Pet Memorial Peternity Blog

Pet Memorials . Pet Loss Support . Pet Love

Peternity is a pet loss community for the grieving pet owner. We're here to help you memorialize your pet, find emotional support and look forward with hope to healing.

National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week

We're right in the middle of National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, November 1–7. Use this week to celebrate everyone who cares for shelter animals and who also work to make a difference in the number of pets who are adopted from shelters.

In 1996 the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) launched this week of appreciation to create a time for us to honor the 4,000 animal shelters across the United States who rescue and shelter an estimated 6 to 8 million homeless animals annually.

63 percent of American households include pets, but only 10% of dogs and 18% of cats are adopted from animal shelters.

There is no better time than now to get acquainted with one of your local shelters. Visit a shelter and talk to them about how you can support homeless animals in your community. You can volunteer your time, become a spay/neuter advocate, or open your heart to give a shelter pet a forever home.

For more ideas on how to celebrate and help, visit The Humane Society or AnimalSheltering.org.

Luxury Doggie Dinnerware - A Dickie and a Wine Glass?

Does your dog eat at the dinner table with you? Well, if so, these items are MUST-HAVES.

 

Designed by Alice Wang this dinner set - collared shirt dickie, dinner plate and glass are perfect for your spoiled pooch!

Please note that Alice does not promote giving your dogs wine at the dinner table, but she does promote spoiling them rotten!

She also designed this clever leash. Hand-in-hand.

    

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

A Dog and an Elephant - A Love Story

A true testament to the power of the love of animals. Watch this sweet story about an elephant sanctuary in TN that also is a home for stray dogs. This is just too sweet for words.

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Pet Grave Markers - Perfect for Homeowners and Apartment Dwellers

Today more than ever, there are so many different options to choose from when it comes to memorializing the lives of our pets. The most popular are still the pet urn and the pet grave marker.

However, there are some misconceptions about pet grave markers and pet headstones. It is understandable that people would believe that they are only appropriate for pet burials and pet cemeteries, but they are actually also ideal for cremations and apartment dwellers. How can that be?

Take for instance our beloved 112 lb golden retriever, Bobo, that we lost last spring. We own our home, but don't plan on being here forever. Also, Bobo was a very large dog which would have required us to dig down quite far (you need to check with your county - they often have depth requirements depending on the weight of your animal), so we didn't want to bury him, but we wanted to memorialize him with something special in our yard. We have two small children, so we decided to create a Kidoodlyrock for him (a pet grave marker where we engrave the childrens' drawing of the pet right onto the stone). It's nestled in the ice plant in our backyard and is a beautiful reminder of our big, furry guy. Bobo was cremated. Some people like to keep the ashes of their pets in an urn, but I wanted Bobo returned back to nature, so we didn't keep his ashes. The pet gravestone was perfect for us.

Now, for apartment dwellers, pet grave markers are ideal if you don't want to keep your pet's ashes, or if you would like an indoor reminder of your dear friend. Pet grave markers of many sizes can be placed in a bookstand on and end table, a mantle or a shelf. Oftentimes, people who choose to bury their pet in a pet cemetery, will also do a small marker for inside their home as a gentle reminder.

There are so many special and creative ways to pay tribute to the love and friendship that are pets so generously give to us. Make your tribute as unique and special as your pet was.

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Help Raise $10,000 for Best Friends Animal Sanctuary!

Do you like movies? Perfect!

Find movies and help homeless animals - for free!

Jinni.com will not only help you find the perfect movie to watch, but by signing up, you will help Best Friends receive donations to help homeless animals across the country. Jinni will donate $10,000 to Best Friends when 100,000 members sign up for free.

Click here to sign up for free!

Jinni is an exciting website that offers a whole new way to choose what to watch next. With its cutting-edge semantic technology, Jinni’s Taste Engine will intuitively help you find all the movies and shows you have been longing to watch.

CNET votes Jinni the #1 best movie recommendation website, ranked higher than both Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix.

Each sign-up adds to the donation, so please forward this to your friends, spread the word on Facebook and Twitter – and help save animals!

