When my dog died, I couldn’t breathe. I was running a business, meeting deadlines, and trying to keep everything on track while quietly falling apart. No one around me knew what to do, or how to help. There was no policy, little support, and no language for what I was going through. 

This is a common scenario that is costing us at work, at home, and across our healthcare system. 

More than 70 per cent of Canadian households have a pet. They’re not “just animals.” When they pass, the grief pet-parents feel is deeply real and the mental as well as physical health effects can be as intense as losing a person, if not more so. 

In almost every Canadian workplace, however, grief from pet loss isn’t seen as legitimate. It’s treated as a banal personal issue. Not something deserving of policy or support. 

When my dog died in 2022, I experienced these painful policy gaps myself. I learned the hard way that there was no room to pause. I was expected back at work immediately, as though losing my dog wasn’t a real loss. But it was. 

The ordeal motivated me to start my own pet loss bereavement service, to give others the support that I didn’t have. 

I most often hear from people struggling in silence, who are utterly heartbroken as they try to navigate a health issue most systems won’t even acknowledge — while being forced to hold it together at work.

Pet loss is a health issue. Symptoms of pet loss include insomnia, anxiety, depression, and other physical stress responses. These are often on par with human bereavement. One-in-five people experience “intense grief” for more than a year, making pet loss a clinical issue. 

Unresolved grief builds up, and can lead to significant mental and physical health issues. That means more downstream strain on an already burdened healthcare system. 

Grief also doesn’t wait until we’re off the clock. Missed deadlines, lower productivity, short tempers, and burnout. Research estimates unaddressed grief costs North American businesses up to $75 billion annually. Pet loss, while rarely acknowledged in workplace policies, is part of that picture. 

At The Parted Paw, we’ve supported professionals across several industries, all of whom were expected to return to full performance the day after saying goodbye to their pet. The predictable results of this are feelings of guilt, shame, suppressed grief, and long-term emotional exhaustion that could have been prevented with just a few days of validated leave. 

The current Canada Labour Code offers bereavement leave for immediate family, but not for pets. Some managers may make informal exceptions, but there’s no consistency. It leaves most people reliant on luck and empathy rather than policy. 

To protect mental health and promote workplace well-being, Canadian employers and policymakers ought to consider four health-focused steps. 

First, add pet loss bereavement leave policies and update Employee Assistance Programs to include pet loss support. Even a few protected days can help prevent delayed or complicated grief and more serious mental health concerns. 

Second, create grief banks, providing flexible leave that covers meaningful losses, including pets.

Third, train managers. Give them the tools to recognize and support disenfranchised grief. 

And finally, bring in experts. Partner with grief professionals like The Parted Paw, which offers workplace support, training, 1:1 counselling as well as family pet loss coaching tailored to professionals. 

This is not about lowering workplace expectations but rather, mitigating the health consequences of an issue that we know is ongoing, and will continue to exert a societal impact. When we validate grief, we protect health. When we protect health, we ease some pressure on the healthcare system. It’s good for everyone. 

Grief doesn’t need to be visible to be valid. If we can recognize pets as family in divorce law, housing policy, and even therapy, then it’s time to reflect that reality in our bereavement policies, too. 

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Koryn Greenspan is the founder of The Parted Paw