Students at WSU Help Pet Owners Grieve Through Hotline | Pets

It's a global hotline that brings comfort to those who lose ones they love. Their pets.

When that number is dialed, it brings you to students at Washington State University's veterinary school. Students are trained in bereavement by WSU's licensed counselor, Kathy Ruby.

"We’ve been contacted by people whose companion pets have died in Japan, New Zealand, Spain. . .” said Ruby, pointing to a world map cluttered with push pins that identify distant places where calls and emails originated.

The hotline started in 1999 to fill a void for grieving pet owners.

Ruby added: "What some people don’t realize is that the pain can be so raw, so real.”

Interesting Read: Vet Students Learn About Comforting Bereaved Clients, Linda Weiford - WSU News