While there is not a “normal” or “standard” way to grieve, as each loss and each grief experience is different, normal (or acute) grief refers to a grieving process that follows a loss, in which the griever may experience typical grieving symptoms (sadness, tearfulness, sleep/appetite changes, lethargy, lack of concentration, anger, guilt, loneliness, and so on), but is ultimately able to adapt to the loss in a healthy way.

Anticipatory grief can be experienced following a pet receiving a terminal diagnosis and your acknowledgement setting in that their time left with you is limited. This form of grief can also be experienced when caring for special needs animals whose long-term medical conditions/prognoses are unknown/unclear.

Complicated (or prolonged) grief can be a grief process that appears to worsen over time. This type of grief begins as normal grief, but shifts over time due to unhealthy ways of thinking and acting, not allowing the griever to adapt to the loss.

Traumatic grief can be experienced as a result of the sudden, or unexpected, loss of a pet. When a pet dies from a tragic accident or their death is not peaceful, owners can be negatively impacted and experience traumatic grief.

Disenfranchised grief can be experienced when the loss is not seen as “legitimate” or “important” by society or others around you. Others may view the loss as “too small” or “too distant of a relationship”, despite the loss being very painful and real for you. Pet loss is, unfortunately, often seen as an example of disenfranchised grief in today’s society. This form of grief can also consist of losses that are often seen as “taboo” by society, such as death by suicide or a break-up in a LGBT relationship. While these losses are valid and important, the negative connotation society puts on them may make it difficult for grievers to feel comfortable sharing about their loss.

Compounded grief can occur when an individual experiences multiple losses in a short amount of time, or when previous losses are not fully grieved before another loss is experienced.

Individuals may be separated from their pet(s) for a variety of reasons. Pet separation can be caused by divorce, moving homes or an elderly person moving into a retirement home, theft, surrendering a pet to a shelter/rescue, or even a pet running away from home. Loss by separation may be especially hard for some, as if the owner does not know where their pet is now and if they are unable to check-in on the well-being of the pet, it can be hard to cope with the “unknown”.

While illness in and of itself is not a form of loss per se, sometimes when a pet is sick or becomes disabled, there is a loss of experience that can occur. For example, the pet may no longer be able to go for walks, may no longer greet you at the front door like before, may no longer be able to play outside with you, and so on. While owner and pet are still sharing love and companionship, there may be aspects of the daily routine that are different now, and owners may grieve those types of losses.

Death is typically the most common type of loss that comes to mind when thinking about the loss of a pet. Losing a pet by death can be especially hard for a variety of reasons. For example, depending on the closeness of the relationship an owner has with their pet, and perhaps even the increased time spent with the pet toward the end of the pet’s life (i.e., during palliative or hospice care), the owner may be more strongly impacted by the loss than they were initially anticipating.