Pet Loss Grief Counseling

[ Please be Patient - Still under Construction]

Welcome

to My Pet Loss Grief Counseling Page

~~~ With Special Permission of Ginny Brancato, creator and owner of Rainbows Bridge™ ~~~

In memory of and dedicated to
the awesome, wonderful, loveable animals who have entered and left all of our lives.

A Brief History of the Pets Who Have Graced My Life
and
How I Know Where My Departed Pets are Now ..... on Rainbows Bridge™

I have had many, many wonderful pets throughout my lifetime. From dogs and cats to exotic fish, rabbits and birds. My parents are animal lovers and advocates, thus they allowed my brother and I as we grew up to have as many pets as we wanted......as long as WE were responsible for them and cared for their needs. I received my first pet at age 2.......a beautiful Cocker Spaniel named Lady.......a gift from my parents. She was to become the predecessor to many, many more wonderful pets who have entered and exited my life all the way to the present......spanning many, many years now. Since that tender age, I have not lived one day without a special companion living with me.

The dogs have ranged from down home, lovable Mutts to beautiful pedigrees like Weimaraners, German Shepherds and Chihuahuas. The cats were from wild and feral to Persians. The birds were mostly parakeets whom I trained to talk, kiss me right on the lips (and I still have a scar on my lower lip from these beginning trainings!!), and fly to their cages at night to sleep. Rabbits given to us at Easter when we were young never seemed to live for more than two years. I always felt this was because they were penned up in their cages and never allowed to roam free.

My exotic fish collection and aquatic ownership over the years have ranged from many fresh water fish and my special Miniature African Frog, named Freddie, who lived many years at the bottom of my aquarium to a newly built, 8400 gallon, inground Koi Pond filled with over 30 Exotic Koi Fish.

I would like to tell you more about my special underwater frog, Freddie, who was terribly spoiled and very intelligent. Since he never had much chance at the fish food reaching to him at the bottom of this large, 20-gallon, octagonal and tall aquarium, I had to feed him in isolation and on a special diet. I placed a fine mesh net at the top of the aquarium (as used for new baby fish so older fish would not eat them as soon as they were born) and soon had Freddie trained to come to it to eat. When I tapped on the glass side of the aquarium, he would come a-swimming to where I was tapping, greet me by swimming around very excitedly, then swim like crazy up to "his" own private dining room in the net!! Since Miniature African frogs are by nature almost totally blind, Freddie learned to move swiftly and fast by the sounds of my tapping and by the feel of the texture of "his" net. His special diet consisted of frozen brine shrimp.......a delicacy he loved!! If he could not, or did not want to, finish all that I would serve him in a feeding, the rest of the fish in the aquarium received the "leftovers" and were equally as delighted. Freddy lived to be almost five years old. He seemed fine when I left for work that morning, but when I returned home, he was belly up floating at the top of the water. I just know he is having loads and loads of fun on Rainbows Bridge™ now, with an endless supply of brine shrimp to feast on!!

Ah, but those of us who have been privileged enough to have these beautiful and wonderful pets in our lives, know from the moment we bring them home with us........they will never live forever or even as long as we live. And when those fateful days finally come and we lose them, it is always so devastating, and we mourn and grieve so for them after they are gone.

~~ What is Rainbows Bridge™? ~~

This leads me up to January 2006 when my precious Persian, Molly, passed away very unexpectedly within a matter of only three hours. Please read about my Molly at her special Residency on Rainbows Bridge, then click the <- Back arrow to return back here to my website. After visiting her there, please feel free to browse around the entire, wonderful website of www.rainbowsbridge.com . It is a virtual Internet Memorial home for our dearly departed Babies, whether they were furry, feathered or scaled. All of them have been placed there by kind, loving Parents and Guardians of each of them. All Babies are welcome on Rainbows Bridge™.

Rainbows Bridge™ is the inspiration and creation of Ginny Brancato who wanted to honor her cat, Fifi, who passed to Rainbows Bridge™ in 1997. Since that time, thousands of pet mourners have entered this site, a virtual interactive memorial home for their departed Fur Babies, to create 'Residences' on this Bridge in love, honor and memory of their precious Fur Babies. The 'Parents' or 'Guardians' are able to memorialize their memories of their Fur Babies, write their stories about them and even have flowers, shrubs, toys, treats and choices of environments on the Bridge.

They can also find Forums for Pet Loss, Pet Health and recently Pet Abuse and Petitions as well as Chat Rooms for one-on-one online conversations to share their grief and pain with others who were also in grief and pain. It is here they are able to grieve as long as they need to among others who understand totally, and they are able to also begin the journey of turning their tears to smiles of joy and memories of their Babies' lives.

