Small & Mighty Organizations

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss? 

Hi Lisa

This is probably the toughest thing to deal with in rescue.  No one expects or wants to lose an animal, and even when intellectually we can tell ourselves it may be the best option, it doesn't make it easy.  We don't have a brick-and-mortar location, all of our fosters have the animals in their homes.  To help build our group's cohesion and relationships, we have a private FaceBook page, for fosters and volunteers, where we often talk about things like this.  We share when we have difficult foster pets (medical cases, behavioral issues, etc.) and people chime in with advice and comfort.  This group has been especially helpful when animals die or are euthanized.  It gives fosters a chance to honor the animal within the group, and for other members to offer comfort.  Feedback from the fosters suggests this approach has been helpful for them dealing with their feelings and coping with animal loss.

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss? 

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss? 

Hi everyone - 

I don't know how you amazing people do it and yet thank you for being willing to care for these precious animals every day like you do. Even on the hard days like this one.  My "what can help" may be unconventional and yet there is something called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) that is very effective for things like grief and loss.  You can Google it - there are tons of free video's on YouTube. I'm not in this business and yet happen to know a lot about EFT so if you want to contact me privately I'd be happy to share more information on it .

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss? 

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss? 

Are volunteers given a chance to say good-bye to the animal and tell the how much they meant to them and that they will be missed?  At least for me, that helps. 

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss? 

Gwen,

When time allows we do. Some of the older animals we see warning signs that their time is near and we always share that with the volunteers who are in contact with them. But many times a decision has to be made and the animal can't wait a week for everyone to come out to say goodbye.  As with the horse I mentioned in the original post. She had chronic sinking laminitis. Which means basically her coffin bone was sinking down into her hoof.  She was diagnosed almost 4 years ago and had been doing very well. I think we all had a bit of false hope with her last bout.

We are in a very rural area and most of our volunteers are here once a week or once every two weeks.  It is 30 -45 minute drive for each of them.  So when she went down hill quickly on Monday the vet came out and we had to make the decision before we could let anyone know. 

Are volunteers given a chance to say good-bye to the animal and tell the how much they meant to them and that they will be missed?  At least for me, that helps. 

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss? 

When we have kittens that die or are euthanized we offer to do a private cremation and the foster can get an urn with the kitten's ashes. The kitten urns are these tiny 4 inch urns. Sometimes this gives the foster more closure and a remembrance. I know this is more costly than burying or doing a group cremation. Luckily we infrequently run into these circumstances. 

Gwen,

When time allows we do. Some of the older animals we see warning signs that their time is near and we always share that with the volunteers who are in contact with them. But many times a decision has to be made and the animal can't wait a week for everyone to come out to say goodbye.  As with the horse I mentioned in the original post. She had chronic sinking laminitis. Which means basically her coffin bone was sinking down into her hoof.  She was diagnosed almost 4 years ago and had been doing very well. I think we all had a bit of false hope with her last bout.

We are in a very rural area and most of our volunteers are here once a week or once every two weeks.  It is 30 -45 minute drive for each of them.  So when she went down hill quickly on Monday the vet came out and we had to make the decision before we could let anyone know. 

Are volunteers given a chance to say good-bye to the animal and tell the how much they meant to them and that they will be missed?  At least for me, that helps. 

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss? 

Gwen,

When time allows we do. Some of the older animals we see warning signs that their time is near and we always share that with the volunteers who are in contact with them. But many times a decision has to be made and the animal can't wait a week for everyone to come out to say goodbye.  As with the horse I mentioned in the original post. She had chronic sinking laminitis. Which means basically her coffin bone was sinking down into her hoof.  She was diagnosed almost 4 years ago and had been doing very well. I think we all had a bit of false hope with her last bout.

We are in a very rural area and most of our volunteers are here once a week or once every two weeks.  It is 30 -45 minute drive for each of them.  So when she went down hill quickly on Monday the vet came out and we had to make the decision before we could let anyone know. 

Are volunteers given a chance to say good-bye to the animal and tell the how much they meant to them and that they will be missed?  At least for me, that helps. 

As a small sanctuary we take in many medically needy and older animals (farm, domestic and exotic) that may not be adoptable. From time to time we have to make the difficult decision to help them pass. Yesterday was one of those cases with an older 28 year old horse that had many medical issues due to years of neglect. We, as founders and live in caretakers at the sanctuary, are heartbroken but we also recognize that our volunteers love the animals and may need help with their grief. We do reach out to each volunteer who has helped care for the animal and let them know we are here if they need to talk. Does anyone offer any kind of grief counseling or have suggestions to help our volunteer family get through the loss?