Australians love to have pets in their homes. In fact, Australia has one of the world’s highest rates of pet ownership with 36 percent of households owning a dog and 23 percent owning a cat.

A study by the Animal Health Alliance showed 63 percent of Australian households own pets with most of them owning dogs and cats. It is estimated that the country currently has 33 million pets.

With this reality, the demand for homes including apartments and strata properties that allow pets has been growing in recent years. A 2011 survey found that more than 60 percent of tenants choose a rental property that is pet-friendly. This is regardless if they own a pet or not at the time they’re house hunting.

The Petcare Information and Advisory Service (PIAS) also confirmed in its research that there’s a high level of demand for pet-friendly housing in the country including strata properties. Pet-friendly strata properties attract more people, enjoy lower turnover rates and high profitability.

Unfortunately, not all rental properties permit tenants to own pets. In Australia, less than 10 percent of rental properties claim to be pet friendly.

There’s increased awareness, however, on the part of developers and investors with regards to this increasing demand for apartments that allow pets. Experts are also seeing a rise of this trend particularly among the elderly who may be widowed or separated and are seeking the companionship of animals.

Benefits of Owning Pets

Having pets in the home brings a lot of benefits to people regardless of their status. Pets contribute to creating healthy neighbourhoods and they give people a sense of community. Additionally, they encourage interaction between neighbours.

Raising pets also teach children responsibility in caring for animals and it gives people the opportunity to be kind. All this then can lead to achieving personal happiness that often results from the expression of kindness.

The Petcare Information and Advisory Service (PIAS) also revealed that pet owners normally have lower blood pressure, better mental health and a satisfying home life. Additionally, communities where pets exist have lower crime rates and are often perceived as a friendly area.

Be sure to check the property by-laws from your landlord before you bring an animal to your rental unit. Keep in mind that a breach of contract can mean a fine for you hence, it’s best to always follow the rules. Strata properties have pet application forms that help apartments that may welcome pets or are considering allowing pets. They are also a way to help people living in those properties be more responsible pet owners and tenants.

Animal Loss and Pet Bereavement Counselors

When the grief of losing an animal is too difficult to take, many people turn to specialist animal loss counselors. A specialist animal grief counselor is someone who is experienced and skilled in helping those who are deeply affected by the loss of their loyal friend. The loss of any animal may be hard for people to work through simply because they may not understand it themselves or cannot process how life changes after the Passing of an animal to rainbow bridge. There is also the factor of how others view your grief.

Although most people do think of their animals as part of the family nowadays, it is only a few lucky people who have friends and family who can truly be as loving and sympathetic as if they had lost a human member of the family. Many people feel as if they have to grieve alone simply because people around them do not understand the trauma that one goes through when a your loyal and faithful friend passes. There is also the problem that people do not think they should show as much emotion when an animal dies as when a human dies, because they are afraid people will think they are taking it too hard or worse yet, are crazy.

Animal bereavement counselors show people that it is completely normal to show as much grief over losing an animal as a human family member. As with human grief there are very specific stages of grief that people have to work through in order to feel whole again and that is what pet bereavement counseling does for you; it helps you understand each stage and work through it to come out more positively in the end.

There is denial that the animal is sick and dying, shock when the animal dies, anger towards others who do not understand what you are going through and guilt because they feel as if they didn’t do enough or if there was just one more thing that could have helped the animal. Without the support in friends and family these stages of grief can be very difficult to work through alone.

The Benefits of Pet Loss Bereavement Counseling

Pet Bereavement Counselors work with individuals to help sort out the many feelings that are involved in the passing of a pet. They help to deal with the feelings of being overly sentimental or feeling just as sad as if you lost a child. They teach you how to accept that you lost someone who spent a significant period of time in your life which most people do not understand. They were with you when you got your first job, met and married your spouse, had your first child, etc. Counselors talk you through each positive aspect of your life that your pet was your companion for and they allow you to see your pet as an important part of your life.

Other benefits of this type of counseling are learning each stage of grief and literally walking you through them as you feel them. You work out each aspect of the grief by showing your anger, expressing your guilt, and finally allowing you to feel your depression. By being as honest as you can about your feelings you can not only examine them but come to terms with them which in turn will lead to acceptance. Locking away the grief does not help it to dissipate or go away; by talking to pet bereavement counselors you express it by crying, screaming, talking or doing whatever you need to do to get to a better place where you can look back and only see the great years that you had with your loyal friend and life sharer.

How Pet Bereavement Counselors Help to Cope with the Grief

Either by going to a specialist grief counselor or doing an intensive pet bereavement course workshop you can become more mindful of how you actually felt about your pet. Many people know they love them but are unaware of how deep that love actually went. counselors help you look back at how the pet came into your life, what favorite activities you did together that now seem so hard, and what important moments in life you went through together and most importantly, how they made you feel. Overall, you begin to understand the sadness you feel without pressures to just “get over it” as some human companions may want you to do.

Coping with the grief also includes learning how losing a pet is similar and different in some ways to losing a family member. Pet loss is so often not appreciated by others who have not experienced it which can make it even harder on those who have lost a pet. There is an assumption that it won’t hurt as much, but the fact is, that it does hurt as much and to some even more. It can be just as devastating, if not more because of the unconditional love that a pet brings to someone’s life. If you are having trouble getting through the grief that you feel when losing a pet, a pet bereavement counselor can help you immensely to feel the pain you need to feel and to eventually reach the other side where you will feel a sense of closure and happiness just knowing how lucky you were to have your pet in your life.