ClayPaws Kits began with Cora*, a pet parent who requested “something to hold onto” while her dog Mikey* underwent risky surgery at Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital (CSU-VTH). Grief counselors quickly made a crude impression of Mikey’s paw using messy and expensive casting material. Cora was overjoyed with the memento and, when Mikey died a few weeks later, Cora told her veterinarian that Mikey’s paw print was now one of her most treasured possessions.
From that experience, we (the former CSU grief counselors and Co-Founders of World by the Tail, Inc.) perfected the print making process and the tradition of making ClayPaws keepsakes for grieving clients was born. Today, ClayPaws Kits are more than a product–they are a tangible symbol of your veterinary clinic’s heartfelt approach to client care. More than any other gesture, ClayPaws prints let your clients know that the pain of pet loss is truly shared and understood.
*Details are drawn from an actual case, but the names of the client and patient have been changed to protect their privacy.
Check out our “Conversations with a Veterinary Grief Support Expert” Series, featuring Co-Founder, Laurel Lagoni, as she discusses how the field of veterinary grief support began, changed veterinary medicine and led to the creation of ClayPaws Kits.
- Part 1 – About How Her Career in Veterinary Grief Support Began
- Part 2 – About How Veterinary Grief Counseling Began
- Part 3 – About Why Grieving for a Pet May Feel Different
- Part 4 – About Changing the Paradigm of How We Say Goodbye to Our Pets
- Part 5 – About Bond-Centered Care
- Part 6 – About Creating a Grief Support Protocol for Your Hospital
- Part 7 – About the Creation of ClayPaws the Original Paw Print Kit
- Part 8 – About Why ClayPaws Prints are Important to Pet Parents and Pet Caretakers
- Part 9 – About Her Life’s Work of Helping Others Through Their Grief
- Part 10 – About Finding the Joy in Providing Grief Support
