Danna shares the pet memorial ceremony she created for her beloved grand-cat, Boobie the Bengal. Danna Schmidt is a Soul Practitioner & Ceremonialist with Waypoint Ceremonies, helping people create meaningful rituals and ceremonies.
Boobie the Bengal was my grandcat and wormed her way into our hearts forever.
Before she died, I blessed every part of her from head to toe with words of gratitude specific to that part of her – a variation of the blessing many of us use in deathcare.
I couldn’t do all that I wanted to do ritually because my daughter didn’t want any ritual, which was really hard for me, but she wasn’t my cat.
Pet Loss Rituals
When she died, we decided to do an aquamation. While the ceremony was super makeshift and spontaneous, I knew that I needed to compost my grief in some way.
To begin, I set up a grief altar with photos, toys and other significant items of hers.
I then did my Ripples of Remembrance ritual, where I typed out character traits she held onto water soluble paper.
I cut the pieces of paper into slips and floated them in a basin of water on the altar, with candles lit and meditative music on in the background.
This gave me the space I needed to grieve, as I sat and wept at the loss of her life. I also printed a typed love letter on the dissolving paper and read it aloud to my husband, a witness to my grief. I placed the letter in the bowl and watched it dissolve.
This water-based ritual was especially poignant because we were doing a pet aquamation, or a water-based cremation. We were able to hold space for our grief during the aquamation itself, setting up a ceremonial space at the facility during the viewing, as well as at home following the disposition.
I made a shroud for Boobie the week prior by using her face stamp (an Etsy gift from my daughter) onto a white cloth and stamping her name on the shroud.
She was wrapped in it during her drive to Resting Waters and she laid upon it in her basket with her favorite orange toy, Fishie, and during the viewing there.
In other animal ceremonies and pet memorials, I often use a paw print punch stamp to make tags that people can write words of remembrance on and then hang from a tree during the blessing or memorial.
I also draw paw prints with markers on rocks for people to write essence words on, reflecting their connection to their pet.
I hope this ceremony story inspires others to create their own rituals to acknowledge and honor the love and the grief they’re holding.
To learn how you can create a pet loss ceremony, explore the rituals we offer in our app or reach out to Danna for a personalized ceremony and support during your pet loss journey.
