Watching your senior pet age or losing a beloved pet to illness or an accident is devastating. Pet loss grief can be overwhelming, and is only made harder when those around us just don’t understand, or make insensitive remarks. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, and definitely no time limit. It will be different for every person and with every loss.

Honestly, even after 25 years as a vet tech, and many personal pet losses throughout my life, nothing prepared me for losing my beloved pug mix Becca last summer. I still cry almost every time I think about her, and I haven’t been able to properly memorialize her yet … but I know I will do something extra special when the time is right.