Photo courtesy of Rehome With Love "Blue" In a society that doesn’t widely recognize the emotional impact of losing a pet, pet loss is often regarded as a type of disenfranchised grief. But losing a pet doesn't always look like we thought it would, and losing a pet through rehoming adds another layer of complexity to an already misunderstood experience of loss, making it feel especially isolating. What many fail to understand is that when a pet is struggling, its person is

The physical loss of a pet is a uniquely hard loss to process, and in my opinion, the most difficult to reconcile. And yet, I find it to be the most unaddressed. While there are many resources dedicated to physically locating a lost pet, there are few to support the emotional impact of this loss. As someone deeply interested in understanding all the ways we can experience pet loss, this has always felt unsettling. From the day I brought my first dog home (Circa 2005), the ver

"Yes To Care" Logo How guaranteed payment, non-credit-based payment plans & community donations to support medical care can keep families together, and how you can bring this to your practice. As an Intake Specialist at a municipal shelter, I work with pet parents to overcome barriers to care and help more pets remain in loving homes. In a time when the human-animal bond is increasingly valued, affordable access to care is supported through low-cost vaccine clinics, spay/neut

Photo by Amy Mc Beyond the Shelter: The Evolving Role of Self-Rehoming in Animal Welfare Historically, self-rehoming has been viewed as irresponsible and even dangerous, but times are changing, and today, it’s becoming part of the solution when done responsibly. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that the first question many shelters are asking when an owner reaches out to surrender their pet is whether they can keep the pet in their care while they look for a new home.

Photo by Natasha Cara Animal rescue is exhausting, to put it mildly. We encounter situations that make us question humanity, and it takes a heavy emotional toll to see pets discarded like an outfit that has gone out of style. Pet overpopulation is at crisis levels, and there are areas of the country where healthy animals are being euthanized simply because there isn’t enough space to house them. I understand why people are angry and quick to judge, but somewhere along the way

Photo courtesy of The Senior Dog Sanctuary of Maryland It is heartbreaking to hear stories of pets losing their homes and families and ending up in shelters. These situations are often colored with assumptions and judgements about circumstances we know nothing about. I was inspired to write this after seeing a Facebook post about a man who lost his housing and had no way of caring for his best friend. This story has a happy ending because the man reunites with the dog once hi

Photo by Honest Paws on Unsplash My brother brought home a puppy yesterday. He waited the requisite eight weeks until Rosie was of age, and when that day finally arrived, I felt as though I were living vicariously through him. If I’m being honest, I doubt I would feel this level of excitement at a human child, but the “Gotcha Day” will always be in my top five. Despite my decade-long plea for him to adopt a dog earlier, Marc insisted on waiting until he was in the “right plac

Photo credit unknown — Widely circulated on the internet for many years This poem simultaneously infuriates me and breaks my heart. It's circulated social media for years keeping this sensitive topic polarized with its absolutes. Social media: a venue too narrow for meaningful conversation, where broad judgments are made that shame people without knowing the circumstances behind the story (Facebook examples here). Our stories are complex, messy, and sad — devastatingly sad —