Grief Counselling in Rothesay
The death of a pet can be the same as losing a family member. It is important to take the time to grieve and experience your emotions throughout this journey.
Everyone will experience the grieving process differently. Just as you may from the other members of your family. It is important to know that there is no right or wrong way to grieve and keep in mind that you are never alone.
Our team at Fairvale Animal Hospital is here and can offer resources to help you after losing a pet.
How Our Vets Can Help
We are sorry that you are here while experiencing the difficulties that come with managing a pet's end-of-life care. Our Rothesay veterinary team is here for you and your family during this time.
Memorialization
One of the most important parts of the grieving process is to honour your pet's life. Memorializing your family pet will help you find closure while reminding yourself of the experiences and memories that you shared with your cherished family pet.
Self-Care & Communication
Losing a loved one is never easy and it is no different for our family pets. At Fairvale Animal Hospital, our team can provide some strategies for thinking about and communicating with loved ones while they are grieving.
- Self Care
Although you may find this very difficult, you need to take this time to grieve and reflect on the wonderful times you shared with your pet. You may want to suppress the grief and keep up appearances, but your to-do list can wait and your loved ones will respect you while you take this time to heal.
Be kind and gentle to yourself, and remember that sadness is not a weakness, but a part of life. Suppressing your feelings will only create more intense feelings down the road.
- Communicating With Children
While your first thought may be to lie to your kids about where your pet has gone, you should consider it an opportunity to teach them a valuable lesson about mortality and the grieving process.
Pet loss can show your children what your family does when something sad happens, and that grief and loss are normal parts of life. During this time they can learn that they can grieve and that this is a normal emotional process and that everything will be okay in the end.
- Asking For Support From Loved Ones
Not everyone you interact with will understand how you are feeling during this time. They may diminish how you feel (intentionally or not) and suggest you should "just get a new pet".
We may be able to help you navigate conversations about your loss with the people in your life, and give you the tools to politely but firmly insist on your right to take your journey through the grieving process as you need to.