MU College of Veterinary Medicine - Research and Graduate Studies
Menu
  • About the College
      • Administration
      • Academic Departments
      • Accreditation Information
      • History of the College of Veterinary Medicine
      • The D.V.M. – The Dean’s Video Message
      • College Service Units
      • Our Location and Facilities
      • CVM Pride Points
      • Employment
      • CVM Organizational Chart
      • Schedule a College Visit
      • Zalk Veterinary Medical Library
      • College Contacts
      • CVM News
      • CVM Faculty, Staff and Student Accolades
    • Close
  • Prospective Students
      • ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
        • Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program
        • BS in Animal Sciences and DVM Degrees
        • BS in Microbiology Degree
        • MPH/Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program
        • Biomedical Sciences Graduate Studies
        • Masters of Public Health Degree Program (MPH)
        • Veterinary Pathobiology Graduate Studies
        • Veterinary Medicine & Surgery Graduate Studies
        • Online Graduate (Masters) Degree Program
        • Online Undergraduate Courses in Biomedical Science
        • Veterinary Technician Training Programs
      • ACADEMIC PREPARATION (DVM Program)
        • Academic Preparation in High School
        • Academic Preparation as an Undergraduate
        • Early Acceptance Programs
      • ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS (DVM Program)
        • Application Requirements
        • Course Prerequisites for the DVM Program
        • Important Application Dates
        • Standardized Test Information
        • Letters of Recommendation
      • ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
        • Nonacademic Preparation
        • Financial Aid
        • Missouri Residency Requirements
        • Transfer Request Information
        • Evaluation of Applicants & Selection Process
        • Characteristics of the Average CVM Student
        • Schedule a College Visit
        • Contact the Admissions Office
    • Close
  • Current Students
    • CALENDARS
      • CVM Academic Calendar
      • Student Schedules
      • Veterinary Health Center
      • Facility Calendars
      • Student Event Calendar
      • Class of 2022
      • Class of 2023
      • Class of 2024
      • INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES
        • CVM Course Listings
        • Clinical Elective Courses
        • Consent Electives Off/On Campus
        • Evalue Academic Program
        • Course Materials
        • Clinical Competency Reporting
        • ADA Accommodations Policy
        • Using the Lockdown Browser
        • AT Sets
    • PRECEPTORSHIPS AND EXTERNSHIPS
      • General Information About Preceptorships
      • Preceptorship/Internship Evaluation Form
      • Reimbursement for Food Animal Experiences
      • CVM RESOURCES
        • Anonymous Comment Box
        • Student Absence Notification
        • Vet Med Ovations
        • Student Counseling and Support Service
        • Student Handbook
        • Didactic Student Bite/Injury Packet
        • CVM Identification Badges
        • Ross & St. George’s Students
        • Information Technology Unit
        • Financial Aid
        • Student Organizations
        • CVM Bookstore
        • Class Officers and Student Committee Assignments
        • Photo Composites
        • Research and Graduate Studies
        • Veterinary Research Scholars Program
        • Masters of Public Health Program
        • Zalk Veterinary Medical Library
        • CVM Faculty, Staff and Student Accolades
    • LICENSING INFORMATION
      • Professional Licensing Information
      • North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE)
      • Missouri Veterinary Medical Board
      • MU RESOURCES
        • MU Inclement Weather Policies
        • Resources for Remote and Online Instruction
        • Injury/Damage Form
        • MyZou
        • MU Transcripts
        • MU Title IX Office
        • Email Directory
        • Event Calendar
        • Civility, You, and Mizzou
    • Close
  • Alumni and Friends
    • ALUMNI RESOURCES
      • Transcripts
      • Consent and Authorization to Release Information
      • Continuing Education
      • Giving to the CVM
    • COLLEGE RESOURCES
      • Employment
      • Veterinary Job Board
      • Post a Veterinary Job
      • Schedule a College Visit
      • CVM Bookstore
      • Zalk Veterinary Medical Library
      • CVM Career Center
    • SPECIAL EVENTS
      • Gentle Doctor Benefit
      • CVM Annual Open House
    • Close
  • Faculty and Staff
      • CALENDARS
        • CVM Academic Calendar
        • Veterinary Health Center
        • Facility Calendars
        • Student Event Calendar
      • INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES
        • Student Schedules
        • Course Materials
        • Course Listings
        • ADA Accommodations Policy
        • Information for Instructional Leaders
        • ADA Resources for Instructors
        • Clinical Competency Reporting
        • Instructions for New Course Proposals
        • MoCAT System for Teaching Evaluations
        • Clinical Elective Courses
        • Evalue Academic Program
      • MU RESOURCES
        • MU Inclement Weather Policies
        • Resources for Remote and Online Instruction
        • MyZou
        • MU Transcripts
        • MU Title IX Office
        • Email Directory
        • Event Calendar
        • Travel Expense Form
        • Civility, You, and Mizzou
      • CVM RESOURCES
        • Anonymous Comment Box
        • Photo Composites
        • Vet Med Ovations
        • CVM Faculty, Staff and Student Accolades
        • CVM Identification Badges
        • Committee Assignments and Minutes
        • Continuing Education
        • Emergency Action Plans
        • CVM Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines
        • General Faculty Meeting Minutes
        • Student Handbook
        • Consent and Authorization to Release
        • Disaster Preparedness
        • AVMA Documents & Outcome Assessments
        • CVM Bookstore
        • Zalk Veterinary Medical Library
        • Mental Health Resources
        • CVM Maintenance Work Request Portal
    • Close
  • Research and Graduate Studies

