WESTWOOD - The Rev. Eliza Blanchard asked the dozen women seated in a circle on the floor what symptoms they had experienced because of “compassion fatigue.’’ The women, all caregivers for the sick or dying, listed their teeth-grinding, neck pain, rapid heartbeat, insomnia. One woman said, “Sometimes, I forget to breathe.’’

The others nodded in agreement, and Blanchard added a few more. “You have trouble getting up in the morning. The tank is empty. You don’t care about things you used to care about.’’

As they sat on pillows and blankets, she led them through breathing and yoga exercises. They were in the meditation room of The Center at Westwoods, a nonprofit holistic and spiritual center on 70 pastoral acres in Westwood.

The women’s patients are chronically or terminally ill animals, some of them paralyzed, some elderly, some young. These caregivers are veterinarians, vet technicians, vet tech students, and a pet owner or two.

“Refill the Well’’ is a one-night workshop given by Blanchard, a Unitarian Universalist minister who left the regular ministry because she heard another calling: the voices of animals. Blanchard ministers to animals and their humans through pet loss circles, an All Creatures worship service, and an “Animals Are Us’’ class on human-animal relationships. She is also the chaplain of New England Pet Hospice and visits sick and dying animals and their owners.

At the top of her website, www.animalcarerev.com, Blanchard once posted a quote from writer Anatole France: “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.’’ Her own animal love is a Maltese-Yorkshire terrier mix named Maisie. Blanchard’s son is allergic to animal fur, so she found a breed that is hypo-allergenic.