by Ethel Smith

Created on: September 11, 2008

Although I have had pets for many years I have never used Pet Bereavement Counselling, but I can understand why some people feel the need to use such services. The loss of a pet can be devastating. Most people who have never owned pets find this hard to understand. However trust me it is true. I have seen more than one grown man breakdown into flood of tears over the death of a pet dog, shedding far more tears than they were able to for the loss of a father. This does not mean that they thought any less of the person only that pets have a different sort of bond with people. My heartache at the loss of each of my dogs has been just as intense as the loss of a family member.

Thinking about my pet dogs I will try to explain. Each little individual dog, with its own unique personality, soon gets deep into your heart. As something that relies on you for so much they fill your daily life. They offer unconditional love, or call it what you will, back. They are there for you when you need them and ask little in return. On a basic level fresh daily water, some food and a warm place to rest is enough for them. With just these few basics, and a little kindness, a dog will be loyal to you forever.

Sadly in the end ultimately a pet owner will have to decide when the animals happy life is over and it is time to let them rest. Deciding to put a dog to sleep is never easy but it is an essential requirement of a faithful, loving owner. Your pet deserves nothing less. I guess this is what makes the death harder to recover from.

If you have had to put your animal to sleep you may feel as if you have killed it or even as if you have killed a good friend. This can be hard to come to terms with. Animal lovers often find that there normal support circle of family and friends cannot understand their grief at the loss of 'Just an animal'. In such cases counselling can help to put things into perspective and provide a listening ear and shoulder to cry on of someone that understands or at least does not laugh at you.

Counselling, in general, does not work for everyone. However if you are finding it hard to recover from the death of a pet and have no-one to discuss your feelings with you may find that such counselling helps. Simply explaining your feelings and putting them into words can be the first step at moving on after a death. Counselling can make you realise that you did the best you could for your pet and may enable you to move on, perhaps even letting you consider taking another pet into your home, not as a replacement but as a new start.

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