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.

Pet Loss and the Rainbow Bridge: Comforting Story or Painful Myth?

Pet Loss and the Rainbow Bridge: Comforting Story or Painful Myth?

Why the Rainbow Bridge Story Matters So Much If you have ever lost a beloved animal, there is a good chance someone has sent you the Rainbow Bridge story. It...

Guilt After Pet Euthanasia: What’s Normal, What Isn’t, and How to Heal

Guilt After Pet Euthanasia: What’s Normal, What Isn’t, and How to Heal

There are few decisions in life as heart-wrenching as choosing euthanasia for a beloved pet. Even when your heart knows that their suffering has become unbearable and that their body...

How to Support a Partner After a Pet Loss: Different Grief Styles, Same Love

How to Support a Partner After a Pet Loss: Different Grief Styles, Same Love

Some companions leave paw prints not just on your home, but on your heart. They are part of your routines, your quiet moments, your laughter, and even your challenges. When...

Parents Losing the Family Pet: Making Space for Their Grief Too

Parents Losing the Family Pet: Making Space for Their Grief Too

The loss of a family pet ripples through every corner of a household, touching hearts in ways that words can scarcely capture, yet parents’ grief often goes quietly unseen and...

Helping Children Understand the Death of a Pet: Gentle Words That Help

Helping Children Understand the Death of a Pet: Gentle Words That Help

A beloved pet is more than a companion, they are a constant presence, a listener, a playmate, and a source of comfort. When a pet passes away, it can shake...

Cleaning the House After a Pet Dies: Grief, Messes, and Making Space for Memory

Cleaning the House After a Pet Dies: Grief, Messes, and Making Space for Memory

Your home carries the echoes of countless shared moments: the soft shuffle of paws across the floor, a sunbeam warmed by a curled-up body, a favorite toy tucked under the...

Creating a Memory Box for Your Pet: What to Include

Creating a Memory Box for Your Pet: What to Include

When a beloved pet dies, the silence can feel almost as loud as their bark, purr, or cheerful footsteps once did. The leash hanging by the door, the empty bed...

Why Pet Loss Feels So Lonely (and How to Find People Who Truly Get It)

Why Pet Loss Feels So Lonely (and How to Find People Who Truly Get It)

When a pet dies, the world often looks the same from the outside, but feels unrecognizably different on the inside. You still go to work, answer emails, pay bills, and...

How Long Does Pet Loss Grief Last? What Research and Real Stories Suggest

How Long Does Pet Loss Grief Last? What Research and Real Stories Suggest

When a beloved pet dies, time can feel strange. Some days the loss is sharp and raw, as if it happened this morning. Other days you move through work and...

Coping with the Loss of a Pet: Grief Stages, Rituals, and When to Seek Support

Coping with the Loss of a Pet: Grief Stages, Rituals, and When to Seek Support

When a pet dies, the whole rhythm of home changes. The quiet by the food bowl, the empty spot on the couch, the way you still half-expect the jingle of...

Pet Loss and Mental Health: Anxiety, Depression, and When to Seek Extra Support

Pet Loss and Mental Health: Anxiety, Depression, and When to Seek Extra Support

If you are grieving a pet and also noticing your anxiety or depression getting worse, you are not “too sensitive,” and you are not alone. For many people, losing a...

Healing Rituals for the First 30 Days After a Pet Dies

Healing Rituals for the First 30 Days After a Pet Dies

When a pet dies, time does not move in neat calendar blocks. The first 30 days after a pet dies can feel both endless and blurred—mornings without a familiar routine,...

Giving Away Pet Items: When to Hold On and When to Let Go

Giving Away Pet Items: When to Hold On and When to Let Go

Sometime after a pet dies, there is a quiet moment when you open the closet, or walk past the food bowl, and realize that their things are still exactly where...

Pet Loss and Spiritual Signs: Comforting “Visits” and Symbolic Moments

Pet Loss and Spiritual Signs: Comforting “Visits” and Symbolic Moments

When a beloved dog or cat dies, the silence afterward can feel almost unreal. You might still expect to hear the familiar jingle of a collar, the thump on the...

Group Goodbyes: Including Family and Friends in a Pet's Final Moments

Group Goodbyes: Including Family and Friends in a Pet's Final Moments

When a pet is nearing the end of life, time can start to feel strangely stretched and compressed at the same moment. You may be trying to fit a lifetime...

Losing a Service Dog or Emotional Support Animal: A Unique Kind of Grief

Losing a Service Dog or Emotional Support Animal: A Unique Kind of Grief

Some losses leave a silence so deep, it changes the way you move through the world, losing a service dog or emotional support animal (ESA) is one of them. This...