Person kneeling down to hug a dog in a field

Join us for Pet Memorial Month

Celebrate the life of a special pet this September with events and activities designed to help you find comfort and healing.

With the touch of a paw, the tilt of a head, a soft sigh or purr, our pets communicate so much. The bond we share with them is without compare, and even when they’re gone that bond is never broken.

To pay tribute to this extraordinary connection, Best Friends is offering the events below in September, which we’ve designated as Pet Memorial Month.

Outline of a calendar icon

A month of pet remembrance

No matter where you live, you can honor and celebrate special pets who live eternally in our hearts.

Hand painted memorial rocks
Memorial rock-painting workshop
Best Friends has a tradition of painting memorial stones in honor of animals who have passed. Join us at the Best Friends Mercantile at 2 p.m. MT to create your own. No registration required.
Join Us in Person
Person painting on a table while a cat looks on with interest
Memorial watercolor-painting workshop
Join us at the Best Friends Mercantile at 2 p.m. MT to create a painted memorial to honor the memory of your beloved pet. We’ll provide all instructions and materials. No registration required.
Join Us in Person
Person hugging and kissing a crop-eared pit-bull-type dog in a home
Navigating pet loss virtual talk
Join special guest speakers Patty Hegwood and Dr. Amanda Weiss at 4:30 p.m. MT on September 10 for an Instagram Live discussion. Our experts are here to offer guidance on grieving the loss of a pet.
Watch Live on September 10
Person petting a cat in front of a sunny window
Love Lives On virtual talk
Join Coleen Ellis of Two Hearts Pet Loss Center and Best Friends’ own Patty Hegwood via Zoom on September 16 at 3 p.m. MT for a heartfelt journey celebrating the memories of our beloved pets.
Yes, I Want to Attend
Hand painted memorial rocks
Memorial rock-painting workshop
Best Friends has a tradition of painting memorial stones in honor of animals who have passed. Join us at the Best Friends Mercantile at 2 p.m. MT to create your own. No registration required.
Join Us in Person
Person painting on a table while a cat looks on with interest
Memorial watercolor-painting workshop
Join us at the Best Friends Mercantile at 2 p.m. MT to create a painted memorial to honor the memory of your beloved pet. We’ll provide all instructions and materials. No registration required.
Join Us in Person

Can’t join us on Zoom for Love Lives On? You can still RSVP, and we’ll send you a recording once it’s available. The September 12 memorial watercolor remembrance class will be available via livestream on the Best Friends Instagram page.

Heart with a paw print in the center of it

Remember your pet with a memorial

Remembering and sharing are part of healing — and can help to memorialize the unbreakable bond between you and your pet.

Pet memorial pages offer a digital space where you can create a memorial for your own pet or a grieving pet lover in your life, pay tribute to a cherished animal, or leave a virtual token of remembrance for a friend or loved one’s pet to show your sympathy and support.

Create a Memorial

When you create a memorial, your pet will also be remembered in an upcoming monthly blessing at Angels Rest, a final resting place for beloved animals here at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

To have your tribute included in this month’s blessing, submit your pet memorial by September 22. Memorial pages submitted after September 22 will be included in the October blessing. 

Attend a monthly blessing

These blessing ceremonies are a longstanding Best Friends tradition, honoring and celebrating special pets who are gone from our lives but not from our hearts.

You can view past blessings here.


Join us for a special blessing on September 26

As part of Pet Memorial Month, you are also invited to join us at Angels Rest for a special annual blessing on September 26 at 4 p.m. MT to celebrate the profound effect that pets have on our lives. If you can’t attend in person, we’ll post the recording on our Facebook  and YouTube pages the following week.

Other meaningful ways to remember your pet

There are several ways to pay tribute to the memory of a cherished pet, and each one can provide comfort while bringing love and care to animals around the country.

If you’d like to pay tribute to your pet or the pet of a loved one, wind chimes can be sent directly to you. 

Or you can choose to have wind chimes, a memorial brick, or a marker placed at Angels Rest or Angels Overlook here at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary — one of the most beautiful settings on Earth in which to memorialize our treasured animals.

Wind chimes at Angels Rest

Wind chimes

The soothing sounds of wind chimes can comfort and calm a heart that’s hurting.
Order wind chimes
Close up of memorial brick

Memorial bricks

An engraved brick is an enduring memorial for a pet or person who has passed.
Order a brick
Flagstone marker

Flagstone marker

These beautiful markers celebrate the lasting impact a pet has had on your life.
Order a marker

For information about requesting a placement for your pet at Angels Rest, please contact angelsrest@bestfriends.org or download a PDF of our brochure. 


Coping with pet loss

Grief over the passing of a pet is very real, but when you’re ready, there are paths to healing that can help you cope with the grief and sadness. 

Remembering and sharing are a part of the grieving process. To share memories and photos of your pet, create a memorial page. If you’re not ready to create a page, you can help homeless pets waiting to live their best lives with a gift in memory of your special pet. 

 

Best Friends Animal Society logo mark

About Best Friends

Here at Best Friends, home to the largest no-kill companion animal sanctuary in the country, we know that grief can arrive when we least expect it. But so too do the hope and healing that come from remembering those we love.

Best Friends is home to the country’s largest no-kill companion animal sanctuary, and we understand the special place that pets have in our lives.

Angels Rest is a serene place of remembrance at the heart of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary where hundreds of wind chimes ring in memory of beloved pets, carried on the soft breezes of Angel Canyon. It’s where memorial stones — with their touching tributes and keepsakes — pay tribute to the love we hold for our dogs, cats, and other companions.

We’re working to bring love home for dogs and cats all across the country, giving homeless pets the chance to live their best lives — and you can make a tremendous difference. Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill in 2025. Together, we will Save Them All.