My dog passed away and this website was born. I didn’t see this coming, but I’m grateful it has.
Grieving for someone significant in your life is an inevitable reality, one we hope occurs infrequently. Some may experience deep grief only once or twice, while others, like myself, have a full passport of grief journeys.
Being a “dog mom” or “cat mom” is a huge part of my identity (and wardrobe). I’ve loved many, I’ve lost many. And every time it’s as deeply raw as the first time. You don’t “get good” at grief and it doesn’t get easier to live through.
In 2024, my husband and I had to make the decision to help our senior chihuahua, Ace, peacefully make his transition. Though he had fought hard through old age illnesses for a few years, his little body had no more fight in it.
Life became rearranged. Quiet, different, heavy. Again.
Where someone is in their life when catapulted into grief can largely affect their path. And I’d never been right this version of me, grieving this perfect little guy.
Through a long, often tortuous, period of anticipatory grief, I knew that one thing I would do ‘someday’ when I was grieving, was write. Write about this journey, write about love. And I hoped that writing would become a part of my healing. Then writing one piece turned into “I’ve got a lot to say and I think it needs to be said”, and so it began.
If you’re reading this, if your heart is broken too, I’m sorry you’re here but I’m also glad you’re here. We’re in this together. Grief after the loss of a cherished furry, feathered, or scaled family member is real, it’s devastating, and we need to make more room for it in life and in society.
A little about me. I’m Kelly – a dog and cat mom, a wife, a sister, a friend and a griever. I’ve said “goodbye for now” to six dogs, a cat and my mom, all in the last decade and I really hope to not have to update that number anytime soon.
Professionally, I am a Pet Loss Grief Coach, Specialist and Grief Educator. I have the privilege of walking beside people on their grief journey and being a witness to incredible depths of love and connection.
But the fact that I nearly live and breathe grief and healing as a profession does not make me immune to the deep pain of grief. If it does one thing, it’s remind me that I will be ok. Eventually.
Everything I do is for each of them, in their likeness, and with everything they taught me.
Abby, Myles, Bitt, Diesel, Shammy, Sprinkle (the kitty), and Ace.
