[nagdu] Connecting with pet loss

[Ginger Kutsch]

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009
Connecting with pet loss: Tri-City vets help grieving owners 
By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer 
 
Since Liane Bennett's dog Vegas died in May after a yearlong
struggle with cancer, she always keeps him close to her heart.
 
The West Richland woman sent some of Vegas's ashes to a company
called Over the Rainbow in Whitefish, Mont., that incorporates
the remains of beloved pets into works of art.
 
She now has a pendant of swirling blue -- resembling the water
Vegas loved so much -- that she can wear to remember her
companion of 12 1/2 years. 
 
"It is absolutely beautiful," Bennett said. "He has always been
in my heart."
 
She also has a suncatcher in blues and greens and feels Vegas's
presence every time it captures a beam of sparkling sunlight.
 
"He's just right there," she said, her voice breaking as she
spoke of her lost friend. "I say, 'Hi,' to it when I walk by,
even though I know he's not ... there's a part of him in there."
 
For pet owners such as Bennett, losing a dog or a cat can bring
grief just as real and painful as the loss of a human family
member or friend, and so some Tri-City veterinary clinics offer
an array of services to help pet owners through the experience.
 
"There can be a lot of guilt," said Brian Conrad, practice
manager for Meadow Hills Veterinary Centers of Kennewick. "They
can feel like they're giving up too soon or doing something
wrong. We try to be supportive."
 
>From the time the decision is made to let a pet go, Meadow Hills
offers grieving pet owners a quiet, comforting atmosphere to
spend those last moments together.
 
Staff members talk about options -- whether to be in the room
when the pet is euthanized, or to bury or cremate the pet once
the procedure is done.
 
"This isn't something we rush at all," Conrad said. "Some of
these pets have been with them for 10 or 15 years. It is a hard
decision for them."
 
The clinic offers support materials -- booklets and brochures
about coping with grief -- as well as ways to remember the pet
through a clay paw imprint or perhaps a tuft of hair wrapped in a
bow.
 
Staff members sometimes send flowers or make a donation to a
veterinary school in the pet's name, Conrad said.
 
"The biggest thing is time and compassion and understanding," he
said. "We all have different times when we think it's time to say
when. It is going to be different for all of us."
 
For Bennett, she knew the time had come when Vegas suffered a
series of nosebleeds nearly a year after she was told that cancer
likely would kill him in two weeks to six months.
 
The black Labrador/golden retriever mix had a mass on his spleen
that ruptured in June 2008. She took him to Meadow Hills for
surgery, then home for what she thought were the remaining weeks
of his life.
 
"He made it two weeks short of a full year," she said.
 
He'd seemed normal during that time other than some weakness in
his hind legs that made it difficult for him to jump into her
SUV, she said.
 
But the day a friend provided her with a professional photo
session for Vegas, her companion got his first bloody nose.
 
"I knew at that time it was the beginning of the end," she said.
 
Vegas was prescribed antibiotics and pain pills during an
emergency veterinarian visit, and seemed normal again, but soon
the night came when Bennett woke to find Vegas vomiting and
unable to get up.
 
"The look in his eyes, I knew it was time," she said.
 
Another trip to an emergency veterinary clinic ended with the
difficult decision to put Vegas to sleep.
 
"I wanted to be with him," Bennett said. "He laid with his head
in my lap. ... I think he knew, and he was ready."
 
Once the staff at Meadow Hills heard about Vegas, they sent
Bennett flowers. It was this gesture that prompted her to send a
thank you note and a photo to the clinic so they could remember
Vegas, too.
 
Benita Cherry, a veterinary technician at VCA Animal Medical
Center in Richland, said creating pet remembrances can be
therapeutic for the clinic staff as well as the pet owners.
 
Cherry makes clay paw imprints for the Richland clinic's clients
using Sculpey clay that she takes home, bakes in an oven to
harden, then decorates with the pet's name, glaze, paint and
ribbons.
 
She's made the imprints not only for dogs and cats, but also
smaller pets such as squirrels, a duck and a chameleon.
 
As a 12-year employee at the clinic, she knows many of the pets
who are put to sleep.
 
"It's a way for me to remember each pet I have known through the
years," Cherry said.
 
She also loves knowing that the imprints can help a grieving pet
owner. She told the story of a blind client who had to have a
guide dog euthanized. Because he was blind, he only knew his dog
through touch and having the imprint was like having his pet
there, she said.
 
"It was so cool we were able to help him in that way to have an
impression he could feel," she said.
 
-- On the net: Meadow Hills, www.mhvc.net
 
-- VCA Animal Medical Center,
www.vcahospitals.com/animal-medical-center-richland
 
-- Over the Rainbow, www.otrmemorials.com
 
* Michelle Dupler: 509-582-1543; mdupler at tricityherald.com 
 
Source:
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/lifestyles/desertliving/story/79265
1.html