Our pets are among the most joyful things in our lives. They are family, they are friendship, they are unconditional love. We cherish them and spoil them and look forward to their heartfelt welcomes every time we see them. The last thing that we want to think about is when they will no longer be there to greet us, lick our faces, nuzzle their noses up against us.
However, the fact that life comes to an end is real and difficult, but somewhat easier if you’re able to do some planning ahead of time. Sylvia Trappuzano, a Couples Therapist from Rancho Mirage, CA, said recently, “I wish that I would have prepared for the end of my dear Coco’s life. I knew that it was coming but I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted to focus on enjoying her last days with her. But when it finally did happen, I was completely paralyzed with shock and sadness and had such a hard time making the important decisions that need to be made. If I had it to do all over again, I would have tried to figure out what I wanted to do with her after she passed and the details that go along with it, like burial vs. cremation, what to bury her in, and what type of memorial I would like to create for her.”
Here are some things that you can do in advance, to make it much easier on yourself when the inevitable occurs:
1) Try to answer the question for yourself of whether or not you believe in cremation and feel comfortable choosing that for your pet.
2) If cremation feels like the right route for you, give some best organic hemp oil for dogsLinks to an external site. thought as to whether you would like to have an urn in your home, or spread your pet’s ashes somewhere meaningful.
3) If you think that you want to bury your pet, are you able to do that in your yard, or a family members yard?
4) If you think that you would prefer a pet cemetery, do some research on which ones are closest to you. Do price comparisons and visits. You want to make sure that you are comfortable with the people who run the cemetery that you choose. Although this is not a fun task, these decisions are MUCH easier to make when you’re clear headed and not mourning
We prepare for the loss of our other family members, humans, so why would we not prepare for the loss of our animal family members? People are often very surprised by the deep level of pain and anguish that they feel when they lose an animal companion, so much so that they feel immobilized after the loss of a pet. In talking with grieving pet owners daily, I have often heard people say “I was so surprised that I felt a deeper sense of loss and heartache over the loss of my dog than I did when I lost an actual person in my family.” Some attribute this to the fact that animals are able to love us unconditionally, something that us humans have not yet completely mastered.
