A pet owner stricken by the death or serious illness of a pet has a shoulder to lean on with the Pet Loss Support Hotline, founded by the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine.

“Callers often express that they feel more upset about losing their pet than they did when a parent or a friend has passed away,” said Shawna Greene, hotline coordinator. “Volunteers at the hotline are trained to handle situations like these and to reassure callers that what they are going through is completely normal.”

Although many of the 50 volunteers are veterinarians and vet med students, they are not allowed to give callers medical advice, said Lori Sample, hotline volunteer.

“We are just there to listen and sometimes help with people facing the decision of euthanasia,” said Sample, sophomore in veterinary medicine. “Most callers just need to discuss feelings and concerns.”

Greene, junior in veterinary medicine, said the Pet Loss Support Hotline is a non-profit, toll-free hotline staffed entirely by volunteers.

It was the first toll-free pet loss hotline and remains one of the few available today. The costs of running the hotline are covered by donations from callers, private donors and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The hotline was founded in March 1997, Sample said, and is in operation seven days a week from 6-9 p.m. During off hours, calls are forwarded to a voice-mail system, and calls are then returned. Sample said the hotline receives between seven and 10 calls per week from all over the country.

The program is dedicated to the memory of Krista Rankin and Dr. Loren Will. Rankin, a veterinary medicine student, was “very active in the college and dedicated to the formation of the Pet Loss Support Hotline,” until her untimely death in 1996, Greene said. Will, a professor of veterinary medicine, was the adviser and mentor to the hotline until the time of his death two years ago.

“He was very involved in getting the hotline off of the ground and running smoothly,” Greene said.

Anyone who is willing to go through training is welcome to volunteer. Training sessions involve interaction with other volunteers, as well as some special training from a certified counselor associated with the hotline, she said.

Greene said she became involved with the hotline because she wanted to be able to help family, friends and her future clients deal with the loss of a pet.

The function of the hotline is not an area of veterinary medicine that is widely addressed by most veterinary schools, but it is one she said she finds extremely important.

“Many of the calls we get at the hotline are in respect to the way the caller was treated by their veterinarian or how an euthanasia procedure was performed,” Greene said. “By learning from these experiences from callers, we can then work to become better listeners, friends, family members and veterinarians.”

The hotline volunteers not only provides the caller with a listening ear, but they also provide support packages that contain poems and pet loss articles dealing with loss and grieving. Upon special request, hotline volunteers also send information about grieving in children and other animals, Greene said.

Anyone who is dealing with the loss or serious illness of a pet can contact the Pet Loss Support Hotline at 1-888-ISU-PLSH or at visit the Web site at www.vetmed.iastate.edu/animals/petloss.