Aug 31, 2026
Is losing a pet really as painful as losing a human family member? How do you know when pet grief has become something you need help dealing with—and what should you NEVER say to someone whose pet just died?
Tom Kelly sits down with longtime friend Judith Eve Rosen, LCSW, a clinical social worker specializing in veterinary social work and author of Life After Pet Loss: Daily Reflections for Working Through Grief. Judith explains how an experience in a veterinary emergency room inspired her to specialize in pet loss and the human-animal bond.
📖 BOOK —
Life After Pet Loss: Daily
Reflections for Working Through Grief
Buy
Life After Pet Loss on Amazon
📸 INSTAGRAM —
@mypetlosstherapist
Follow My Pet Loss Therapist on
Instagram
🌐 JUDITH EVE ROSEN
JudithEveRosen.com
00:00 Pet Grief & Life After Pet
Loss
00:40 Meet Pet
Loss Therapist Judith Eve Rosen
01:09 Is Pet
Grief Really That Serious?
02:09 How Judith
Became a Pet Loss Therapist
03:05 Veterinary
Social Work Is a Real Specialty
03:44
Life After Pet
Loss
04:01 Why People
Seek Help After Losing a Pet
04:29 The WORST
Things to Say When Someone's Pet Dies
05:11 What Is
Disenfranchised Grief?
06:13 Does
Everyone Need a Pet Loss Therapist?
07:27 PTSD and
Traumatic Pet Loss
08:15 How Do You
Know When Someone Needs Help?
08:31 Is Losing
a Pet Like Losing a Family Member?
09:16 When Pet
Loss Becomes Compounded Grief
10:10 Losing a
Pet When You Live Alone
10:33 Does
Losing a Dog Hurt More Than Losing a Rabbit or Fish?
11:27 Grieving
ALL Kinds of Pets
12:58 How Do You
Move On After Losing a Pet?
13:22 Keeping
Your Pet's Collar, Bed or Favorite Things
14:33 Ways to
Memorialize and Remember Your Pet
15:04 What If
Your Friends Don't Understand Your Pet Grief?
16:56 Being
Patient With People Who Don't Understand
17:45 Helping a
Friend Whose Pet Is Dying
19:04 Pet Loss
Resources and Support Groups
19:52 How Do You
Explain Pet Death to a Child?
20:39 The
"Memory Jar" for Children and Families
21:34 Feeling
Guilty About Getting Another Pet
22:12 A New Pet
Isn't a Replacement
22:41 How Do You
Know When You're Ready for Another Pet?
23:29
Life After Pet Loss &
Judith's Instagram
23:56 Closing
Thoughts