Dealing With Grief

Pet loss and dealing with grief is often an issue that is overlooked. This page offers some words of comfort and helpful information on dealing with grief.

• A Poem For Grieving...
   
• Pet Loss Support Hotline
   
• Additional Resources

Recognizing the special ties that County citizens have with their treasured pets and farm animals, companions really, we would like to offer this bit of solace for those who have suffered such a loss:

A Poem For Grieving...

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die...

- Anonymous

Pet Loss Support Hotline Making a Difference

More than a year since it's introduction, the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine "Pet Loss Support Hotline" has assisted over one hundred bereaved pet-owners from throughout the region.

Since October 1, 1995, a team of specially trained veterinary students has staffed the hotline in the College's Veterinary Teaching Hospital on Tuesday and Thursday nights from six to nine p.m. The telephone number for the service is 540-231- 8038.

Hot-line volunteers are trained to provide appropriate counseling for bereaved pet-owners and to detect callers who are experiencing coping problems significant enough to warrant a referral to professional counselors, according to Dr. Gregory Troy, faculty coordinator for the program.

Additional Resources

Center for Human-Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine "Pet Loss Support Hotline"

Virginia Polytechnic Institute University Relations News & Information article on the "Pet Loss Support Hotline"

Six Important Telephone Numbers Every Pet Owner Should Have...