Pet Bereavement (Oct 2025)

Description

This course is aimed at nurses working in general practice

Week 1

Human Animal Bond

Explore types of human animal bond, including impact of support animals in the home (blind, hearing, medical alert dogs)
Equine therapy
Pet therapy in hospitals and hospice environments
Dogs supporting ASD children
Pets in general

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Explore the history of the human-animal bond and how it relates to pet companionship today
Understand different ways we utilise animals within our society and systems including support animals
Understand attachment theory and how this relates to animal companions
Explore how attachment theory might impact your own process in pet loss at work

Week 2

Types of Loss

Euthanasia
Terminal illness versus sudden death
Impact of accidents
Bereavement

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Understand how euthanasia differs between species and the impacts of this
Explore the difference to pet companions when they die suddenly versus expectedly
Understand what bereavement looks like in different parts of the world and within different cultures
Explain how bereavement might affect clients in practice
Understand how bereavement might affect staff in practice

Week 3

Grief Models

Explore all types of grief
Disenfranchised and complicated grief which we often see in pet families
Different models of grief
Debunk the misunderstandings about the five stages of loss

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Define grief
Explore different types of grief and those most relevant to pet companionship
Review and understand Hubler-Ross five stages of grief model and when it is, and isn’t applicable
Understand more relevant grief models applicable to everyday life and loss

Week 4

Pet Loss in Different Life Stages

How children might understand pet loss is very different to the way an elderly person might experience pet loss
Family difficulties, including guilt, ‘being strong’ and ways of coping

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Understand how children may be impacted by loss of a pet
Understand how elderly people may be impacted by loss of a pet
Understand how neurodiverse people may be impacted by loss of a pet
Explore how family units may come together to work through loss of their pet

Week 5

Memorials and Bereavement Rituals

Options for when pets die
Cremation versus burial
How people choose to say goodbye, memorials etc
Different cultures and their ways of celebrating life
Transitional objects

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Explain what the options are for end of life care within veterinary practice
Explore memorials in different cultures for pet loss
Understand how exploring these options may be helpful for clients
Understand transitional object theory and how this might help clients through pet loss

Week 6

Supporting Clients and Yourself

Communication with grieving clients including risk assessments and referral resources for clients needed extra support
Vicarious trauma in veterinary professionals and ways of coping and prevention

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Explore ways of communicating with clients around pet loss so that you feel more confident doing so
Understand the importance of client safety, risk assessments and be confident where you can refer them for further help outside of the practice
Understand vicarious trauma and how this might look for you
Reflect on your coping strategies in practice and find new ways of supporting yourself and the team

The course will be fully tutored by Katie Gray and will consist of 15 hours of CPD given in various formats, including tutorials, tasks, case scenarios, forum discussions and quizzes. This course is tutored for 6 weeks, followed by a two week extension of untutored ‘catch up’ time, before the course officially ends.

All delegates will then have unlimited lifetime access to the learning material for future reference

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Speaker

Katie Gray MNCPS (Acc), PGCert VetEd, DipAVN, RVN, FHEA
The Ralph Veterinary Referral Hospital

Katie’s nursing career started in GP and finished as a Senior ECC nurse at The Royal Veterinary College’s ICU, where she particularly enjoyed nursing critical cases including those with sepsis and on mechanical ventilation. In 2022, Katie joined The Ralph Referral Centre as their Hospital Counsellor, where she supports both the large veterinary team, and the pet carers through many issues including bereavement. Katie has delivered CPD both in the UK and Internationally, and is passionate about bringing more awareness to the veterinary profession about the positive impacts of counselling on yourself, your health, and the sustainability of your career. Katie continues to volunteer as an RVN for StreetVet where she gets her fix of cute patients, and outside of work enjoys spending time with friends and (most importantly!) her spaniel Martha.

CPD Hours

This online course is worth 15 hours of CPD.

A certificate will be available from the ‘My Courses’ section, for you to download and print, once you have completed the course. A permanent record of your total CPD hours will also be recorded in your account section.

