What Are The Stages Of Pet Grief?

When your pet passes away, you may experience a range of emotions in a short period of time or spread out across months or maybe even years. Young and old alike experience real sorrow and deep heartfelt emotion when their beloved animal passes on to another life. If you or a loved one are dealing with grief of a pet, then you need to know that you are not alone. Your feelings are very natural, and you will find healing at the end of your grieving process. The process will be different for everyone, but here are a few of the common emotions that you will experience during grief over a pet.

The first step of the grieving process is shock, anxiety, or disbelief. You may experience one or all of these in the early hours or days when you lose your pet. You may feel like the experience is not really happening, and you will not be able to accept that your pet is gone. This is usually followed by anger, guilt, and fear, not necessarily in that order. A person that is bereaved with grief over a pet will tend to get angry easily and lash out at family, the vet, or even God.

The guilt is one of the hardest emotions to deal with when you are experiencing pet grief because it can leave you feeling like you should have done more or you should have made different choices. In the grieving process, it is important to understand that you tried your very best to care and nurture your pet, and you cannot keep blaming yourself for a natural process that we will all experience at some point in our lives. It is not your fault.

Next in the grief over your pet, you may try to bargain to get your pet back. This can involve trying to bargain with a higher power or your veterinarian to get your pet back or to save your pet from death. After the bargaining does not work, you may experience sadness, loneliness, and depression. You may spend hours of the day just thinking about your pet and trying to imagine ways that you could have gotten him or her back. Then, finally, after all of the grieving is over, you will accept that your pet has passed on and you will look back on the memories that you have together with love and happiness. The healing process is not easy, and it can often take a lot of time, so be patient with yourself and seek out support whenever you need to talk about your grief.

By: Renee Wood, MSW

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Renee Wood founded The Comfort Company in 2000. She is a social worker that has helped families deal with the loss or pending loss of a child, as well as aiding patients in the end-stage of renal failure. The gifts provided by The Comfort Company offer Pet sympathy gifts as well as hope for healing hearts.