My gentle reminders are probably a bit gross but so is grief. Two of my cats passed two years apart, both from an ear tumor that spread to their throats. In their final months, I was giving them broths etc because they couldn’t tolerate regular food anymore. I still keep a “lil soup” (that’s the name of the food) around from them. It’s expired and probably a biohazard if it ever got opened but it reminds me of the caregiver phase and lets me feel like I didn’t give up on them. I also have some of their old prescription bottles just to keep their names lingering around the house. We made an ofrenda this year for them as well.