Caregiver Burden and Our Animal Companions, Spring 2026 PetConnections Magazine
Diagnosis and care for our cats with chronic and end-of-life conditions has expanded along with our knowledge and experience of their behavior. It’s also given us a new and sometimes unsettling part of our relationship with them, a critical caregiver where their health, and sometimes their continued existence, depends on us, giving us many more decisions to make. Animal behavior expert Zazie Todd, PhD published an article discussing a study of the effect of “caregiver burden,” usually associated with caregiving to human relatives or friends, on animal caregivers, and that the effects are much the same on animal caretakers. I’ve had a lot of experience with that lately, and I know from conversations many others have as well, and I’ve also given care to human loved ones, so this one really resonated. I was able to add a comment from her for this article, as well as a comment from Elizabeth Babcock, LCSW, who has some specialty in pet loss issues and has also experienced her own losses, who I met through a Pet Memorial Sunday ceremony where she presented on the nature of grief, to round out the topic.
Caregiving For Your Animal Companion, and For Yourself
Read “Caregiving For Your Animal Companion, and For Yourself” in the Spring 2026 issue of PetConnections Magazine on pages 2 and 3 along with a big selection of other articles about pets and other animals, lists of animal-oriented events and services, and information about veterinary and animal care services in the Pittsburgh region.
- on the PetConnections website home page (look for the icon for the Spring 2026 issue)
- in the online issue of the magazine on ISSUU.
You can also find my updated Cat Resource Guide on page 22-23 listing low-cost spay/neuter, vaccine and care options in the Pittsburgh area and links to search other areas, and read other articles about pets and other topics focused on the human-animal bond.
You can also find the latest cat resources on the resources page on this site.
Cover Girls
And when you get there you just might recognize the woman and cat on the cover…what a sweet memory
Read other published articles.
Gifts featuring cats you know! Visit Portraits of Animals
Fine Art • Photography • Gifts • Greeting Cards • Books • Commissioned Portraits & Artwork
Great Rescues Day Book:
Portraits, Rescue Stories, Holidays and Events, Essential Feline Information, All in One Book
Each month features one of my commissioned portraits of a feline or felines and their rescue story along with a kitty quote on the left page, and on the right page the month name with enough lines for all possible dates, with standard holidays and animal-themed observances and events. Great Rescues also includes a mini cat-care book illustrated with my drawings including information on finding strays or orphaned kittens, adopting for the first time or caring for a geriatric cat, a list of household toxins and toxic plants, or helping stray and feral cats and beginning with TNR.
Each book includes also 10 sheets of my “22 Cats” decorative notepaper with a collage of all the portraits in black and white so you can make your own notes or write special notes to friends.
The portraits in this book, collected as a series, won both a Certificate of Excellence and a Muse Medallion in the 2011 Cat Writers’ Association Annual Communication Contest, as well as the 22 Cats Notepaper mentioned below.
Copyright
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.
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© 2009-2025 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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I have had many animals and all have passed on except one. It’s never easy knowing when is the right time to simply say the animal has had enough. As one of my favorite vets said, when the body has quit but the mind doesn’t know it yet, let them go.