MU’s Fifth Annual Companion Animal Memorial Event: Helping Move through Mourning to Memories

The animal-human bond is strong. Receiving unconditional love is a singular experience.

Francesca Tocco
Francesca Tocco

Many people consider their pet a member of the family. Time spent with a companion animal may have been the highlight of every day. Losing the love offered by animals can be heartbreaking. The house never seemed so quiet. The days never seemed so empty. Pets are so dependent on people, that just the disruption of the daily routine of caring for them can leave a hole not just in the schedule, but a hole in one’s life.

And sadness may linger. There is no timetable for mourning a loss, but MU’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has a program that can help bereaved pet owners move through the grieving process, help them cope, and help them heal.

*****

The offices and treatment rooms in the Veterinary Health Center teem with clinicians, residents and interns, students and staff who are dedicated to healing animals, from pets to livestock.

Francesca Tocco’s job is different. Tocco, who holds a master’s degree in social work, attends to human needs in a veterinary setting. She is there to help people who shared their lives with pets, and those pets have now lost their lives. She helps people move through the grieving process.

Tocco wears many hats, and their common fashion is compassion. She’s a veterinary social worker, a grief counselor, and coordinator for the TIGER program: Together In Grief, Easing Recovery.

She hosts Pet Loss Support and Grief Group meetings, from 6 to 8 p.m. every other Monday, in the CVM’s Adams Conference Center. And, for the past five years, she has presented an annual Companion Animal Memorial Event on behalf of the VHC and the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction. This year’s memorial will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 18 in the Adams Conference Center, 1600 E. Rollins St., Columbia.

*****

“The grief program helps to normalize the loss of a companion animal,” Tocco says. “For pet guardians whose animal is not just a pet but a friend, a companion, a family member, a loved one, it’s very difficult when that companion passes away.”

Frequently, these bereaved guardians have a sense of surprise and even shame at the stinging grief they feel for their pet. And, those feelings can often be difficult to fathom for those around them.

“With the range of personalities in society, not everybody understands that deep sense of loss,” Tocco offers. “The people in your life — at your place of employment, or where you go to school, or even within your circle of friends and family members— they’re only human, so they may not always understand. And so, trying to find a safe space where it’s OK to talk about it can be a struggle.

“In our support group, or at our memorial event, we help to normalize or validate their feelings, to support them, and to be there for them,” she said.

Many of those grieving guardians find that sharing their suffering with others who grieve helps to ease the burden they carry.

Talking about a loss can give reality to something so seemingly unexplainable, so unacceptable. The bereaved can gain perspective on their own pain as they console and commiserate with other souls who understand. The fellowship can help stem an overwhelming flood of emotions by giving them meaning.

