One of the main reasons I entered the profession was because I felt there was a hole in the field for therapists who specialize in pet bereavement. This is certainly a disenfranchised category of grief and one that not enough therapists understand. I won't pathologize your sadness. Losing someone you love is hard. Period. 

 

The manner in which you grieve is strongly dependent on the relationship you had with your pet. I firmly believe that the human-animal connection can be as meaningful as that with another person. Pets often know us better than friends do. They provide us with unconditional love on a day-to-day basis. When they're gone, there is an energy that is missing from the household. Their death can re-activate a flood of other buried fears, emotions, and guilt. When grief is not normalized, shame and depression often follow.

 

The circumstances around their death may also be difficult to endure. Perhaps you had to make the decision to euthanize and you are experiencing intense feelings of guilt?  Maybe you suffer from depression and your dog provided you with routine,  a sense of purpose, and 

connection to your neighborhood. Grief over a pet, like that of a human, is as complicated and unique as you are.

 

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I provide Pet Grief Support for...

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• Intense depression activated by death or loss of a pet

• Anticipatory Loss

• Euthanasia & End of Life Decisions

• Elderly Pet Loss

• Runaway or Lost Pets

• Loss Through Divorce or a separation

• Traumatic Loss

• Early or Unexpected Loss of Young Pets

• Disenfranchised Grief by Friends & Families

• Unexpected attachment to animals raised for meat consumption (livestock, 4-H, FFA)

• Children's Grief

• Elderly Grief

• Veterinary Professionals (vicarious trauma & Compassion Fatigue)

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