Making decisions around the end-of-life of an old or sick pet is one of the toughest decisions anyone will have to make, but there is help at hand. Pet bereavement counselling is a growth industry helping owners prepare for the departure of their furry friends.
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00:00Jodie Oldacre and Ashley Pinder decided early on in their relationship not to have kids.
00:08That's when Mr Harvey, Miss Kipper and Tater came along.
00:12We didn't go out to get pets as children as such, but they just became like our children.
00:19When their first two dogs began to suffer health problems in old age, they reached out
00:23to Nikki Catley.
00:25She helped them decide on the right time to let go.
00:28Our love of our pets makes it hard to make that call.
00:32We want them to be with us forever, but we also don't want them to suffer.
00:36Nikki has been supporting vets and pet owners with end of life decisions and grief support
00:41for 30 years.
00:42She says demand is increasing, and from people you might not expect.
00:47I've had big burly gentlemen come in to session, under-sufferance.
00:53Within sort of 10, 15 minutes this beautiful soul was sobbing on my shoulder, saying Nikki
00:59I just didn't cry this much when my own mother passed away, what's wrong with me?
01:04About 70% of Australians own a pet, and spend more than $30 billion on them annually.
01:09But many pet owners still feel embarrassed when their best friend dies.
01:13A lot of people might say it's just a pet, it's just a dog, get over it sort of thing,
01:18but it's something that actually really takes away a huge part of your heart.
01:23That grief prompted Nikki Cutley to hold a pet memorial service in Ballarat, where
01:27more than 100 pet owners were given an opportunity to remember and pay tribute to their late
01:33fur friends.
01:35It's one of those things that you seem to do with a pet in isolation, and just knowing
01:39there's a larger group of people going through the same sort of feelings and that.
01:44Celebrating lives well lived.