Survey finds many grieving pet parents receive no support
Bottom line
Version 1
A new survey found that people grieving a pet’s death are substantially more likely to receive no support than people grieving a human loss, reinforcing concerns that pet bereavement is still widely minimized. In the survey, 27.5% of respondents whose most meaningful loss was a pet said they received none of the listed forms of support, compared with 16.8% of people grieving only a person. Pet mourners were less likely to receive calls, flowers, meals, food support, or memorial donations, but were more likely to say they wanted one simple response: acknowledgment that the loss happened. The findings were highlighted by Veterinary Practice News and Pet Age, and appear to come from a 2026 “Sympathy Survey” published by Gourmet Gift Baskets. (gourmetgiftbaskets.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the results add to a growing body of evidence that pet loss can be clinically and emotionally significant, and that simple follow-up may matter more than many practices assume. AAHA says veterinary teams should be prepared to recommend grief resources and support clients through end-of-life care, while recent Dog Aging Project research and related expert commentary have emphasized that grief support should extend to all bereaved clients, not only those present for euthanasia in clinic. Separate new survey data also suggest aftercare affects practice relationships: pet parents who received no post-euthanasia follow-up were markedly more likely to change veterinary practices. (aaha.org)
What to watch: Expect more practices, hospice providers, and professional groups to formalize bereavement follow-up protocols, resource lists, and staff training around end-of-life communication. (aaha.org)
Version 2
A new survey is putting numbers to a familiar problem in companion animal care: many people mourning a pet are doing so with little or no visible support. According to the 2026 “Sympathy Survey” cited by Veterinary Practice News and Pet Age, 27.5% of respondents whose most affecting loss was a pet received none of the listed forms of support after the death, versus 16.8% of those grieving only a person. The survey also found that people grieving a pet were more likely to want acknowledgment of the death itself, even if they wanted less practical help than people mourning a human family member or friend. (gourmetgiftbaskets.com)
That pattern fits with a broader shift in the literature around pet bereavement. A PLOS One study published January 14, 2026, using a representative UK sample of 975 adults, found that grief after pet loss can resemble grief after human bereavement in both intensity and symptom pattern. In that study, one-third of participants had lost a pet, 21% of those said it was the most distressing bereavement they had experienced, and about 7.5% met criteria for prolonged grief disorder after pet loss. (health.harvard.edu)
The newer survey highlighted in the trade press focuses less on diagnosis and more on what support actually looks like in everyday life. Its topline finding was that more than one in four pet-only mourners received no support of the types measured. The biggest gap was around food support: 20.1% of pet mourners received prepared food, groceries, delivery, or a food gift, compared with 45.3% of person-only mourners. At the same time, 42.3% of pet-only mourners said they wanted acknowledgment of the death, compared with 31.9% of person-only mourners. The median window in which a check-in felt welcome was also shorter for pet loss, at 21 days versus 30.5 days for human loss. (gourmetgiftbaskets.com)
Other recent veterinary research points to similar practical implications. Two 2026 papers from the Dog Aging Project, published in JAVMA, highlighted gaps in communication around prognosis, pain, suffering, quality of life, and the end-of-life experience. Texas A&M’s summary of that work said the findings reinforce the need for veterinarians to proactively provide emotional support resources to grieving pet parents, including those whose animals die unexpectedly outside the clinic setting. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Industry and professional guidance is moving in the same direction. AAHA’s end-of-life resources for pet parents say veterinary teams should help families navigate hospice, palliative care, euthanasia, and grief, and should be ready to recommend bereavement resources. In a 2026 AAHA article, hospice veterinarian Tyler Carmack said grief after pet loss is often deeper and more disorienting than people expect, and that his practice intentionally gives grief resources to every client regardless of how they appear to be coping. (aaha.org)
Why it matters: For veterinary teams, the takeaway isn’t that every practice must build a formal grief program overnight. It’s that acknowledgment itself is a meaningful intervention. A condolence card, a phone call, a technician follow-up, a memorial keepsake, or a standard handout with vetted grief resources may help meet a need that many pet parents say goes unmet. That support can also strengthen trust at a vulnerable moment. In separate 2026 survey findings reported by VetSurgeon, 22% of pet parents who received no post-euthanasia follow-up switched practices, compared with 6% of those who did receive support. (aaha.org)
There’s also an operational reason to pay attention. End-of-life communication now sits at the intersection of welfare, ethics, client experience, and team wellbeing. If practices normalize grief, create consistent aftercare workflows, and make referrals easy, they may reduce the burden on individual clinicians to improvise during emotionally charged cases. That matters in a field where teams are already stretched, and where a small, structured gesture may have outsized impact for both pet parents and staff. This is an inference drawn from the survey findings and existing professional guidance. (gourmetgiftbaskets.com)
What to watch: The next step will likely be whether more clinics adopt standardized bereavement protocols, and whether future studies tie those protocols to measurable outcomes such as client retention, staff stress, referral uptake, or use of grief-support services. (vetsurgeon.org)