Today we're talking to Sieske Valk about the difficult, and often avoided part of pet ownership - the end of their life.

Sieske is an End of Life Doula and an advocate for ageing pets; She guides pet guardians through the autumn of their best friend's life.

Combining a background in veterinary medicine and the social sciences, she has set up Autumn Animals to support people in maintaining a good quality of life for both their pets and themselves and to hold space for celebrating the human-animal bond until the end and beyond. 

In this episode we discuss:

• Why it is so hard for people to end the life of their pets
• What happens when we give attention to the end of a pet’s life?
• What can be done to support the guardian of the pet who is about to die?
• How do we know when it’s time? What signs should you look for?
• Sieske attitude towards death , being Dutch and coming from a Hindu background
• Beautiful stories about letting go of pets - how can a pet have a really good autumn?
• What the process is once people have made the decision to euthanise their pet, and how can it be done in a dignified way
• What are the different ways you can honour the pet after they’ve died?

Sieske and I also met 8 months after the recording with an update on Autumn Animals - I wanted to include this as it's a really interesting discussion about taking a pause from a business venture in order to recharge. This doesn't mean the project is over, it is actually the opposite!

- - -

Sieske's IG: https://www.instagram.com/autumnanimalslondon/

Knowing When to Quit - Instagram - @knowingwhentoquit

Podcast homepage - www.sarahweiler.com/podcast/

Editor - Johnny Hall / Music - Sarah Weiler / Artwork - Tom Pauling

This was recorded in

WANT TO SUPPORT THIS PODCAST? You can buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/sarahweiler

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahweiler.substack.com