A Beautiful Tribute to Rico, One Amazing Cat

We are honored to share the loving tribute to Rico written by longtime BrightHaven friend and supporter, Dr. Kathryn Marocchino of The Nikki Hospice Foundation for Pets. Along with BrightHaven’s Gail Pope and Dr. Ella Bittel of Spirits in Transition, Kathryn co-created the Quality of Dying Checklist, which assesses quality of life as the hospice journey progresses…

Read More

On the Subject of Animal Hospice & Natural Death

In March 2017, Adam Clark, LCSW, AASW, interviewed BrightHaven President and Founder Gail Pope for a Psychology Today article about animal hospice and natural death. This information remains very relevant to those who are seeking an alternative to euthanasia for their beloved animal family member. As you can see from our animal hospice guiding statement,…

Read More

A Loving Tribute to a BrightHaven Legend

dog joyfully running on wheels

BrightHaven President and Founder Gail Pope pays loving tribute to Bailey, a larger-than-life being: “March 26 th at 730pm saw the ending of yet another BrightHaven era, with the death of our amazing super-dog-man and old soul, Bailey. I am not sure that I can do justice to this larger-than-life character and the depth of…

Read More

A Practical Way You Can Help Bring Comfort to Dying Animals

melissa-and_dexter-blog

Melissa recently contacted Gail for a consultation regarding her treasured cat Dexter. About a year and a half ago, he was diagnosed with a cancerous nasal tumor near his right eye. The journey that Dexter and Melissa shared was challenging, and they found Gail’s ongoing animal hospice support extremely helpful. To honor Dexter and to…

Read More

How to Help Your Animal Live Well Through the Last Breath!

At BrightHaven, we often say that it’s all about living well through the last breath! But what exactly does that mean? Living Well Though the Last Breath the BrightHaven Way BrightHaven is unique because of the way we work and the results we get. Our Menu for Healing forms the foundation of our work. It…

Read More

My Animal is Dying – Can You Help Me Please?

BrightHaven is unique because of the way we work and the results we get. Our Menu for Healing, which is the foundation of our work, focuses on the best quality of life at all stages, all the way to the most peaceful and loving dying process. The goal is to achieve optimal balance of body,…

Read More

Celebrating the Life of a BrightHaven Lion

Gail Pope’s heartfelt farewell (see below) to Tarka clearly shows BrightHaven’s key tenets, which also apply to animal hospice care: Animals are sentient beings, capable of conscious awareness, feeling and suffering. They deserve an environment and conditions that allow them to achieve a state of well being throughout their entire lives. Animals are always true…

Read More

What Forms the Foundation of the Best Animal Hospice Care?

TT_ollie_framed

The answer to this riddle: human hospice care! Guidelines for Human Hospice Care The guidelines for hospice care for humans have been very carefully created over many years and form the foundation for animal hospice upon which we must all build: Hospice is a special philosophy of care designed to provide comfort, support and dignity…

Read More

What a Beautiful Cat Taught Us About Natural Death

Once again, one of our animals helped to shift our thinking and led us to the natural path of death, which became part of BrightHaven’s Menu for Healing. BrightHaven’s Gail Pope shares Mariah’s story: “In BrightHaven’s early years there was no such thing as natural death for us, as we believed euthanasia was always the…

Read More