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Coping with Pet Loss: An Interview with Marty Tousley

Last year I had the privilege of interviewing Marty Tousley, CNS-BC, FT, Bereavement Counselor on the topic of pet loss. Marty has been a hospice bereavement counselor for over 30 years and is a leader in her field. Her work covers both human and pet loss.

We discussed the difficult topic of euthanasia, managing grief and resources to help with pet loss.

You can listen to the interview here http://tinyurl.com/lybwbb. I hope you find it helpful in your journey of healing.

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Pet Urns, Butter, Yoga and Counter Surfing Dogs?

Yesterday was National Pet Memorial Day. In honor of the memory of dear countersurfing Bobo, I'm rerunning this blogpost that was enjoyed by so many of our readers.

I love butter! I'm proud of it and I enjoy it at room temperature.

Okay, so here we are at the beginning of another year. Another year of promises to take better care of ourselves. My husband plays basketball two nights a week so I should be able to squeeze in a yoga class one night a week, right? He can handle bathing the kids and getting them to bed with their teeth brushed without all hell breaking loose, right? Of course!

More Unlikely Animal Friends

Here's another great story of unlikely animal friends - a male horse and a very young foal who were complete strangers, but not for long! This male horse, as soon as he heard the new arriving foal's whinny, immediately decided to be his new protector in a very maternal way, very rare! Here's the owner's story.

I have to tell you the beginning was so incredible. Beamer heard the foal whinny as the trailer was coming down the street, so he ran to that end of the pasture. 

We took Ace (our new foal) out of the trailer and Ace immediately whinnied (he's VERY vocal).

Beamer turned his head and saw Ace and starting running at him 90 miles an hour! I thought "Oh my God! This is a mistake. I should have had Beamer on a halter." But the girl that brought the foal insisted they'd be o.k. I think she regretted that move.

Ace took off running and Beamer was storming after him - not 'mean' aggressive, but AGGRESSIVE. He was SO excited. The foal - well, he seemed scared to me, but my didn't think he was, I don't know. All I know is they tore around the pasture full speed and I was really worried someone was going to get hurt. Finally, Beamer sort of laid his ears back and arched his neck (I thought....oh NOOOOO!!!) and then he started to "herd" Ace in.

He had him on the inside of a perfect lunging circle and they were going around and around and Beamer kept making the circle get smaller and smaller, until Ace finally stopped. It was brilliant. Then, Beamer sniffed him and started to nuzzle him - just like that. It was the MOST AMAZING thing I have ever seen...EVER!!!!!! They are now connected at the hip. I can't stress enough how just MIND BOGGLING this has been for me. It is the greatest gift I have ever been given to see these two tonight.

Isn't that cool? And they're still tighter than ever, best friends. Beamer is like a mother to Ace. Here are some more pictures of them.

 

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Unlikely Animal Friends

Can't we all just get along? I love seeing these animals, who we would never expect to be relating to each other at all, to not only bond, but to comfort and care for each other. May we learn to become comfortable with and comforting to, those who are so unlike ourselves. We need more of that in our crazy, crazy world right now.

FAWN & BOBCAT
The Jesusita Fire in Santa Barbara, CA this year caused these two to take shelter together.

The fawn is about 3 days old and the bobcat about 3 weeks.

They immediately bonded and snuggled together under a desk in the Santa Barbara County Dispatch Office for several hours.

I'm not sure which one is cuter!

ORANGUTAN & BLUETICK COONHOUND
Suryia the orangutan and Roscoe the Bluetick Coonhound met in a South Carolina sanctuary for endangered animals two years ago. Roscoe was an underfed stray who Suryia quickly took under his wing.

"As soon as he saw Roscoe, Suryia ran over to him and they started playing," Antle said "It was unusual because dogs are usually scared of primates; but they took to each other straight away."

Read more . . .

 

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Help Pets in Need with a Simple Change in Your Online Routine

Help Support the Petfinder.com Foundation for Free 

Did you know that a simple change in your online routine could help pets in need? Just search the Web on DoGreatGood and a portion of the revenue will be donated to charities like the Petfinder.com Foundation! The more you search, the more you help. It’s that simple!

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen