Adjustment to the Death of a Companion Animal

Communicating Social Support to Grieving Clients: The Veterinarians' View

“…Cutrona and Suhr (1994) categorize social support as (a) action-facilitating support such as performing tasks and collecting information; or (b) nurturing support that entails building selfesteem, acknowledging and expressing emotions, and providing companionship. Gerwolls (1994) reported that although it should be possible to rely upon veterinary professionals for support, bereaved owners may not always be able to do so because such personnel may have difficulty dealing with their own feelings when a pet dies and may resort to ''icy professionalism.'' Although caring deeply about their clients, most veterinarians and their staff are often overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with individuals' emotional responses to the illness or death of a beloved pet (Lagoni et al, 1994).…”

Religion and pet loss: afterlife beliefs, religious coping, prayer and their associations with sorrow

“…They are often treated like special members of the family who provide their owners a rich and reliable source of happiness, companionship and security (Archer & Winchester, 1994;Carmack, 1985;Salmon & Salmon, 1983). Naturally, when a beloved pet dies, many of their owners experience emotional pain comparable to losing a significant person (Gerwolls & Labott, 1994). This kind of pain can often reflect a crisis of meaning where the bereaved struggle to make sense of and find benefit in their loss (Neimeyer, 2011).…”

Animals in Social Work

“…During this time, a person may experience any or all of the manifestations of 'normal grief'. Gerwolls & Labott (1994) found that anticipatory grief, which may lessen the impact of death in human loss, did not lessen grief in companion animal loss. In the veterinary setting, anticipatory grief is often characterised by anxiety, worry, guilt, confusion, and indecision.…”

“…For those who believe their companion is an integral part of their life, and who have bonded strongly, the loss through death or other circumstances may evoke a grief that is similar in nature and content to the grief experienced at the breaking of the human-human bond (Carmack,1985;Field, Orsini, Gavish, & Packman, 2009;Packman, Field, Carmack, & Ronen, 2011;Stewart, Docherty, & Brown, 1996;Weisman, 1991). As in the loss of significant humans, the nature of the relationship plays a strong role in the grief experience, such that the presence of a strong human-animal bond is associated with greater difficulties in grief adjustment (Gerwolls & Labott, 1994). Animal companions are frequently seen as family members Veldkamp, 2009;Wilson, Netting, Turner, & Olsen, 2013), and the companionship they offer is of primary importance (Endenburg, 1995;Tower & Nokota, 2006); acceptance and affection is often less complicated, and they have the capacity for forgiveness and 'unconditional' love not often found in human-human relationships (Archer, 1997;Morrow, 1998;Stewart et al, 1996;Weisman, 1991).…”