Pet Urns: Coping With Your Loss

Disclaimer
This webpage is for informational purposes only. I am not a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker. I am not trying to diagnose or help with any medical or emotional problems. I offer the content on this page from my heart in hopes that it can help you during your loss.

My thoughts:
Everyone mourns a little bit differently for their loss. There is no right way or wrong way - we each must handle it our own way. With that said, there are some "normal" things that most people go through at the loss of a family member. These things, emotions, episodes, feelings, whatever you want to call them are difficult even for the strongest amongst us. I highly recommend that you read a book about the loss of a pet so that you can understand some of the things that are happening to you. It won't make those things happen any faster, but at least it will give you an understanding of what is happening. There are a lot of books written and there are a lot of sources on the internet for you to refer to -- take some time and read some of the things. Make sure you have a big box of tissues next to you and some time to mourn - to cry, to remember, and to maybe even laugh. Also, please be careful. At this time, while you are grieving, there are an unfortunate few that may try to take advantage of you. There are many grieving websites that request donations -- some are very valid, some are not -- if you aren't sure, don't donate or have a friend or family member review the requests. Be sure you take the time YOU need to grieve and to remember.

My Story
This is my bereavement story. I'm not a writer - it won't be eloquent, it won't be poetry. I list it here because my story has helped other people in the past. If it can help you - then I will bare my soul. At times it may be unemotional and flat and at other times it may be wordy. I'm not a writer, I'm a feeler, I'm an animal lover, I am who I am. (The story is long -- I just finished writing it, and finished drying my tears.)

Click here to read my story.

Bereavement Links
There are a lot of bereavement web pages. You can search www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.excite.com, or other search engines using terms such as -- pet loss, pet mourning, loss of a pet, death of a pet, etc. I have listed a few that I thought were exceptionally good. These links are just links that I found in my searches. There is no reciprocity between Artistic Oasis and these companies and I have no control over the websites.

http://www.pet-loss.net - a list of resources by state
http://www.in-memory-of-pets.com
http://aplb.org - association of pet loss and bereavement
http://www.petvets.com/petloss

Bereavement Books
There are a lot of books about the loss of a pet. I HIGHLY recommend that you get one or two (or three or four) and read them. I found that understanding what was happening to me during the bereavement process made it a little bit easier to go through. You can go to your library or local bookstore or a webstore like amazon.com to find books.