“Sometimes, it’s just about having someone to share the stories with, or to look at the pictures with,” Tocco stated. “It’s remembering when you adopted them, how you picked their name, what their favorite activity was, and having someone who actually wants to hear that, someone that doesn’t feel it’s a burden.”

*****

“At the memorial event, we ask people to bring mementos if they feel comfortable, and it’s fascinating to see the range of items that people bring, the pieces of those lives that come out,” Tocco says.

“Usually at the end, there’s some time built in so that people can go to the memento table, and look through those items and sort of interact with one another,” she continues. “You hear, ‘Where did you take that picture,’ ‘Why did you bring her collar,’ or ‘Why is there a squeaky rubber chicken up here?’

“People may be sad, because it’s a memorial event and they are allowed to openly grieve, but you see them smile as they tell the story about the squeaky rubber chicken,” Tocco said. “It’s really amazing.

Before time writes tragedy, it pens many happy memories, and a community built on sorrow can begin to understand that memories are not about the past, but about the future.

“People arrive as strangers, but leave as friends, or as acquaintances who share a common experience,” Tocco ventures. “That doesn’t really happen in humanity every day at such a non-surface level, and so it’s really amazing to watch people who may think they have nothing in common leave a shared space after a couple of hours thinking, ‘I’m not alone.’”

The D.V.M. – The Dean’s Video Message

https://player.vimeo.com/video/511253511?loop=0

Weekly Continuing Education

Opportunities for Missouri Veterinarians and Technicians
View the Seminar Schedule
Online CE Opportunities

Vet Med Online

Vet Tech Program
Undergrad/Pre-Vet Electives
Graduate Program
Course Permission Numbers

CVM Communications

Director of Communications
Tracey Berry
W205 Vet Med Bldg
Columbia, MO 65211
(573)884-2215

Giving to the MU College of Veterinary Medicine

Giving to the College of Veterinary MedicineThe MU College of Veterinary Medicine is Missouri’s only institution that confers the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. Thank you for exploring how you can partner with us to make a positive difference in the lives of animals and people.

Whether your interest in supporting our mission to teach, heal, discover and serve is inspired by care your pet received, the desire to help less fortunate animals and their families, an interest in helping the next generation of veterinarians pursue their dreams, or the wish to be a part of a medical breakthrough, we are grateful for your thoughtful consideration. We have many programs that will benefit from additional financial support.

Learn more about how your gift can help the College of Veterinary Medicine.

BIOMED Online

In addition to the four-year professional curriculum leading to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree, the college offers a variety of online (BIOMED) courses. Courses serve as electives for other degree programs, a component to the online health science and bachelor of general studies degrees, as partial requirements in the MU Pre-veterinary Medicine Scholars Program, and to earn either a thesis or non-thesis master’s degree. BIOMED courses are also recommended electives in meeting the requirements to apply for a DVM program.

University of Missouri Veterinary Online Programs/BIOMED Online

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS

Biomedical Sciences
Veterinary Pathobiology
Veterinary Medicine and Surgery

Contact

CVM Director of Communications
CVM Webmaster
College Contacts
(573) 882-3554

FOLLOW

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

RESOURCES

College News
Online Graduate (Masters) Degree Program
Online Undergraduate Courses in Biomedical Science
Undergraduate Microbiology Program
Information Technology Unit
Zalk Veterinary Medical Library
Employment Opportunities
College Contacts
Student Financial Aid
Student Handbook
CVM Academic Calendar
CVM Bookstore

VETERINARY HEALTH CENTER

Emergencies
Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab
Our Location
Client and RDVM Portal
Pharmacy Services
Make an Appointment
Online Bill Pay
Small Animal Hospital
Equine Hospital
Food Animal Hospital
Information for Referring Veterinarians
VHC Wentzville
VHC at Kansas City

OUR LOCATION

Click to open a larger map

© 2019 — Curators of the University of Missouri. All rights reserved. DMCA and other copyright information.
An equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer. Disability Resources