When a beloved dog, cat, or other companion animal dies, the grief can feel just as intense as losing a person you love. Research backs this up: surveys show that nearly all U.S. pet owners see their animals as part of the family, and about half say their pets are as much a part of the family as any human member (Pew Research Center). Other studies find that many people continue to experience significant grief symptoms months or even a year after a pet’s death (PMC). Yet when it comes to pet loss in therapy, people often hesitate.
Is it “serious enough” to bring up? Will a therapist understand? What if you’re already in sessions for anxiety, depression, or relationship issues—can you add pet grief to the mix without feeling like you’re taking up too much space?
This guide walks you through what to expect from grief counseling for pet loss, how to start the conversation, and how professional support can fit alongside practical decisions like choosing pet cremation urns, cremation jewelry, or keeping ashes at home. The goal is not to rush you toward any choice, but to help you feel less alone and more confident about asking for the help you deserve.
Why Grieving a Pet Hurts So Much
Pets as Family, Not “Just Animals”
If your heart feels shattered after losing a pet, you’re not being dramatic—you’re being human. Surveys from organizations like Pew Research Center show that 97% of pet owners consider their animals part of the family, with most describing them as family members, best friends, or close companions (Pew Research Center). These bonds are built in quiet daily moments: walks at sunrise, a warm weight at the end of the bed, the familiar sound of paws on the floor, the ritual of feeding and caring for someone who depends on you.
Because that relationship is woven into your routines, the loss can feel like the floor has dropped out from under your day. Some people describe pet bereavement as a mix of intense sadness, guilt about decisions like euthanasia, and a strange emptiness in the home. Research has found that many owners experience grief reactions as strong as those they feel after human losses, but with less social recognition and support (CABI Digital Library).
That “hidden” quality of pet grief is one reason bringing up pet death in therapy can be so healing. A therapist can offer what friends, coworkers, or even family members sometimes can’t: a space where you don’t have to defend your grief or prove your bond.
How Therapists Work With Pet Loss
Bringing Up Pet Grief for the First Time
If you’re starting therapy specifically for grief counseling for pet loss, your first session usually begins with your story: who your pet was, how your life fit around theirs, and what happened at the end. Your therapist may ask gentle questions about the timeline, your current support system, and any particularly painful moments, like deciding on euthanasia or seeing your pet’s body.
If you’re already in therapy for something else—anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship stress—it’s absolutely appropriate to say, “I also need to talk about my pet dying.” You don’t need a full speech. A simple opener like, “Can we spend some time today on my dog’s death? I’m struggling more than I expected,” is enough to shift the focus.
A good therapist will welcome this, not treat it as a “side topic.” Many clinicians understand that combining pet grief with other life stress often reveals deeper patterns: how you handle loss, how you treat yourself under pressure, and where old wounds resurface around guilt, feeling “not enough,” or fearing abandonment.
What a Session About Pet Loss Might Look Like
There’s no single script for what therapists say about pet grief, but many sessions include a combination of:
- Telling the story of your pet’s life and death in detail, at your own pace
- Naming and normalizing mixed emotions: love, anger, relief, resentment, numbness, guilt
- Exploring key decision points, especially around euthanasia and what to do with ashes
- Discussing practical plans, like memorials, rituals, or choosing pet urns for ashes
Some therapists use structured grief approaches—like meaning-centered grief work or cognitive behavioral strategies—to help you notice painful beliefs: “I failed her,” “He suffered because I waited too long,” or “I don’t deserve another pet.” They might help you gently test these thoughts against the reality of what you did, what you knew at the time, and how much care you gave over your pet’s whole life.
Others encourage rituals: writing a letter to your pet, creating a memory box, or designing a small home memorial with keepsake urns, photos, and a favorite toy. These rituals can fit naturally with Funeral.com’s resources, such as the guide “Cremation Urns, Pet Urns, and Cremation Jewelry: A Gentle Guide to Keeping Ashes Close”, which walks through ways cremation urns for ashes, small cremation urns, and cremation jewelry can support everyday remembrance (Funeral.com, Inc.).
When Trauma or EMDR Comes Into the Picture
Sometimes EMDR or trauma therapy for pet loss is helpful, especially if the images around your pet’s decline are intrusive or overwhelming. Maybe you witnessed a sudden accident, had a frightening emergency vet visit, or still replay the moment of euthanasia in your mind every night.
In EMDR and other trauma-focused therapies, the goal is not to erase your pet or the love you feel, but to help your nervous system file the distressing memories in a way that doesn’t hijack your entire body each time they surface. You’ll work through specific memories while staying grounded and supported, so that over time the edges become less sharp and more bearable.
Different Types of Support: Individual, Group, and Online
Grief Counseling and General Therapy
You don’t have to see a “pet-specific” therapist to get help. Many counselors who specialize in grief, loss, or life transitions are comfortable working with pet bereavement. When you reach out to a provider, you can ask directly whether they have experience with grief counseling for pet loss.
Some therapists will lean into the emotional and relational side; others may also help you navigate funeral planning choices, like whether to be present for euthanasia, whether to choose burial or cremation, and how to involve children in decisions around pet urns or memorials. As cremation becomes the norm for more families—current data from the National Funeral Directors Association and the Cremation Association of North America shows U.S. cremation rates above 60% and rising (NFDA)—conversations about cremation urns, water burial, and other options are increasingly part of grief work.
Group Therapy and Pet Bereavement Circles
For some people, group therapy for pet bereavement is especially powerful. Sitting in a circle—virtual or in-person—and hearing others describe the same late-night crying, the same search for their pet’s shape in the dark, the same complicated feelings about euthanasia can be deeply validating.
