A Complete Guide to Collecting Their Ashes

“The courage to continue is the most precious kind of bravery.”

Unknown

On Wednesday 3^rd June, I was in a taxi on the way to the Train Station to travel to London for two days for an event with Waythrough when my phone rang and I saw ‘Vets’ lighting up the screen. I knew what it was because at the Veterinary Practice I use for all my pets, they pick up and drop off a pet’s ashes on a Wednesday, it usually takes around one or two weeks to get them back, and they had taken my Evie the previous Wednesday. I answered with “if this is what I think it is, please can you ring me when I come back on Friday?” They agreed and I swallowed back my tears so as not to be embarrassed and awkward with my driver! I’ve had so many speeches and events recently that I couldn’t collect Evie until Wednesday 10^th. I felt terrible leaving ‘her’ in the Vets that long, but I also tried to remind myself that I was doing the best I could. I did something lovely all day Wednesday with my family and then they took me to collect Evie. I asked them to wait in the car whilst I went in and got her and the care the Vet staff went to in handling her and handing her over to me, made me so emotional and it was truly heart-warming and comforting to think that’s how she’d been treated the entire time she’d been there. In the car coming home, I cried and had the idea to film it as a way of showing the reality of collecting a pet’s ashes, and it was this which has inspired this article…

Finding Inspiration & Motivation from Pet Loss | Rest in Peace Evie

“Resilience is a precious skill. People who have it tend to also have three underlying advantages: a believe that they can influence life events; a tendency to find meaningful purpose in life’s turmoil; and a conviction that they can learn from both positive and negative experiences.”

Amanda Ripley

Having experience three episodes of Gut Stasis by the tender age of just eight months, Evie became poorly again and at 4pm, I took her to the Vets where they diagnosed her as being on the cusp of another episode. They said I’d caught it early because she still had some gut sounds (rabbits gut are meant to be noisy and sign of Gut Stasis is them being quiet or totally silent). By 8pm, she was lethargic, cold, and still hadn’t eaten despite the fact that at the 4pm appointment, the Vet had given her medication injections (including a strong painkiller because sometimes, if rabbits are in pain, this can contribute to their reluctance to eat) that should have worked by that point. As I held her in my arms, she slowly closed her eyes, and I was instantly flooded with the thought ‘she’s going to die in my arms.’ So, I rang the emergency, out-of-hours Vet and the Vet asked me to bring her in for half 9. When we got there, the Nurse couldn’t hear any gut sounds at all and in the end, the Vet said I had three options: admit her to critical care for a lot of medication (including three painkillers but that’s how much pain they thought she was in), send her home with lots of medication, or euthanasia. They gave her a small percentage chance of survival even if I had chosen to try all the medication and I just felt like I couldn’t justify it. I felt like it wasn’t good enough to warrant putting her through the effect that an admission or a lot of medication would have on her. She was put to sleep at around half 10 - just six hours after being told she was on the ‘cusp!’ And this motivates me to use this article to firstly, remind you all of the Gut Stasis article published a short while ago: What Gut Stasis Looks Like: A Guide & Video | Gracie's Way. By the way, after reading this article, there's a video of some of the greatest videos and photos of Evie! Now, having now lost two bunnies within six months, I was desperate to find some sort of light to it; and that is what has inspired this article…

What Helped Other People After Pet Loss? | By Professional Ambassador, Emma Yoxall

 

When a pet dies, people tell me they hear the same well-meaning comments: “They had a good life”, “It was for the best”, “You can always get another one.”

But anyone who has loved an animal knows that losing them is not a small thing. It is devastating, all consuming, and incredibly lonely.

I recently spent time reading through posts and messages on a few pet loss forums, from people who had lost their pets. I noticed the same things coming up again and again. So I wanted to share some of the things that real pet owners said actually helped them through their grief...

A Guide to Nightmares After Pet Loss

 

You were more than just a short time,
And I've got a lot to pine about,
I've got a lot to live without

Taylor Swift – Bigger Than The Whole Sky

The other night was sort of the last straw… You know that saying about ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back?’ Well, since I found my youngest rabbit; Gracie, dead in the sitting room on the morning of November 1^st, 2025, I have – almost – every-night, dreamed of my other rabbit (Luna) and/or my new bunny; Evie, dying too. Every single time, I’ve exclaimed something like ‘oh my God’ in the nightmare and have ended up actually saying it out loud and waking myself up by doing so. Then, nine times out of ten, I’ve also actually found myself crying in real-life too! Well, the other night – when I woke up screaming “not again!” – I think it’s proven to be the last instance in terms of me staying silent and not getting help nor talking – or writing – about it. And, recognising that I won’t be alone in both the element of finding my pet dead, and having the nightmares, I realised that I wouldn’t want others suffering with this in silence and the best way for me to be able to help them, is to talk about my own experiences and use Gracie’s Way as a platform for this content full of tips and advice for both minimising the chance of having these nightmares, and ways to cope with them if/when they do happen…

Day Seven: Series Re-Cap | Tips to Pet Loss Conversations | Dying Matters Awareness Week 2026 | #TheyMatterToo

“Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
Winnie-the-Pooh

Welcome to Day Seven of the Dying Matters Awareness Week 2026 content on Gracie’s Way!

This Awareness Week is led by Hospice UK and this year, the chosen theme is: ‘let’s talk about death and dying’ which stems from the ultimate mission to break down the taboo and stigma of talking about this topic. In response to this, Gracie’s Way has published daily content for the past six days – both on the website and the project’s Instagram: @GraciesWayUK – which provided tips to having helpful pet loss conversations. These tips were for both the bereaved owners and external people too. Today, however, we’re going to re-cap the past six days with some reflection and a look at the feedback related to the Awareness Week content…

Day Six: Keep Talking! | Tips to Pet Loss Conversations | Dying Matters Awareness Week 2026 | #TheyMatterToo

“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”
Mitch Albom

Welcome to Day Six of the Dying Matters Awareness Week 2026 content on Gracie’s Way!

This Awareness Week is led by Hospice UK and this year, the chosen theme is: ‘let’s talk about death and dying’ which stems from the ultimate mission to break down the taboo and stigma of talking about this topic. In response to this, Gracie’s Way will be publishing daily content on both the website and the project’s Instagram: @GraciesWayUK providing tips to having helpful pet loss conversations. These tips are for both the bereaved owners and external people too, so for this final (tomorrow will be a re-cap) tip, we’re discussing the positives and helpfulness – for both parties – of keeping the conversation going…

Day Five: Avoid Avoidance! | Tips to Pet Loss Conversations | Dying Matters Awareness Week 2026 | #TheyMatterToo

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

Winnie-the-Pooh

Welcome to Day Five of the Dying Matters Awareness Week 2026 content on Gracie’s Way!

This Awareness Week is led by Hospice UK and this year, the chosen theme is: ‘let’s talk about death and dying’ which stems from the ultimate mission to break down the taboo and stigma of talking about this topic. In response to this, Gracie’s Way will be publishing daily content on both the website and the project’s Instagram: @GraciesWayUK providing tips to having helpful pet loss conversations. These tips are for both the bereaved owners and external people too, so for the fourth tip, we’re discussing the positives and helpfulness – for both parties – of avoiding anything in the conversation…