Small Goodbyes

Stage 1 of 4

The grief

Why losing a dog or cat hits as hard as it does, what the research actually says, and where to find someone to talk to today.

Something has died and the house is the wrong shape. That is the whole of this stage. These pages do not try to move you along or tell you how long it should take. They cover what pet bereavement actually is, why it lands harder than people who haven't had an animal expect, what to say to a child who is asking, and where in the UK you can talk to somebody free of charge, today. There's nothing to buy on any of them, and there is no version of this stage where reading it and then closing the tab is the wrong outcome.

The reading, in order

And after that

The stage that follows this one is the words: A eulogy, a card, a poem, or the thing you say to a friend who has just lost theirs. What to write when nothing sounds right.

Written by Craig Fearn, Small Goodbyes.