💜 Helping Your Pet Heal After Loss: How to Support a Grieving Pet After Euthanasia
Love & Toe Beans - Brisbane Home Pet Euthanasia - Brisbane Pet Cremation - Pet Quality of Life - Pet Grief Support - Greater Brisbane Region
When a beloved pet passes away after in-home euthanasia, the loss is deeply felt by the whole family. But while we often recognise and talk about the grief that we as humans experience, it can be easy to overlook the silent sorrow that our surviving pets may carry.
At Love & Toe Beans, we have the honour of supporting families across Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Redland Bay, and Moreton Bay through one of the most compassionate choices you can make, home euthanasia for your dog or cat. After that peaceful goodbye, we’re often asked:
“What should I do to help my other pet who’s grieving?”
This question touches the heart of what it means to love and live with animals, not just in life, but in loss too.
Below, we’ve lovingly compiled a wide range of ways you can support a pet who is grieving, both emotionally and practically, after they’ve lost a companion. Whether they’re a bonded sibling, longtime friend, or simply housemate, pets feel the change and they need our help navigating it.
First: Understanding How Pets Grieve
Pets grieve too. They can feel confusion, sadness, anxiety and depression. Their grief might look like:
Searching the house for their friend
Vocalising more (whining, howling, meowing)
Loss of appetite
Lethargy or restlessness
Clinginess or isolation
Changes in toileting behaviour
Disrupted sleep or sleeping more
Anxious behaviour
These behaviours are natural and often temporary, but they’re real. Your pet is adjusting to a major loss. Your support can make all the difference.
1. Stick to Their Usual Routine, Even If Yours Has Changed
After the death of a companion, routine is one of the most stabilising tools you can offer your surviving pet. Predictable mealtimes, walks, bedtime rituals, and household rhythms help ground them during emotional uncertainty.
Even if your own grief has thrown things off balance, doing your best to preserve your pet’s routine offers them safety, comfort, and normalcy.
2. Spend More Intentional One-on-One Time Together
One of the simplest, most powerful ways to support a grieving pet is just being with them.
Create moments of gentle connection:
Sit beside them in the sun
Invite them onto the couch or bed
Gently stroke or brush them
Lie beside them at their level, in silence
This isn’t about entertaining them or distracting them, it’s about presence. Let them feel your calm, loving energy. Animals are attuned to our emotional states and can find great comfort just in quiet companionship.
3. Introduce New, Low-Stress Experiences
Grief can shrink the world for both people and pets. When your pet is ready, introducing new experiences slowly and gently can offer renewed purpose and stimulation.
For Dogs:
Take them on new walking routes or nature trails in Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich or Moreton Bay
Visit dog-friendly cafes, beaches, creeks or parks for a quiet outing
Try gentle sniffing walks, where they lead the pace and explore the world
Go on short car rides with the windows down and familiar music playing
For Cats:
Rearrange furniture to create new window spots or cozy hideouts
Introduce interactive toys like feather wands or treat puzzles
Bring in safe outdoor scents (plants, leaves) for enrichment
Create climbing opportunities or new vertical spaces to explore
The goal isn’t distraction, it’s to gently reintroduce curiosity, movement, and life into their day.
4. Offer Extra Enrichment to Stimulate Their Mind and Body
Just like humans, animals benefit from physical and mental activity to help move through grief.
Try:
Food puzzles and slow feeders
Hide-and-seek games with treats or toys
New toys with different textures or smells
Training or learning new tricks (especially for dogs, it builds confidence and focus and it can be fun)
Enrichment gives them something to focus on beyond the absence they’re feeling.
5. Provide Comforting Scents and Familiar Objects
Scent is a powerful memory anchor for pets. If your surviving pet is seeking their friend, try:
Leaving out the blanket, collar, or bed of the pet who passed (for a short time)
Using pheromone diffusers like Adaptil (dogs) or Feliway (cats) to create a calming atmosphere
Giving them a comfort toy or soft item they can carry or cuddle
These sensory comforts can help ease anxiety and reduce stress-related behaviours.
6. Create a Ritual or Memorial Involving Your Surviving Pet
Rituals aren’t just for humans, your pet can benefit from them too.
Ideas include:
Letting them be present when you light a candle or look through photos
Taking them to a special place they used to share with their companion
Placing a photo or keepsake in a spot your pet often visits
Planting a tree or flower in memory of the pet who passed, and visiting it together
These rituals help both you and your pet process the loss together and reinforce the bond between you.
7. Watch for Prolonged Grief or Health Issues
Grief can sometimes mask or reveal health problems. If your pet:
Refuses food
Shows signs of withdrawal or lethargy that don’t improve
Has vomiting, diarrhoea, or toileting changes
Becomes aggressive or extremely anxious
If you have any concerns at all
…it’s time to seek vet support.
8. Avoid Rushing to Bring Home Another Pet
Many well-meaning families bring home a new pet quickly after a loss, but this can backfire if your surviving pet isn’t ready.
Watch for signs that they’re emotionally settled before considering a new companion. And if/when the time is right, introduce the new pet slowly, with care and respect for your grieving pet’s boundaries.
If you're unsure whether your pet would benefit from a new friend, we’re happy to offer guidance or referrals to trusted trainers and behaviourists in Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton Bay and Redland Bay.
9. Let Yourself Grieve, It Helps Them Too
Your pet may be mirroring your grief. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, grieving together can be healing.
Talk to your pet. Cry with them. Let them see you feeling your emotions. Just as you’re supporting them, they’re supporting you, too.
If you need someone to talk to, we offer gentle, understanding pet grief support. There’s no timeline for healing. There’s just care, connection, and moving forward, one day at a time.
10. Know That You’re Not Alone 💕
Whether your pet is grieving a sibling they’ve known their whole life or a housemate they tolerated with quiet affection, the absence is real.
At Love & Toe Beans, we are honoured to support you, before, during, and after loss. From home pet euthanasia to cremation services, quality of life consults, and ongoing grief support, our care doesn’t end at goodbye.
We walk with you, and your pets, for as long as you need.
💛 With Gentle Hearts, We Offer:
🐾 Home Euthanasia for Dogs and Cats - Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Redland Bay, Moreton Bay
🐾 Dignified Pet Cremation Services
🐾 In-Home and Phone Quality of Life Vet Consults
🐾 Pet Grief Support for You and Your Pets
❤️ Love Doesn’t End at Goodbye
Grieving pets don’t need you to fix their pain, they need you to walk beside them through it. In time, their spark will return. Their tail will wag again. They’ll find peace, not by forgetting, but by remembering in a softer way.
And you will too.
If you or your pet are struggling with grief, please reach out. You don’t have to do this alone.
💌 Contact Love & Toe Beans here
🕯️ Learn More About Pet Grief Support here
With Love (& Toe Beans),
The Love & Toe Beans Team 🧡