What is a veterinary chaplain?

Let’s first start with who a chaplain is and what they do –

“They are trained to meet persons and communities in moments of pain and crisis. They advocate and accompany. They bring a quality of presence and care to persons at various life stages and in situations of crisis. While there is no commonly agreed-upon definition of the role or responsibilities of chaplains in the United States and beyond, chaplains themselves offer powerful testimonies to the work that they do…

They develop skills of deep listening, of advocacy, of bridging community, and of navigating conflict that set them apart from other care providers.”

Chaplaincy in the 21st Century*

In essence, chaplains are highly trained people who meet others in the stream of life. Many chaplains receive training to support a variety of religious and spiritual faiths and traditions to better care for the spirit/soul of the ones they serve. Additionally, many chaplains serve a specific setting: military, law enforcement, hospitals, etc…

What is veterinary chaplaincy then?

Veterinary chaplaincy builds from this deep tradition to provide care for the human-animal bond in the veterinary field. It is a particularly difficult decision to determine when euthanasia is the appropriate course of care, one that is not usually explored at this time with humans. People can also experience stigma surrounding the loss of a companion animal. Add to this a lack of rituals for the passing of an animal, and there is a deep need for compassion and connectivity in this particular loss.

Veterinary chaplaincy seeks to affirm the bonds held between animals and humans in creation. It seeks to assure the loss is real, and the grief felt is a normal part of the human experience. It also seeks to find ways of honoring the relationship that are meaningful for those who are touched by the loss.

*Cadage, Wendy, and Shelly Rambo, eds. Introduction. In Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the Twenty-First Century: An Introduction, 13–14. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2022.