Should you get time off from work if your pet dies?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It can feel like you’ve lost a relative.

The death of a pet rarely comes with time off work in Canada to recover emotionally, and many of us wouldn’t even think of asking for it.

But something called “paw-ternity leave” is catching on overseas. The benefit has been offered to about five per cent of employees in the UK.

Our pets are becoming more important to us, so the idea shouldn’t be all that surprising, says Dawn Schooler with Jericho Counselling.

“Some of the research has shown we are spending more on medical care for our animals than we do for our human friends these days,” says Schooler.

“These (human-pet) relationships are deep and meaningful to people and employers who respond by supporting that and caring for those relationships will certainly reap the benefit in terms of employee loyalty and employee happiness at work.”

A tragic fire in Burnaby late Tuesday night at the home of a trainer claimed the lives of 10 pets.

Schooler says after the loss of a pet, a person can feel the same emotions as they would after having lost a relative or other human loved one.

“Relationships and the loss of relationships trigger the same grief response regardless of whether it is a human, an animal, or even a job. And so the response in the human to that loss is actually quite similar across whatever the relationship is.”

Paw-ternity leave in the UK can also be offered after the adoption of a new pet.

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