Losing a pet is a real loss, and the grief that follows is real grief. Pets are companions who offer a kind of unconditional presence that's hard to find anywhere else, and when they die, the absence is felt throughout the texture of daily life: the mornings, the routines, the particular quiet they leave behind.
What makes this grief harder is how often it goes unvalidated. People around you may not understand the depth of what you're feeling, and you might find yourself minimizing the loss to avoid explaining it. In therapy, you don't have to justify your grief or defend its size. The work might involve moving through the loss at your own pace, processing any guilt around end-of-life decisions, or finding ways to honour the relationship while beginning to adapt to life without them.