08/12/2025
Podcast featuring my friend & colleague C Kearns Therapy Services xx 🙏🌈🐾
National Grief Awareness Week
Grief in companion animals – is it the same as losing a human?
Grief is a natural reaction to loss, which manifests itself in emotional pain or sadness. It can occur when you lose someone or something that you care about.
The grieving process affects everyone differently. Grief is a personal experience that can be complex and unpredictable.
You may experience different stages of grief, that is not always linear. These are denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance.
Experiencing the ghosts of the departed is a common, cross-cultural experience of grief; such interactions are part of so-called ‘externalized continuing bonds’ and represent an ongoing relationship with the departed.
Some people feel unsupported in their pet's loss, unable to verbalise how much it is impacting them.
The human-animal bond shows that many feel that pets are the same as members of their human family, and in some cases where there has been a caregiving component, a companionship in an isolated individual or in many other circumstances, the loss of a pet can be more impactful on someone's life as a loss of a human friend or family member.
Furthermore, it is very rare that members of the public, have to make a decision to euthanase. It is an experience that may only occur a handful of times in their life and can be a decision that brings immense pain and other emotions such as guilt – even if it is the right decision to peacefully relieve pain and suffering.
In this blog, we used real life experiences of our community to view insights into pet bereavement, have a read to help understand how the grief process is not linear and that we need to be supported through the loss of an animal:
https://www.vetvoices.co.uk/post/grief-in-companion-animals-is-it-the-same-as-losing-a-human
If you feel you need support, please have a look at pet bereavement support:
https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-bereavement-and-pet-loss
In this podcast we hear Carrie Kearns, a Pet Bereavement Counsellor, passionately advocates for those experiencing pet bereavement. In conversation with Robyn Lowe and Danny Chambers MP, who bring their experiences of small animal and equine euthanasia’s, Carrie Kearns ACC Dip PBC, MHS provides compassionate insight into owner experience after pet loss giving useful tips and advice to support our clients through animal euthanasia, including making the decision, the actual procedure and coping afterwards.
We discuss subjects such as disenfranchised grief, where society doesn’t allow us to validate our grief and how this can relate to losing our animals. We have a unique and special codependent relationship with our pets and part of ownership is a caregiving role, ensuring their needs are met, often bringing us closer together.
We talk about approaching the decision to euthanise an animal, and how members of the veterinary team can support owners so they do not feel alone in this. We also cover simple things like dressing a catheter can make a big difference to the owner's experience.
🎧https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/veterinary-voices/episodes/Bereavement-How-the-Loss-of-an-Animal-Companion-can-Impact-Us-e2p1kn4
Carrie also highlights her role as a pet bereavement counsellor, and how she may be able to assist both clients and veterinary staff. Carrie is a member of the newly launched Association of Pet Bereavement Counsellors: a self-regulating body setup to acknowledge the relevance and value of pet bereavement counsellors, who can provide niche client support. To become an accredited member, individuals must fulfil specific criteria, and they are listed with details of their location and credentials, so clients can pick a counsellor tailored to their needs.
Please follow the following link to view this:
https://apbcounsellors.co.uk/find-a-counsellor
