Providing hospice care for our beloved animals is a path of compassion, connection and growth.  |
|
Rosco with Barbara, who adopted him from a rescue group at an advanced age, and loved him more than he'd ever been loved in his life, through his final illness and death
|
Join us for this very special class as a panel of professionals share their expertise, insights, and perspectives from years of client support and integrative hospice care for our beloved animal family members.
You will receive guidance for both practical issues of physical care and the emotional and spiritual aspects of providing hospice care with your animal loved ones. You'll hear stories about real people and animals and the journeys they have experienced, as well as specific guidelines and tips to help you through the sacred time of hospice with your beloved animals.
At the first indication of a serious health condition with our animals we usually gear ourselves into action to find and provide the best possible care--exploring every potential treatment for healing. This is typically a time of moving all possible energies toward physical healing--a time of hope.
And in the times when it becomes clear that the condition will not heal and that death will occur, we are then presented with the painful challenge to surrender to what we cannot change--that our loved one will die. This shift from providing the best possible quality of life to the best possible quality of the dying
 |
|
Ming, held by her devoted mother Robin, who loved her through years of joyful life, through the time of hospice and forever more
|
process is one that is a hard one to make--it is sometimes easier to resist the need for such a shift. None of us want to lose our loved ones to death; it is hard to face. But it is during this time that the energy of acceptance is needed as much as love. We are called to accept the reality of death, to face and accept our own pain and sense of helplessness so we can be fully present with our beloved animals for their sacred process of transition--however short or long that process may be.
Living in the moment with a beloved one who is dying, taking constant note of cues about what they need and want in a given day, hour or moment, even as our hearts are breaking and our bodies may be exhausted, can be quite overwhelming. Yet it's that very willingness to live in the moment that offers us the possibility for what might be the deepest intimacy and exchange of love we may ever experience with our animals.
One of the greatest gifts we can give them when they are dying is to be willing to feel our own pain rather than run from it. Perhaps, this is the emotional core of hospice: acceptance versus resistance of the impending death of the love one, and acceptance versus resistance of our own pain. The energy of acceptance gently and significantly reduces suffering and invites in the presence of peace and grace.
Join us in this special class for inspiration, information and support to help you on your own journeys of acceptance and grace during hospice with your animal loved ones.
