Pet Loss Support

VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital
Pet Loss Support

As pet owners ourselves, the staff at VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital understands that facing a pet's serious illness or the loss of a pet can be emotionally devastating. We also know that to care for a sick pet, a family must receive clear information concerning treatment and evaluating options and, sometimes, making difficult decisions. Our hospital's veterinarians and staff are here to help you explore your concerns about treatment choices and managing a sick pet at home. We are sensitive to our clients needs and provide two quiet client rooms, where pet owners can spend peaceful time with seriously ill pets. You can count on our staff to assist you in every way that we can during times of crisis.

To provide pet owners with professional counseling that could help them to better cope through these very difficult periods, our hospital offers Pet Loss Support Groups/Counseling at our facility. Hosted by certified pet loss and bereavement counselor Sandra Grossman, Ph.D., the group sessions are held on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month. All VCA clients are offered a complimentary group or individual session. Anyone in the community is invited to attend. Please call Dr. Grossman at 818-421-1516 in advance to reserve a place at the session.

VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital offers a selection of pet loss materials that can be viewed and/or printed by opening the links in our Pet Loss Document Library below. Included is a wealth of information from well known and respected counselors/authors on the topics of bereavement and pet loss. Pet loss support resources can also be found in the 'Community Partners'???? section of our website under the 'Our Hospital'???? tab.

VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital Pet Loss Library
(Publications by Pet Loss Counselor Moira Anderson Allen, M.Ed and DVM360):

• Ten Tips on Coping with Pet Loss
• The Moment After: Surviving Pet Loss
• Helping Children Cope
• The Emotions of Pet Loss
• "Pre-Loss Bereavement" and the Power of Bargaining
• Defining Quality of Life
• Euthanasia: The Most Painful Decision
• Breaking the Power of Guilt
• Do Pets Go to Heaven?
• The Final Farewell: How to Handle a Pet's Remains
• Memorializing a Pet
• Getting a New Pet
• Helping Pets Who Have Lost Their Best Buddy