In groups, you might trade ideas for memorials: placing a pet cremation urn on a favorite sunny windowsill, creating a small altar with a pet figurine cremation urn from Funeral.com’s Pet Figurine Cremation Urns for Ashes collection, or choosing cremation necklaces so that several family members can carry a small amount of ashes close to the heart (Funeral.com, Inc.).
Groups can also offer practical tips about insurance coverage for grief counseling and low-cost options like community agencies, university training clinics, or nonprofit animal organizations that partner with mental health providers.
Blending Pet Grief With “Everything Else” Going On
Making Space for Multiple Losses and Stressors
Life rarely presents one hardship at a time. You might be dealing with a breakup, caring for an aging parent, managing chronic illness, or worrying about money—and then your pet dies. It can feel selfish or “too much” to add one more topic to therapy, but this is exactly where good treatment shines.
Therapists understand that combining pet grief with other life stress is often more honest than treating each issue in isolation. Your pet might have been the main source of everyday comfort, the one who greeted you at the door after a long shift or lay quietly beside you during panic attacks. Losing that comfort can intensify other symptoms.
In therapy, you can talk about how your pet’s death interacts with everything else: sleep, appetite, anxiety, irritability, and even questions about the future. Your therapist might help you plan small steps—returning to the dog park without your dog, going back to the vet’s office for another pet’s care, or visiting a favorite hiking trail where your pet used to run. They may also help you decide what you’re ready for in terms of memorial decisions: choosing pet urns for ashes, exploring cremation jewelry, or waiting until the sharpest pain has softened.
For practical guidance on those choices, Funeral.com’s article “Pet Urns for Ashes: A Complete Guide for Dog and Cat Owners” explores how to match pet cremation urns to your plans, whether you’re keeping ashes at home, sharing them among family, or planning a later water burial or scattering ceremony (Funeral.com, Inc.).
Practical Questions: Cost, Insurance, and Finding the Right Fit
As you think about the benefits of professional help for grief, it’s natural to wonder how you’ll pay for it. Some health insurance plans cover individual therapy when grief worsens conditions like depression or anxiety; others may not cover bereavement as a standalone diagnosis. It’s okay to be upfront when you contact a therapist: “Does my insurance cover sessions focused on grief, including pet loss?”
If full-fee therapy isn’t realistic, you might explore:
- Sliding-scale practices or community counseling centers
- Online platforms that offer reduced-cost sessions
- University training clinics where supervised graduate students provide care
- Short-term programs through employee assistance plans or veterinary schools
Because you’re also juggling practical end-of-life decisions, you may be comparing therapy costs with questions like how much does cremation cost and what kind of memorial you can afford. Funeral.com’s guide “How Much Does Cremation Cost? Average Prices and Budget-Friendly Options” explains the range of expenses and where cremation urns for ashes, small cremation urns, and cremation jewelry fit into the bigger picture (Funeral.com, Inc.). Reading that guide alongside a few therapy consultations can help you make balanced choices for both emotional and financial wellbeing.
Therapy, Ritual, and Choosing Memorials Together
When Cremation and Memorial Choices Are Part of Healing
For many people, therapy doesn’t just address emotions—it also supports concrete decisions about what to do with ashes. You might bring options into session: a link to pet cremation urns for ashes, a photo of a piece of cremation jewelry, or a sketch of a home memorial you’re imagining.
Your therapist might encourage you to:
- Look at collections like Funeral.com’s Pet Cremation Urns for Ashes or Engravable Pet Urns for Ashes and notice what design feels like your pet—playful, dignified, cozy, artistic (Funeral.com, Inc.).
- Explore cremation jewelry options, such as the Cremation Jewelry and Cremation Necklaces collections, if wearing a tiny amount of ashes feels comforting (Funeral.com, Inc.).
- Read deeper resources like “Cremation Jewelry 101: What It Is, How It’s Made, and Who It’s Right For” or “From Ashes to Art: The Emotional Beauty of Cremation Jewelry for People and Pets” to understand how necklaces, bracelets, and charms can serve as daily anchors for your grief (Funeral.com, Inc.).
You might also discuss whether keeping ashes at home feels right or whether you’re drawn to scattering or water burial. Funeral.com’s guide “Keeping Ashes at Home: How to Do It Safely, Respectfully, and Legally” and the article “Understanding What Happens During a Water Burial Ceremony” explore those options in practical detail, including safety, local rules, and ritual ideas (Funeral.com, Inc.).
In therapy, your choices about cremation urns, pet urns, keepsake urns, and cremation necklaces aren’t treated as “shopping decisions.” They’re understood as part of your mourning: ways of saying, “This is where your memory lives. This is how I carry you forward.”
Giving Yourself Permission to Ask for Help
The death of a pet can leave you feeling unmoored, guilty, or strangely invisible in your grief—especially if people around you don’t fully understand the depth of your bond. Bringing that pain into therapy is not indulgent. It’s a way of honoring the relationship and taking your own heart seriously.
Whether you seek pet loss in therapy for a few focused sessions or you fold pet grief into ongoing work on anxiety, trauma, or depression, you’re allowed to say, “This matters. I matter.” Professional support can help you soften self-blame, remember your pet with more warmth than panic, and make thoughtful decisions about memorials—from pet cremation urns and cremation jewelry to keeping ashes at home or planning a water burial that feels right for your story.
When you’re ready, you can explore Funeral.com’s collections and guides at your own pace, knowing you don’t have to navigate any of it alone. Therapy, memorial rituals, and everyday life can all work together to help you carry this love in a way that feels gentler over time.
