20/08/2025
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❤️When Goodbye Comes.....Walking Through Pet Bereavement
🩷As a bereavement counsellor, I have the privilege of sitting with people in some of their hardest moments and one of the areas closest to my heart is pet loss. I have made it my mission to talk about pet bereavement because, too often quite frankly it is overlooked or dismissed, brushed under the carpet, or simply not taken seriously enough. Yet for so many, the grief of losing a beloved animal can feel just as deep and complex as losing a person, and sometimes worse.
🧡Our pets are not just animals, they are family, they are companions who share in our daily routines and in the quiet moments of life, they are the ones who meet us at the door, curl up beside us when the world feels heavy, and love us unconditionally. When that love is gone, the silence it leaves behind can feel unbearable!
💛What I hear most often in my work is the guilt that surrounds pet bereavement.
People ask, Did I do enough? Did I wait too long? Did I let go too soon? These questions can be tormenting, especially when an owner has had to make the painful decision of euthanasia. I remind my clients that choosing to end a pet’s suffering is not giving up, it is the ultimate act of love. To put their comfort above our own longing to keep them is one of the bravest choices we will ever make.
💚Grief for a pet, IS real grief. It deserves time, space, and acknowledgment. It is not something you “should just get over” quickly.
Every relationship is unique, and so every loss is unique too. Some people need to talk and share stories, others find comfort in creating memorials, lighting candles, framing photographs, keeping collars or paw prints, planting trees or flowers in their pet’s name. These rituals may seem small, but they can provide a sense of grounding when everything else feels unsteady.
💙In my own life, I know how powerful that bond with an animal can be. I also know the sharp ache of saying goodbye, it’s raw and so real. That is why I tell anyone grieving a pet, your love mattered, your grief is valid, and you do not have to walk through it alone.
💜Over time, grief softens and the memories that once brought tears begin to bring warmth instead. There will still be moments, a sound, a place, a smell, that bring the sadness rushing back, however that is not weakness, that is love reminding you it was real.
🖤Our pets leave pawprints on our hearts that NO amount of time can erase, and though their lives are shorter than ours, the love they give us is simply eternal, and that love is what stays, even when the goodbye feels too heavy to bear.
🤍If you are grieving your pet right now, know this, your pain is understood, your loss is significant, and your love is forever, your grief matters!
❣️Be kind to yourself.
2025© Glebe Meadow Counselling
Pet Bereavement Therapy by Glebe Medow Counselling
