Communicating social support to grieving clients: the veterinarians' view.

This exploratory study examines veterinarians' perceptions of how they offer social support to grieving clients. Because many clients cannot find the social support they would like from other sources when grieving the death of a pet, the role of the vet in offering support becomes increasingly important. The results indicate that vets perceive that they do offer social support; however, they have not been provided with training in how to do so. Limitations to the study and future directions are also discussed.