The Guide To Pet Loss Resources

Affirming a pet owner's struggle with grief when his or her pet dies, this book helps mourners understand why their feelings are so strong and helps them overcome the loss. Included are practical suggestions for mourning and ideas for remembering and memorializing one's pet. Among the issues covered are understanding the many emotions experienced after the death of a pet; understanding why grief for pets is unique; pet funerals and burial or cremation; celebrating and remembering the life of one's pet; coping with feelings about euthanasia; helping children understand the death of their pet; and things to keep in mind before getting another pet.

In this invaluable guide and touchstone, New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz addresses the difficult but necessary topic of saying goodbye to a beloved pet. Drawing on personal experiences, stories from fellow pet owners, and philosophical reflections, Katz provides support for those in mourning. By allowing ourselves to grieve honestly and openly, he posits, we can in time celebrate the dogs, cats, and other creatures that have so enriched us. Katz compels us to consider if we gave our pets good lives, if we were their advocates in times of need, and if we used our best judgments in the end. In dealing with these issues, we can alleviate guilt, let go, and help others who are undergoing similar passages. By honoring the animals that have graced our lives, we reveal their truly timeless gifts: unwavering companionship and undying love. With a brand-new Foreword by the author

Thoroughly researched and expertly written, this comprehensive guide is a must for animal lovers dealing with the loss of a pet. The death of a pet can cause enormous feelings of sorrow, guilt, and loneliness for children and adults alike, whether the end comes through old age, illness, sudden death, or euthanasia. Yet pet owners are often inhibited in their very real grief, even if the animal was considered a full-fledged family member, a child's favored playmate, or an elderly person's faithful companion. In Pet Loss, the authors acknowledge and encourage such grief, and assert that pet owners must learn to cope with the death of an animal as they would with any significant loss--by expressing their feelings and coming to terms with their grief. At once a practical guide and an emotional support, Pet Loss offers unique advice for owners faced with an animal's passing, from the difficult decision to put a pet to sleep to dealing with a veterinarian or making funeral or cremation arrangements. Other questions answered in this book include: Do animals go off by themselves to die? How can children be helped with their grief over the death of a family pet? When an animal has to be put to sleep, what is the best method? How and when should one take in a new pet? How much can a vet be expected to do?

Pets are important members of the family and for some they may even be one of the closest relationships they enjoy, so when they die the devastation can be profound. In this long-overdue guide to grieving a beloved pet, Millie Jacobs uses her own personal experience and grief counselling expertise to guide readers through 31 days of exercises and support to help process your loss. Although we are a nation of animal lovers, there is so little emotional support offered to those who are grieving the death of an animal. Millie provides the necessary framework to allow the emotions of this very specific loss to be released and processed. This very practical guide will help every struggling and grieving owner through the loss of a pet and help them to feel they are, at last, allowed to grieve their best friend and companion.

"...more than just another book on pet loss. Reading this book is like talking to a friend who knows you almost better than you know yourself...it doesn't stop at just helping you through the grief...it will help you find an even deeper connection to your lost loved ones." - Ingrid King, ConsciousCat.net, author of Buckley's Story and Purrs of Wisdom If the loss of a feline friend has hit you particularly hard, know you are not alone. In Soul Comfort for Cat Lovers, you will find validation, coping insights, and practical wisdom conveyed with spiritual warmth. Liz Eastwood, CNC weaves her own experiences with advice from grief experts and stories from cat lovers to help you: process your feelings and recognize them as normal create something positive out of the energy of grief cultivate a continued sense of connection to your cat deal with inconvenient grief strengthen your natural coping chemistry This book also explores evidence of the most soulful of soul comforts: the possibility of the continuation of your loved one's spirit-and your connection to that spirit-after death. This topic is discussed from a perspective of open-minded curiosity, without bringing in any particular dogma or religion. Asserting that you can live wholeheartedly after loss, and that your feline friend would want nothing less for you, Soul Comfort for Cat Lovers is a compassionate handbook for your grief-healing journey. CONTENTS PART 1 Coping with the Loss of Your Feline Friend: Wisdom for mind, body, and spirit How Long Should This Be Taking? Learning to Ignore Everyone Who Doesn't Get It Understanding What Feelings Are Normal at This Time Giving Sorrow the Space to Transform Replenishing Your Coping Reserves Using Ritual to Honor Your Cat, Heal, and Feel Connected Creating Something Positive Out of Grief Energy: The Tribute Saving Memories You Don't Want to Forget Choosing Continued Connection Instead of "Closure" Asking a Magic Question Considering the Right Time to Adopt Another Cat Knowing When and How to Get More Support PART 2 Finding Comfort in Wonder: Allowing the possibility that death is not the end Choosing Wonder Looking at Experiences of Connection After Death Exploring Science That Suggests More to Life and Death PART 3 Conclusion: Emerging Whole After Loss Emerging Whole After Loss Appendix: Soul Comfort Poems for Ceremonies Acknowledgements About the Author

Understanding helps heal the hurt when you lose a pet A cherished pet gives you boundless, unconditional love and occupies a special place in your routine, your home, and your heart. When your pet dies, that warm, special place becomes a sad, empty space. This book helps you understand: * The grieving process, including typical stages of grief and techniques for coping * Grieving for a missing pet, one you had to give up because of a change in life situation, and other difficult circumstances * Children and the death of a pet * Euthanasia, including important considerations * Religion and the death of a pet, with articles by various religious leaders * Aftercare facilities, including an extensive index of pet cemeteries, crematories, and memorial gardens This award-winning book has been hailed as the seminal work in the field. And now the fourth newly revised and expanded edition offers so much more to the bereaving pet owner. This edition also includes a significant new way of considering the meaning of afterlife for us and our pets. It discusses the topic from a twenty-first–century scientific perspective that is very different from existing religious or metaphysical ones, offering a new comfort to skeptics and agnostics as well.