Coping with Pet Loss

Grief Resources

Coping with pet loss can be exhausting, both mentally and physically, making it hard to even think about seeking out pet loss resources in these difficult times.

I have therefore gathered these resources to help support you wherever you are in your pet loss and grief journey.

The grief of losing a pet is crushing; and yet it is too often minimized. This talk by Dr. Sarah Hoggan explains why the pain of pet loss is different and why it is valid. Dr. Sarah Hoggan has been an emergency veterinarian for over 20 years.

Many people meet her on the worst day of their life; when their pet is injured, when no else is available, and when it is time to say goodbye.

Her career of dealing with critically injured pets, and their frantic families, gives her a compassionate perspective that only comes with experience and helping many animals to have a soft goodbye.

Euthanasia is a decision that will echo in your mind long after the event. In this second talk by Dr. Sarah Hoggan, she explains that echo and why it occurs. Sarah has worked as an emergency doctor throughout her veterinary career. She feels her most important task as an emergency doctor is translating the medical diagnosis and clinical situation into a more understandable context for the family so they can make decisions feeling empowered instead of overwhelmed.

Nearly every pet owner has experienced pet death – so why do we hardly talk about it? E.B. Bartels, author of Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter shares humorous and heartfelt anecdotes about loving pets, here and hereafter, and the potential connections we may be missing by not sharing our grief with others.

In her talk above, E.B. Bartels notes:

"Kindness is the thing that our pets show us every day. They don't care if we step on their tail by accident, or forget to feed them on time. They love us unconditionally. And when a pet you love dies, the thing you need the most to help you get through that grief is kindness shown to you by a fellow person who really gets it. Which is why I really hope that we can all be more open about sharing our own pet loss stories, because it is the only way we can really find each other."

I wholeheartedly agree with this. It is the entire reason I started this website over two decades ago, and I can continue to believe in the power of sharing our stories. In the power of reading the experiences of others, and then sharing your own, in the grief version of "paying it forward", so that those coming after you will read your experiences and know that thousands of others have walked the same path before them and that they are not alone.

For this reason I have made two additions to this space.

I spent many months building Henry, a pet loss companion, named after my dog Henry, who is the Golden Retriever in my header image and whose photos are all over this website. He is there for you to sit with, to unburden yourself to, for those moments when you need someone to communicate with, but real humans are just too much to deal with. He has all of my knowledge on grief I have learned over the decades, and all of the knowledge from this website. He is a caring and compassionate listener, specifically designed to be someone who really gets it, for those times when you just need someone, and don't want the pre amble, the need to explain yourself, or to have to deal with the social anxiety grief can make feel so much harder to deal with at times.

Sit with Henry

I also believe in the kindness and connection part, and making real connection in a safe community where everyone there knows how you feel, because they have been and/or there themselves. Away from the noise and exhausting negative distractions of social media and media generally. A quiet place, to share experiences, stories, memories and to reflect.

For this reason, I am in the process of building our community.

When you feel ready, please join us.

Join our Community