started a home practice thinking I'll make my own hours. And I discovered I didn't really like practicing medicine in the home, but I was willing to do the euthanasias. And when veterinarians I had never heard of were giving my name out, I knew this was a service that was needed. At that time too, I really was looking for more of a mission-type work. And so it just really met that need to really be present emotionally for people, not just, you know, I love science and I love veterinary medicine, but it was really cool to combine it with connection and intimacy with people as well. And that's how the service was birthed.

Karli: When was that? How long have you been doing this? 

C: That was in 2004. 

Karli: Wow. 

C: So just over 20 years ago. 

Karli: That's a big anniversary. 

C: Yeah. Yeah. 

Karli: So you've been doing this the longest here in the Phoenix area and the longest in Arizona, you said, right? 

C: Yeah. And probably the longest nationally. There may have been one other service. No one was talking about it. There may have been one other service that had started, I think in Colorado, we're not quite sure who started first. It was just so brand new back then. 

Karli: So how did you market back then? Because, email, websites, all of those things, social media wasn't really a thing yet. How did the word get out about what you do? 

C: It's a great question and another funny story. So my first website, 2004, you know, internet was still kind of new and I was going to people's homes. I told my web designer, I don't want people to find me online. I told them that! I wanted it to all be referral.

It felt safer to go to someone's home if it was referred by their vet. So I said, make my website so that it's not found. And of course today I pay people to make sure it's found. It's kind of funny. Um, really it organically grew. I mean, that's why I knew I was in the right place because like I said, people, I didn't even know veterinarians were giving my name out.

Their clients were coming back to them and sharing what a wonderful experience it was and word of mouth really helped it spread. And so I didn't do a lot of marketing at first, to be honest. Now I do, you know, I do all the online stuff. And now after 20 years, I understand how important the experience I've had is, to share with both pet families and veterinarians.

So I have lots of resources and materials that I share with both pet families and veterinarians, and I do continuing education to veterinarians, and that's how they know I'm around too. 

Karli: Would you say most of what you do currently is gated to veterinarians to help them understand all of this? What is that mix for you right now?

C: So, my business is still serving pet families, doing euthanasia and hospice care. 

And hospice care was developed because as I was coming to people's homes, I realized there's a period between when their vet could no longer offer any help, but they weren't ready for the euthanasia, that these people had no support and it was all on them. And I knew it was really important to get them education. So I knew that early on. So that's always been an important thing for me. 

So my business is primarily for pet families, and then I regularly offer continuing education to veterinarians because they're reaching the pet families first. And I really think it's about reaching people earlier and sooner. Because a lot of the families I work with kind of feel like they're in an emergency situation. 

Karli: You want to educate pet parents, so what are a few top tidbits you'd like to share with them as far as it relates to what you do? 

C: Yeah. I would say the best thing you can do as a pet parent is get to know what's normal with your individual pet. And that starts as early as possible. Pretend you're a veterinarian. When you are petting your pet feel, their body get used to lumps and bumps. You know, it's like you're doing an exam. Look in their ears. Look in their mouth, look in between their toes. Just get really familiar with what your pet feels like. Because that's how you're gonna notice when something's off. 

And that goes to understanding your pet's behavior as well. The pet’s sign of disease can be very subtle, and that's why a lot of times people feel like, oh my gosh, this came outta nowhere. It happened so fast. And their experience is real. That's really what they experience because they just don't know what to look for. They don't realize the subtle signs. So again, the more you know what's normal. 

And then the other thing I would say is once you just know it's normal, you don't have to understand why it's abnormal. Just trust your gut. Something feels off. Trust your gut. That's what I would say. More people talk themselves out of what they kind of know just 'cause they don't have the science or the medicine to understand, they talk themselves out of it. So I would say, um, trust your gut and look for any kind of changes. 

What's interesting is those changes can also seem positive. For example, I knew a cat who had a really horrible tumor. And it was new to the family's home, so it had been hiding under the bed. And then it started coming out and wanting a lot of affection. And had this giant tumor, but it had confused the family and they thought, this pet can't be in pain because she's so snuggly and friendly. But she was really needy. She was really trying to get their attention because she probably was in a lot of pain. That was the only sign of pain was being more needy and wanting affection. So it can be really confusing. 

Karli: Unfortunately they can't talk to us, right? 

C: Exactly. That's, that's the key with being a veterinarian. That's the hard part. And so it's the same with pet families. Yeah. 

Karli: So as a pet parent, would I reach out directly to you or would I access your services through my vet? 

C: No, you always could reach out to me. A lot of people just don't know about me, and so vets can share about me.

The other thing is you can just get free resources on my website so you don't even, you know, even if you don't use my service, you can get free resources on how to assess quality of life. And then I also have a full course if you're interested in that, and really dive deep into how to read these signs in your pet.

Karli: And that's on your website? 

C: Yes. It's gentlejourneyaz.com 

Karli: It's like the perfect name. 

C: Mm. 

Karli: For what you do. How'd you come up with that? Just curious. 

C: Um, it was a collaboration and lots of brainstorming. You know, it was before ChatGPT. I guess I would use ChatGPT if I was doing it today. It was a lot about what do I feel the experience is and a lot of putting two words together and I love it, too. It really explains the feeling to me. 

Karli: So is that the best place to connect with you? Do you have social media accounts you can share with us here too?

C: That is the best place to connect with me. I'm also @gentlejourneyaz on Instagram. And I have a few videos on YouTube, which you can link to from my website and my YouTube channel is Dr Christina Pet Advocate. 

Karli: I will include all of those things in the show notes and transcript for you if you are listening today. So don't worry, don't scramble, feel like you have to rewind. I'll have all of that there for you. Can you tell, because there's obviously people listening that are not in Arizona, so can you recommend what they could do if they're not here in Phoenix? 

