Grieving our pets that have passed can be just as devastating as any loved one in our life.
I find it interesting that some people don’t understand the grieving process around losing a pet. I have heard comments like; “it was just an animal or at least it wasn’t a loved one.” This always surprises me because I believe that our love for our animals sometimes can be bigger than our love for the humans in our life. I think this is because they love us unconditionally; they don’t care what we look like, if our breath stinks, and even if we forget to feed them at the exact time there so forgiving. They have such unconditional love for us that it teaches us how to have unconditional love in our lives. This unconditional love between an animal and human is so powerful.
Having animals in your life can be such a great learning; they can really connect us to our feelings. My last cat, Phil really captured my heart because he was so funny, animated and extremely loving. When he passed I remember having deep, deep sadness and missing him so much. It also brought up past sadness regarding losing my mother when I was younger.
My cat now, Milo has always taught me about things in my life. It’s funny how he has tapped into my old belief of me not being important, not good enough, like something is wrong with me. He has always been extremely aloof and now he is living with my neighbor and only comes home to eat. I have the opportunity to shift that limiting belief that nothing is wrong with me, I am good enough and important even though my cat is choosing someone else. I’m just not taking it personally.
I wanted to give you some ideas about the grieving process around losing a beloved pet. Here are a few helpful tips to support you in the grieving process.
- Make sure you allow time to grieve. Allow enough time to move through your emotions. With all losses we need to give ourselves time so that we can experience our feelings fully.
- Have a ritual around your animal’s life. It’s important to say goodbye through a type of memorial. This also helps you have closure.
- Start a practice if you don’t already have one. Grief can be hard on us physically and emotionally. It’s important to go inward with either a meditation practice, journaling or just sitting in silence.
- Talk to friends and family. Even if you’re having difficulties in this moment it’s important to reach out and share with people, this process can help heal your heart.
- Be aware of other pets still with the family, these pets may be grieving as well. It’s important that you maintain their normal routine this will help comfort them.
- Look back on all the great momentswith your special friend. Take time to journal or do a collage. Talking about the funny and interesting characteristics to others helps.
To this day I still talk about my Labrador retriever Jack and all the crazy things he did and he has been gone 9 years. Talking about him keeps his memory alive for me and reminds me of how much I loved him. It also has helped me heal from the loss.
Having animals and losing them is a wonderful time to go inward and process feelings that come up that may not completely be about your loss of the animal but some other hidden issue.
The loss of a furry companion can be as hurtful as losing a human companion, let this be okay.
