Pet Bereavement support services

CB19Kevo

Is there any such services in Ireland or is it seen as not as relevant.
After loosing a beloved cat 2 weeks ago i was in a real bad way for the first 4 or 5 days,Still not great but lucky that i am busy with work which is helping keeping my mind off it.

I suppose i was lucky that i had some support from friends and no one made any silly comment to me but i did feel that people were unaware of how much devastation it all caused.

Should a service exist ? and how have others here coped with bereavement in the short term and long term.

metaoblivia

My condolences for your loss. Losing a pet can be especially hard because some people don't understand the bond that you can form, so you can feel silly grieving over "just an animal" but pets are so much more than that.

There used to be a pet cemetery behind my family home that was kept up well for years. People would do proper burials and would come back and visit their pet's grave, as you might with a close friend or family member. There were all kinds of pets there - cats, dogs, horses, birds, etc.. It provided a lot of comfort for those who needed it. You may see if anything like that exists near you or hold a memorial on your own. Setting aside time to remember the joy your cat brought to you and the life you gave it can be an important step in the grieving process.

I also did a quick google search on "pet bereavement" and found a number of websites dedicated to it, as well as tips for coping. You may want to have a look at a few of those.

monkeysnapper

We had our westie attacked by 2 bull mastiff s . was shocking experience , thank god my 2 older children wernt with me when it happened .
Cody survived a week but unfortunatly died which was a shock as she was making progress .

I was really taken aback at how people I knew and work with were very supportive of how I was feeling and how kids were . And 3 weeks on people are asking did we consider getting another dog.
We have another westie and I can see he is effected by her not being around .

Everyone in house seems to have got over it ok but I'm still effected by it , I'm the man of the house, Daddy.

I feel I didn't do enough to stop it happening , I had a 1.5 year old on my shoulder so couldn't really but feel a huge amount of guilt anyway. Things I could have done differently .
Walking my 2 dogs used to be the highlight of my day , taking my 3 kids with me . Now I have to make myself go for sake of my remaining dog.

I bought myself a pik axe handle and carry a knife with me now for self defence. I talked with local Sargent and I was basically told its not worth persuaing, falling out with neighbor and hell get away with a small fine anyway .

Neighbour showed genuine remorse over it and came with a high amount of money and regret which makes a small bit of difference but still continues to walk some of his dangerous dogs without muzzles.

I don't feel like I need support or counciling but I need to convince myself I'm prepared in the future as I know a lot of my older neighbors and kids walk there dogs in same location .I certainly don't feel I'm overreacting in arming myself .

Gael23

I do think its something theres a market for. But I think its perhaps something that requires understanding rather than therapy. I for one never know what it felt like until I went through it and I can tell you OP it took a lot longer than 2 weeks.
At the time I found very few people could understand how I was feeling which made it hard to talk about. I would say to anyone that time does heal, although depending on the circumstances how long that takes varies widely. Mine was 15 and had lots of health issues so it was just a case hid time was up. That made it easier to cope with than losing him through an accident or fight as the last poster mentioned

misschoo

Hi yes there is - I have been having pet bereavement counselling after losing my dog 5 months ago. Most bereavement counsellors should help regardless whether the death is of a person or an animal - loss is loss regardless and the grief is real. It has helped me with my feelings of guilt and anger, and also how to deal with lack of understanding from some people with regards to what I was going through. I miss my dog and cry for her every single day but I think that this is part of my healing process. Thankfully in my job we have an employee assistance program (EAP) and they will cover up to 6 counselling sessions for me. If a bereavement counsellor tells you they can't provide counselling because it's an animal then in my opinion they're not worth their salt xxx