Grief Support

Life Without Unconditional Love

Losing a beloved pet can be an emotionally painful and overwhelming experience. Quite often, your pet is a best friend. Pets live with us so we see them every day, caring for them day-in and day-out, and often over many, many years. Sometimes it may seem that our pet is even closer to us in our daily lives than some family members. The loss of a pet may be as intense and even as lengthy as when a significant person in our life dies.

Each person deals with grief differently. Dealing with the grief from the loss of a pet can be profoundly painful and feel overwhelming at times. We understand how this loss can feel. We know it is not easy. We know it is a highly personal and individual experience. To help you through this process, here are a few additional tips we’d like to offer to ease you through this trying time.

The loss of the unconditional love that you have come to expect from your pet can feel insurmountable. To help get through this difficult time, try employing these tools as you ease yourself through your recovery.

• Use a support system — friends, family, pet loss support groups, or specialists who understand.
• Maintain your health by keeping it simple. Keep a water bottle and some healthy snacks handy.
• Don’t make any major, life-altering decisions in the midst of your grief.
• Try to get some physical exercise, which will benefit you physically, emotionally and mentally.
• Try to change some or all of your routines.
• Find nurturing and/or creative activities to help you work through your grief.
• Find ways to memorialize your pet that resonate with you, such as wearing a locket with a photo, wearing their tags on a necklace or putting them on a key chain, creating a photo album of the life you shared, or making a donation in their honor.
• Celebrate your pet’s memory by adding your pet’s photo and a memorial in our Gallery of Love.