The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

Hospice and Chemotherapy/Radiation: When Comfort-Focused Treatment Can Still Happen

Hospice and Chemotherapy/Radiation: When Comfort-Focused Treatment Can Still Happen

Families often arrive at hospice carrying a sentence they do not want to say out loud: “We can’t keep doing this the way we’ve been doing it.” Sometimes that sentence...

How Long Can Someone Stay on Hospice? What Recertification Means

How Long Can Someone Stay on Hospice? What Recertification Means

One of the most common questions families ask—sometimes with relief, sometimes with suspicion—is simple: “How long can someone stay on hospice?” The question usually comes from a very human place....

Who Qualifies for Hospice? The Plain-English Medicare Eligibility Guide

Who Qualifies for Hospice? The Plain-English Medicare Eligibility Guide

When a doctor first mentions hospice, families often hear it as a door closing. The question that follows is almost always the same: “Do they actually qualify?” Underneath that is...

Does Choosing Hospice Mean “Stopping Treatment”? What Medicare Means by Comfort Care

Does Choosing Hospice Mean “Stopping Treatment”? What Medicare Means by Comfort Care

One of the hardest phrases families hear near the end of life is, “It may be time to consider hospice.” For many, it sounds like a verdict—that there are no...

What to Do When Death Is Near: Comfort, Logistics, and Family Communication

What to Do When Death Is Near: Comfort, Logistics, and Family Communication

When death is near, families often feel two kinds of pressure at the same time. One is emotional: the ache of watching someone you love change, the fear of doing...

What to Say to Someone Facing Pet Euthanasia (and What Not to Say)

What to Say to Someone Facing Pet Euthanasia (and What Not to Say)

Most people don’t freeze because they don’t care. They freeze because they care deeply and they’re terrified of making it worse. A friend texts you, “We think it’s time,” or...

Should We Schedule Euthanasia Now or Wait? How Families Decide

Should We Schedule Euthanasia Now or Wait? How Families Decide

When families ask, “Should we schedule euthanasia now or wait?”, they are usually holding two fears at the same time. One fear is doing it too soon and living with...

Is It Time to Say Goodbye? A Quality-of-Life Approach Vets Use

Is It Time to Say Goodbye? A Quality-of-Life Approach Vets Use

There’s a particular kind of heartbreak that shows up in the late-night search for answers. Your pet is still here, still breathing, still leaning into your hand in a familiar...

Anticipatory Grief for a Terminally Ill Pet: Managing Heartbreak Before the Goodbye

Anticipatory Grief for a Terminally Ill Pet: Managing Heartbreak Before the Goodbye

Anticipatory grief is a particular kind of heartbreak: the grief that begins before a loss fully arrives. With a terminally ill pet, it can feel like you are living in...

The Last Day: 10 Ways to Make Their Final 24 Hours Perfect

The Last Day: 10 Ways to Make Their Final 24 Hours Perfect

There’s a particular kind of love that shows up in a pet’s final day. It’s tender, fierce, ordinary, and surreal all at once. You might be counting medication times, watching...

Pet Loss After Cancer: Anticipatory Grief, Caregiver Exhaustion, And Healing After A Long Illness

Pet Loss After Cancer: Anticipatory Grief, Caregiver Exhaustion, And Healing After A Long Illness

Grief following a pet’s long battle with cancer is often complex and layered, beginning quietly long before their passing. It can emerge during the weeks or months when life slowly...

Dementia in Dogs: Grieving the Dog Who is Still Physically There

Dementia in Dogs: Grieving the Dog Who is Still Physically There

The first time it happens, you might not even call it “dementia.” It may look like stubbornness, or a new quirk, or a dog having an off day. Your older...

Pre-Grieving: Why You Feel Guilty for Thinking About Life After They're Gone

Pre-Grieving: Why You Feel Guilty for Thinking About Life After They're Gone

If you’re caring for an aging or terminally ill pet, you may be living in two timelines at once. In one, you’re still measuring medications, counting breaths, watching appetite, celebrating...

Bucket Lists for Terminally Ill Pets: Ideas for Every Mobility Level

Bucket Lists for Terminally Ill Pets: Ideas for Every Mobility Level

When a veterinarian says the words “terminal” or “end-of-life,” time changes shape. The days can feel too fast and too heavy at the same time. Many families start searching for...

Coping with the Diagnosis: When the Vet Says "There's Nothing More We Can Do"

Coping with the Diagnosis: When the Vet Says "There's Nothing More We Can Do"

You don’t forget the moment the room shifts. Maybe the vet’s voice is steady and kind. Maybe they say it gently—“We’ve reached the end of what curative treatment can do.”...

Anticipatory Grief: Why You’re Mourning Before They Are Gone

Anticipatory Grief: Why You’re Mourning Before They Are Gone

You can love your pet fiercely and still find yourself grieving them while they’re curled up right beside you. That contradiction is often the first clue you’re living with anticipatory...