AVNAT

Australia and New Zealand

The Australian Veterinary Nurse and Technician (AVNAT) Regulatory Council has allocated 15 AVNAT CPD points to this continuing education activity.

This course is also recognised by the New Zealand Veterinary Nursing Association (NZVNA) as providing 15 CPD points.

Information

Upon purchase you will be registered to attend the course, for 6 weeks from the start date. The course will consist of various interactive tasks and lessons, including quizzes, case studies, forum discussions and further reading material.

The course is fully tutored, with new material will be provided each Monday morning, but the onus will be on the individual delegate to ensure that all tasks are fully complete. The certificate will only be issued at the end of the course when all tasks have been accomplished. Fewer CPD hours will be awarded at the the end of the course if there are unfinished tasks or there has been no contribution to the discussion forum, for example

The course is fully flexible, and there are no weekly ‘deadlines’ – the lessons and tasks may be completed whenever is convenient for each delegate, and any live lessons with be recorded and made available later that same day. Furthermore, all the course material will be available for a further 2 weeks, to allow delegates the opportunity to catch up on missed lessons and tasks, or to take the opportunity to delve further into the suggested reading texts. Please note however, that the course will not be tutored by the speaker during these final two weeks, but the time spent will count towards your CPD hours

After 8 weeks, the course will be complete and there will be no further opportunity to gain the certificate or CPD hours, however, you will have unlimited lifetime access to the tutorials, further reading and quizzes for future reference. If you make any personal notes during the course using the ‘take notes’ app, these will be saved, along with your certificate and CPD record for permanent access in ‘My CPD’

For some further information about our Online Tutored CPD courses – please read our PDF guide to Online Tutored CPD

Levels

This course has been listed as ‘Intermediate’ level

All of our courses are aimed at veterinary nurses in general practice, but everyone who works in the veterinary profession is very welcome to attend, whether you are a clinical receptionist, veterinary surgeon, student nurse or have been a qualified nurse for over 20 years!

The courses are not formally assessed for skill level, so the following CPD levels are just a rough guide to help you decide if a course may be more or less suitable:

Introduction
– maybe most suitable for qualified nurses in general practice approaching a new topic or looking for a refresher course

Intermediate
– maybe most suitable for qualified nurses in general practice along with referral / specialist nurses looking for a refresher course

Advanced
– maybe most suitable for referral / specialist nurses and highly experienced qualified nurses in general practice

Pawprints

You will earn 255 Pawprint Points (£25.50 website credit) when you purchase this course

Our loyalty scheme rewards you with 10% in website credit to spend on future courses. Choose pay with Pawprint Points during checkout.

Invoice My Practice

Invoice

Debit or credit card is the preferred payment method

Please ask your practice manager or accounts department to visit the website, register an account in their own name, and during checkout, complete the ‘delegate name’ and ‘delegate email’ sections with your personal details. We will then register you a personal account on your behalf, and transfer the course booking over to your new personal account. We will of course email you all the information you need to access this new account and your CPD course.

If you need an invoice and no other payment method is available to you, then please email [email protected] with all the following information:

Full name of delegate
Email address for delegate
Course(s) booking
Any discounts / promotions being redeemed
Practice name and address
Invoice name and address (if different)
Corporate group name (Linnaeus, IVC, Medivet, VetPartners etc) (if applicable)
Practice code (eg Vet4Pets practices)
Booking / invoice reference (if required)
Email address to send the invoice (practice manager, accounts department or head office – not your own email address please)

Please note the following:

Invoices must be requested a minimum of 4-6 weeks prior to a course starting, to allow time for the payment to be received
Delegates will not be allowed access to any course without prior payment
An invoice will be emailed to the contact provided and the course booking will be reserved for 7 days, whilst payment via debit / credit card or BACS is arranged
There will be an administration fee of £2.50 +VAT per invoice generated. You may book multiple delegates / multiple courses on a single invoice to the same practice

Tutored Online CPD