Not everyone is understanding or tolerable with one who is in such deep mourning and depression when their Fur Baby passes on. These people, unfortunately, have never known the unconditional love and faithfulness of having precious pets in their lives, and cannot even begin to understand, let alone offer consolation and understanding. But on this website, the mourners find others who are suffering as much as they are and find much love, kindness, patience, tolerance, understanding and consolation. There are even Hot Lines to call to speak with professionals and veterinarians.

There are also Forums for pets still with us who are healthy, or ill and dying. There are Poems, Stories and eSympathy Cards readily available to read and use.

One thing I discovered as I began to converse with the other Parents and Guardians of these magnificent Babies here at Rainbows Bridge™ .. from around the world .. was that it personally gave me much comfort and ability to bear my own grief over Molly so much better when I was able to reach out and comfort others in their new, raw grief also. After a few weeks of being a Member, I became one of Ginny's 'Volunteers' who help her in reaching out and helping those in such grief and needing someone to talk to and this wanting to help so many others in their time of need .... made me know I would always be an official lifetime Member on Rainbows Bridge™. This has greatly helped me to move down that long, windy, unpredictable road of grief and its necessary process a lot better and a lot quicker. I will love and miss my Molly forever, until I can see her again one day on the Bridge on my own journey there, but I know in my heart she is well, healthy, happy and enjoying herself with all the other Babies who reside there on Rainbows Bridge™.

Upon becoming a Volunteer Counselor (for the lack of a better word), I found myself going to every facet of this beautiful website to help as many people as I possibly can.

Here are some of those places: (Just click on the Blue Lines to take you there instantly, or you may wish to just browse the entire website at Rainbows Bridge™ to see them. Simply click the <- Back arrows to return to this page on my website at any time)

The Pet Loss Grief Support Center - where anyone can come as a Guest or a Member to vent, to discuss, to talk memories, to ask questions, to cry, to laugh, to ask advice and so many more reasons. This Center includes a Chat Room and three Forums: Pet Loss, Pet Health and Petitions/Abuse. The latter Forum is used by choice for those of us who also daily work for Animals Rights over the globe and we post petitions to sign. Since I have been here, some of these petitions signed by me as well as thousands and thousands of other people on this website and from all over the world ..... have come to fruition, made a difference and made a big impact on keeping our Animals safe, protect their rights and being their Voices for them.

More Support Areas are:
** One-on Ones: free grief counseling for those who would prefer a private chat or
       e-mail conversation.
** Pet Loss Hotlines:   a list of professional Pet Loss Grief Counselors and their contact
       information
** How to Memorialize Your Lost Baby
** Making The Decision: some thoughts to help guide you on whether you might need
       to euthanize your sick or gravely ill Pet
** Will we see our pets again? Do animals have a soul? A spirit?: some respected
       thoughts on the subject.
** Do Pets Grieve?: Some noted thoughts on this subject
** Helping children cope with the loss of a pet: Guidelines on helping a child through
       the loss of a pet
** Adopting A New Pet: Should You Get a New Pet? How Soon?: an informative article
** Pets with Cancer Chat Room: For Guests and Members with Pets with Cancer and
       other fatal diseases

Every Monday night at 10:00 pm [EST] Rainbows Bridge™ holds a Candlelight Memorial Service™, monitored by one of our assigned Monitors named Angel Grace

In addition, there is a Candlelight Vigil Prayer Room™ dedicated to those Babies in need of prayers because of illness, injury, gone, lost or in distress.

And last, but not least there are other wonderful places at Rainbows Bridge™ like The Reading Room™ where there is a collection of Stories and Poems donated by fellow travelers who have had their lives touched by a pet .....

and the Rainbow Boutique™ where one can find Rainbow Items, Personalized Pet Loss Items, Urns, Books And Audio Tapes, Pet Care Products, Personalized Pet Loss Items, and Vendor Inquiries

So please feel free to stay and browse a while on this beautifully memorialized website. It will bring much comfort to you if you have lost in the past ,or recently lost, a precious Baby. Please tell all of your families and friends about this magnificent website also. It has brought much peace and comfort, as well as many lifelong friends made here, for so many, many people around the world.

Our heartfelt gratitude and many thanks to Ginny Brancato,
whose insight and creativity was at first to memorialize her precious Fifi in the beginning,
but expanded beyond her wildest dreams
to bring comfort and grief guidance to so very many, many other people
around the entire world!!!!

We love you and thank you, dear Ginny.