Business offers place to grieve for pets

A new Victoria funeral home dedicated to pets will be offering live webcasts for those who can't make it to a service or cremation.

The Greater Victoria Pet Memorial Center opens Nov. 7 at 485 John St. to serve grieving "pet parents" with around-the-clock, seven-day service, covering the south Island as far north as Nanaimo. 

     Business offers place to grieve for pets

Does this feel like it's going too far? I don't talk much about the death of pets, and there's a reason for that. It's not that I don't grieve the loss of my animals. I do, but they're not people. For people who are grieving the death of a spouse, a parent or a child, the death of a dog or a cat can look pretty trival.

We do need to grieve our pets. During their short lives they become intregral parts of ours, but they are not people, and something about equating the two feels off to me even though I often prefer the company of my dog.

Maybe it's the juxtaposition of trends that I find so disturbing.

Cultural support for grieving seems to be at an all time low. Mental health folks want to diagnose grief as major depression within weeks of a death (don't even get me started). While at the same time, the number of services, websites, groups and general buzz about the grief over a dead pet, is clearly on the increase.

What's wrong with this picture?