Guest Blog: Writing a Memorial or Tribute for Your Pet
For many, sharing a story about your beloved pet can be so helpful during the active mourning process. It can help by giving the bereaved something actionable to put their energy into.
This can simply be in the form of talking to others, such as friends, family, or pet lovers - those who understand the importance of your pet and their close relationship to you. Writing a memorial for your pet can also help with the healing process of pet loss and bereavement.
Some ideas for memorial/tribute writing include:
🐾 Dates: birthdate, gotcha date, loss date
🐾 Nicknames
🐾 Shared favourite memories
🐾 How did your pet come into your life/join your family
🐾 Make a list of all the good things about your pet/what you will miss
🐾 What did you learn from your pet/what did they do for you
🐾 Thank you for teaching me ______
🐾 Quotes
🐾 Poems
Some ideas for pet epitaphs or inscriptions include:
🐾. In Loving Memory
🐾 In Memoriam
🐾 In Remembrance
🐾 Forever Missed/Loved
🐾 Faithful, Loyal, Loving Companion
🐾 Always In Our Hearts
🐾 Forever Loved, Never Forgotten
🐾. My Best Friend
🐾 Friends Forever
🐾 Always By My Side
🐾. Missing You
🐾. Until We Meet Again
Short Pet Loss Quotes:
🐾 You were my favourite hello and my hardest goodbye
🐾 You left paw prints on our hearts that will last a lifetime
🐾 It’s impossible to forget a dog/cat that gave you so much to remember
🐾 You are everywhere my heart is
🐾 There is a link death cannot sever. Love and remembrance last forever
🐾 My mind still talks to you and my heart still looks for you. But my soul knows you are at peace
🐾 You smiled with your eyes, laughed with your tail, and loved with your heart
🐾 No longer by my side but forever in my heart
🐾 Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole – Roger Caras
🐾 What greater gift than the love of a cat?– Charles Dickens
🐾 Time spent with cats is never wasted – Sigmund Freud
🐾 How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard? – A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh
🐾 Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened – Dr. Seuss
🐾 Grief is the price we pay for love – Queen Elizabeth II
These are just some ideas, however, it is important that you take your time and make it your own. This is something that can be done at any time. It personally took me months before I was ready to start writing about Smokey.
If memorial writing is not something that you care to do, that is okay too, as each person grieves their loss differently. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. Those who choose not to write about their pet, do not love their pet any less than those who choose to write a tribute.
When is the Ideal Time to Write?
This is highly personal. While many think of a pet memorial as being written after a pet has passed, some may choose to start the process well in advance of their pet’s death.
When a pet is diagnosed with a life limiting illness, pet parents or guardians may enter into a state of anticipatory grief as they think ahead to what life may look like without their beloved companion. Writing lists such as your pet’s favourite activities and memories can be a helpful step in the grief process.
“When the time nears closer to your pet’s final moments, as difficult as it is, it can be really helpful to look ahead and ask yourself, how do you want this special time to look?”
It can be really meaningful to include a form of ritual into your pet’s end of life - a ceremony of life, if you will.
Sharing of letters, poems, or special memories at this time may help the healing process begin. These can be left with your pet in their final resting place or cremated with them as a final goodbye or tribute. We also encourage children to participate in a form of letter writing or picture drawing to help them process the loss and start their healing journey.
After the loss of a pet, many people are not ready to write about it, but are happy to share pictures. While others may find it difficult to even look at pictures and would rather write to or about their faithful friend. Whatever our clients choose to do at their time of heartache is respected without judgement, for each person moves through loss at their own pace and in their own way.
Dr. Erica Dickie is a veterinarian certified in Hospice and Palliative Care through the IAAHPC. She founded Black Creek Mobile Veterinary Services to fulfill her calling to provide compassionate, non-judgmental care to alleviate pet and human suffering alike. She lives in Ontario, Canada with 2 young sons, husband, and 2 cats.
“I am so grateful and honoured to be able to help people from the comfort of their homes, providing compassionate end-of-life care to pets — honouring the bond, the life, and the love.”