C: Well, the great thing about the resources anyone can get them to just understand about quality of life and timing of making this decision.

I would Google in-home euthanasia if you're looking for home euthanasia or hospice care. My biggest thing is when you're looking for hospice care, it's not really a regulated thing. So you wanna make sure that you're on the same page with whether you're primary care veterinarians doing it or you're doing it through a hospice program.

The biggest thing I would do is communicate with your vet that you want clear guidance and don't hold back. Because that's what I try to teach veterinarians. Oftentimes they feel bad suggesting euthanasia when a lot of families are looking for that kind of guidance. So being really clear and upfront with I wanna know when you think it's time. I wanna know early, that's important. 

Karli: That communication that we don't always do for ourselves, let alone our pets, right? 

C: Absolutely. Yes, I see a lot of parallels because we don't even, um, always understand our own needs or the needs in our, you know, our human relationships.

And a lot of this is about understanding the needs of our pets. So, yeah. 

Karli: Do you have one other piece of advice or insight perhaps, that you would like to share as it relates to pets and their quality of life at the end of their life? 

C: Yeah. Something that I would want everyone to know and I'm trying to change in our industry is that whether your pet is eating or not eating is the worst indicator of quality of life, even though it is the number one thing we look at.

There are plenty of pets I have seen that have gotten into an emergency within 12 hours of having a good appetite. There are pets that I've seen that are currently have a good appetite and are definitely suffering. So don't use appetite. And even more important if your pet is eating, but losing weight, they're not being nourished, period.

So eating is the worst sign to look for.

Karli: Ooh, that's a really good one, because you're right. That's what I have thought about in the past with my pets. And I've heard many people say that. Well, they're still eating so. 

C: That's the exact phrase I hear. They tell me all the reasons their pet has poor quality of life and then say, but he's still eating. And that's why it's my mission to change that. 

Now, if your pet stops eating, that's a clear sign something's wrong. But if your pet is eating, it's not a clear sign something isn't wrong. 

Karli: Good clarification, thank you.

We have been talking about what you do professionally. I'd love to flip the switch and talk about your midlife experience a little bit. I happen to know Dr. Christina socially because she is part of some of the events that I host here in Phoenix. 

And that's part of the reason why I invited her to join us here today because I've gotten to know more about what she does, and I think she's pretty freaking amazing.

So who better to ask on the podcast than amazing women who are in midlife and beyond, so that you listening to FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE® can learn from them as well. 

So socially, I do know her as C. So C, can you give me a little bit about your midlife experience, just an overview of your story from that perspective? 

C: Yes. And I have to say Karli is also awesome, and it's been amazing to be part of her group and to be around other amazing women in midlife. It's, it's awesome. If you have the chance and you're in Phoenix, you definitely wanna check it out. 

So, uh oh. I've had a rough journey, but I think many of us have by the time we get to midlife. I will start by saying, uh, life did not turn out the way I thought it would. And that was probably the biggest challenge, was accepting that I, you know, I'm a veterinarian.

I put a lot of hard work. I'm a business owner, and I have the fruit of all of that. I have my degree. I have a successful business. It has not been the same in my personal life. I've, I've invested a lot and showed up to midlife feeling like those investments did not pan out. And that was really challenging mentally.

Um, but also then became the gift. As it does, and I got to discover who I am. I got to see life outside of the box I thought it was supposed to be, and turns out it's pretty cool. Life is pretty cool even when it's not the way you thought it was gonna be. 

Karli: Yeah. You do not have an unusual experience. Obviously your experience is unique to you, but I know there's a lot of nodding out there as they're listening. Yeah, me too, kind of thing. 

Each of us has had a different journey to get to midlife, and we will continue to have different journeys, but it's so beautiful to be able to meet in this common space and share some of these things that we do experience together and we can relate to with one another. So thank you for sharing that.

I Should probably insert here that you are listening to part one of my conversation with Dr. Christina and I will be doing a second part of my conversation as part of my ELEVATE membership. It's only available to watch and listen to if you're in my ELEVATE membership.

So I encourage you to go to my website. Again, that link will be in the show notes and transcript. You can get to the information about my ELEVATE membership and join us there because that's how you'll hear part two of my conversation with Dr. Christina.

So I wrap the first part of my conversation with every one of my podcast guests with the question, what is your favorite thing about midlife and beyond, or what are you most looking forward to if you prefer to answer that?

C: I would say my favorite thing is a combination of having freedom with security. Because I have built a secure life for myself. I can depend on myself, I can rely on myself. And that's pretty cool by the time you're at this stage. And that offers me a lot of freedom to make the life that I wanna make. 

Karli: That's really good. Thank you for sharing that.

You mentioned it a few minutes ago about finding yourself, learning who you were. And that in itself also gives us a certain freedom, too. 

And I think that we've had a conversation like this at one of my events that you were at, and just how that freedom to not have to worry about what others are thinking or pleasing anybody really but ourselves. Putting ourselves first for the first time in decades, for a lot of us. We've been taking care of others in so many different ways for a very long time. So when we do get to this point in life, it's really beautiful to be able to have that freedom of self. Self-expression, self-awareness, and all of us are at different levels of that and different places in our journey.

But that is one of my favorite things too, about midlife and beyond, is that sense of freedom. Thank you. 

C: Yes. Thank you. 

Karli: We're gonna wrap part one of our conversation and jump into part two. So again, if you're listening to part one, yay for you. But you don't wanna miss out on part two because there's gonna be some good conversation. More about what Dr. Christina does professionally and some juicy stuff about midlife and beyond too. 

I thank you, Dr. Christina, for being here today, for joining me, and spending your time. I really do appreciate it. Thank you so much. 

C: Thank you. 

{MUSIC OUTRO}