Pet Memorials from the Heart Blog

It turns out June is a month to celebrate and advocate for pets in several ways.

The entire month of June is “Adopt a Shelter Cat Month,” encouraging people to provide homes for the many cats and kittens that make their way into animal shelters, especially this time of year when so many kittens are born. (Over 80 percent of cats in shelters never find a home, and many are euthanized.)

There are also two specific days in June that honor our beloved friends. June 24 is “Take Your Dog to Work Day,” encouraging pet friendliness.  But perhaps most significant for us at Loving Hearts is June 12, which was World Pet Memorial Day, a worldwide observance of the need to honor and pay tribute to our pets that have been lost.

The fact that there is a day named in honor of pet memorials is evidence of the growing awareness around the world that pet loss is a significant trauma to those who have experienced it, and that honoring our pets is a legitimate way to acknowledge the impact they had on our lives, and to help with the healing process. This is something we’ve known for a long time, but it is encouraging to see that more people are becoming aware.

World Pet Memorial Day has already happened this year, but it is not too late for you to observe it. If you know someone who has lost a beloved pet this past year, why not consider giving a pet memorial gift this month? If you have lost a pet and feel you are ready for another, why not consider adopting a cat from a shelter?

And don’t forget to take your dog to work on Friday, June 24.

Not all pet memorials are alike.  That might seem like an obvious statement, but let’s unpack it a little. Some memorials (like flowers or cards) can be a bit generic, even trite.  Some pet memorials basically only serve as reminders of death (such as pet urns or grave markers). Some pet memorials are fleeting and are gone (such as a memorial service).  However, some pet memorials celebrate life, offer a tribute in a personalized way, and are quite meaningful and lasting. These are pet memorials that connect past and future.

What do we mean by connecting past and future? Pet grief is a very real part of losing a pet; for some, the pain can be just as acute as losing a human friend. The grief comes from the fact that our beloved pet is now in our past, and we must face the future without him/her.  If a pet memorial only focuses on the past, it will only be associated with the pet’s death, and won’t necessarily help us move on.  On the other hand, there’s no way that a pet memorial can only be about the future, because the pet obviously isn’t in the future.  A good pet memorial, then, makes reference to the past while helping to carry the memory of the pet into the future.  It becomes, in a sense, a bridge for our grief, celebrating the life of the pet, preserving the memory without forever mourning the death.

Kind of a tall order, isn’t it?  What kind of pet memorial can do all that?

Different memorials speak to people in different ways, but at the very least, the intent behind our Loving Hearts Tribute Series memorial art is to create a pet memorial that connects past and future in a positive way. Rather than depict the pet as a portrait, we use an abstract heart theme as a way of speaking on an emotional level.  We include a bit of the ashes of the pet in the final layer to serve as a personalized reminder of the life of the pet.

As for the future? Well, the artwork is designed to be a celebration of life, a thing of beauty to bring inspiration for years to come, whether or not the person viewing it even knows of its association with a lost pet. It is art that connects with the past, but can speak long into the future.  To us, it’s one of the best ways we can honor and preserve the memory of a special friend, without forever mourning the loss.

To us, that’s the best kind of pet memorial—one that connects past and future.