Your pet has just died, or will very soon, and you may be reading this through tears, or shock, or a strange numbness that feels wrong. None of these are wrong. This is what the first hours feel like.

Here is what you need to know, in order:

Take your time. You do not need to do anything immediately. If your pet died at home, you can sit with them. Touch them. Talk to them. There is no clock on this. The body will not change significantly in the first several hours.

If they died at a veterinary office, ask for time. Most vets will give you as long as you need in the room. If they do not, that is the wrong vet, but right now, take what you can.

When you are ready for next steps: decide between cremation and burial. Most veterinary offices can arrange cremation. If you want a private cremation with ashes returned, say so explicitly. The default at many practices is communal cremation. If you prefer burial, check your local regulations. In many areas, home burial on your own property is legal.

Call someone. Not because you need to 'be strong for them' or because they need to know, but because you should not be alone with this if you do not want to be. Grief shared is not grief halved, but it is grief witnessed. And being witnessed matters.

Do not make decisions about 'getting another pet' today. Do not let anyone push you toward that conversation. The absence is less than hours old. You are allowed to just be in it.

Eat something. Drink water. These sound trivial, but grief is physical. Your body is in stress. Take care of it the way your pet would want you to. Simply, without judgment.

In the coming days, you will figure out what kind of remembrance feels right. A ceremony. A quiet moment. A ritual. But right now, all you need to do is breathe, and know that what you are feeling is the cost of a love that was real.