Support Packages

The ISU Pet Loss Support Hotline maintains printed literature to help you deal with the death or potential loss of your pet. The support packages are free of charge to the public and animal shelters.

Veterinary clinics may request pet loss support literature to place in their clinics. The Pet Loss Support Hotline requests a minimal donation to cover expenses. Currently the Pet Loss Support Hotline requests $15/100 brochures and $10/100 sympathy card enclosures to cover printing, postage and handling.

Support packages generally contains the following:

• Article on pet loss and bereavement for adults
• Article on pet loss and bereavement for children (if applicable)
• A brochure from the American Veterinary Medical Association or the American Animal Hospital Association
• Pet Loss Support Hotline brochure
• Other applicable material

To receive a support package, please send your request to the following address. Include the name and species (dog, cat, bird, etc.) of your pet and a little information about your situation. Please be sure to indicate whether you are representing a veterinarian/clinic.

ISU Pet Loss Support Hotline
2116 Veterinary Medicine
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011

ATTN: SUPPORT PACKAGES

Suggested Reading

For adults:

• When Your Pet Dies: How to Cope With Your Feelings by Jamie Quackenbush and Denise Graveline. Simon & Schuster Pocket Books, 1985.
• Pet Loss: A Thoughtful Guide for Adults and Children by Herbert A. Nieburg and Arlene Fisher. Harper and Row, 1982.
• Coping With Sorrow on the Loss of Your Pet by Moira K. Anderson. Peregrine Press, 1987.
• When Only the Love Remains: The Pain of Pet Loss by Emily Margaret Stuparyk.
• My Cat Saved My Life by Phillip Schreibman.  Dog's Bark Publishing, 2000.

For children:

• A Funeral for Whiskers by Lawrence Balter. Barron's Educational Series, 1991.
• The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst. Atheneum, 1975.
• When a Pet Dies by Fred Rogers. Family Communications, Inc.
• Death of a Goldfish (video) by Fred Rogers. Family Communications, Inc.
• Remembering Pets by Gina Dalpra-Berman and Barbara Hoss-Schneider.  Robert D. Reed, 2001.

Pet Bereavement Web Sites

• American Veterinary Medical Association Pet Loss Page - The AVMA maintainspet loss page. Here you will find information on the decision making process and grief counseling resources.
• Lightning Strike Pet - Loss Support Page - Lightning strike offers a "cyber shoulder for grieving pet owners." The page contains useful information on how to deal with pet loss and links to other pet loss web sites.
• IVMA Pet Loss Page - Contains a brief list of books dealing with pet loss and a link 
• Pet-loss.net - Dr. Moira Anderson Allen shares ideas on coping with pet loss.
• My Cat Saved My Life - Online chapters from a book dealing with bereavement.

Pet Memorials

• Forever Pets - "The mission of Forever Pets is to provide pet owners and their family members with innovative options for preserving and enjoying the memory of their pets."
• The Virtual Memorial Garden - This site contains brief eulogies to our beloved animal friends that we've lost.
• The Virtual Pet Cemetery - "All of us, at one time or another, have had a pet we loved and lost." Here you can "immortalize your beloved pet in the tombs of cyber-space for eternity."
• The Argus Institute for Famlies and Veterinary Medicine - Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital site on general pet loss related issues for families and veterinarians.

Other Links

• Animal AWOL - Information on pet needs and a worldwide online database of lost and found animals.