Grief is a natural response when someone you love is taken away. It can be complicated by the role the animal played in your life and it’s an individual experience.
The level of grief depends on different factors among which the age of your pet, the circumstances of their death. If the pet was a guide dog, then the owner will be grieving the loss of a special coworker. If you took care of your sick pet, it can be even harder.
It takes time to overcome the mourning period and a professional or a trusted friend would be of help. There might be ups and downs even after years.
Some people go through different stages of grief such as denial, anger, guilt, depression.
Denial: refusal to accept what is happening. It is a defense mechanism. It is hard to accept that the pet is no longer around.
Anger: underneath people can be angry with themselves, others and especially the situation. Things that remind the pet can be painful to see or hear.
Bargaining: People would go back in time to recognize the illness or stop the accident from happening.
Acceptance: it doesn’t mean that everything is fine but accept the reality that the pet is goneand learn how to live with it.
The decision to put down a pet may be one of the most difficult to take.
Euthanasia for a loved pet is personal and usually comes after a diagnosis of a terminal illness and when it’s suffering with no relief.
People choose to have their pets put down for a huge variety of humane, personal reasons.
-The pet is suffering from a terminal illness that medicines or surgical therapy can no longer relieve. The veterinarian will make it as peaceful as possible.
– The suffering is generally the most common reason why the owners have for
euthanasing a four-legged friend.
When you decide to end the suffering, take a transition time for you and the people around the pets’s life. You could stay at home the last day to say good-bye.
At this point many people think the veterinariy directly takes care of the dead body instead they have a contract with a cremation pet center or funeral home to organize and deal the cremation or burial process.
Some pet crematories give the possibilità to follow the entire cremation process from a webcam.
Then, the last step is choosing what to do with ashes: preserve them in an urn to be displayed in a special place at home or keep it in a cremation urn to be scattered in a pet cemetery, buried or spread in an open space.
Encourage them to pay tribute to their pet in a way that makes sense to them.
Here are some ideas:
Talk about the pet.
Write a story.
Draw a picture of the pet.
Plant a seed in a park or garden where they used to play together.
Have a memorial box containing objects, toys, pictures belonged to the pet.
Do a drive for a shelter to honor the pet.
If the children asks for a new pet, make sure he/she’s ready. Don’t give the new pet the same name of the one who died.
Never compare the pets because every one is unique and have own charachteristics.