ReMember

ReMember is an interactive installation that provides bereaved pet owners with a sense of presence and connection to their deceased companion animals. Many pet owners suffer from bereavement and grief upon the loss of companion animals, and rituals and memorialization can help their grieving process. In this installation, the authors integrate audiovisual effects of the heartbeat recordings of companion animals and cremation stones made for pet memorialization. The audience's responses to ReMember show that interactivity and physiological signals augment the physical object of remembrance and elicit strong emotions. ReMember suggests that digitalized physiological signals and biological data can be a new form of the legacy of animal companionships and that the careful curation of digital, biological, and physical artifacts can support continuing bond expressions in pet loss.

A Multilevel Intervention Framework for Supporting People Experiencing Homelessness with Pets

Approximately one in 10 people experiencing homelessness have pets. Despite the psychosocial benefits derived from pet ownership, systemic and structural barriers can prevent this group from meeting their basic needs and exiting homelessness. A multilevel framework is proposed for improving the health and well-being of pet owners experiencing homelessness. Informed by a One Health approach, the framework identifies interventions at the policy, public, and direct service delivery levels. Policy interventions are proposed to increase the supply of pet-friendly emergency shelters, access to market rental housing and veterinary medicine, and the use of a Housing First approach. At the public level, educational interventions are needed to improve knowledge and reduce stigma about the relationship between homelessness and pet ownership. Direct service providers can support pet owners experiencing homelessness by recognizing their strengths, connecting them to community services, being aware of the risks associated with pet loss, providing harm reduction strategies, documenting animals as emotional support animals, and engaging in advocacy. By targeting policies and service approaches that exacerbate the hardships faced by pet owners experiencing homelessness, the framework is a set of deliberate actions to better support a group that is often overlooked or unaccommodated in efforts to end homelessness.

Expressions of Grief in Online Discussion Forums—Linguistic Similarities and Differences in Pet and Human Bereavement

We compared online discussion forum posts related to pet loss to those related to human bereavement. Posts ( N = 401) were analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software for frequencies of word use relevant to bereavement. Words related to anger, sadness, and negative emotions were used at similar frequencies for all grief. Sibling loss was associated with using first person pronouns at higher frequencies, and positive emotion words at lower frequencies than other categories of loss. There were some similarities in partners and pets in the word use related to friends and social connectedness. Words related to religion were highest when writing about losing a child and lowest when losing a pet. Our results highlight the similarities in the vocabulary in pet and human bereavement. Findings demonstrate the importance of online discussion forums for understanding the process of grief and specific relationship types.