Pet Sympathy Gift Basket - Going the Extra Mile

by Lauren K
(Boulder, CO)

When my first pet (Dolly, our thirteen year old Golden Retriever) passed away I was inconsolable. Dolly’s veterinarian was coincidentally a friend of the family. A week later, she brought over a small gift basket to express her condolences.

The basket contained a paperweight that she had made with an imprint of my dog’s paw. She had also obtained a puppy picture of Dolly and had it screened onto a coffee mug. She also included a heartfelt note, expressing how difficult it had been for her to lose her first pet. The reason that this gift meant so much to is because the items in it were so personalized.

I still use both of the items that our vet included in the basket. Every time I drink a cup of coffee out of mug, or look at the precious paperweight sitting on my desk, I smile and recall happy memories with my dog.

In looking at the situation from my veterinarian’s perspective I realize that she wanted to seek a creative way to tell me how sorry she was to hear of my loss. I believe that assembling a gift basket can really be an extra special way to comfort the ones you love in your life (possibly even more so than just writing a thoughtful card).