People who grieve for a Pet

Owning a pet is a source of great joy to the owner, and over the years, there is a lot of fun and happiness shared between the pet and its owner. However, a sad fact is that the life of a pet is usually much shorter than that of a human being. This brings us to the grim reality that we are likely to see the demise of our pets, perhaps many, during a lifetime. Thus, grieving for pets that have passed on becomes part and parcel of owning a pet.

Max

Take the case of Max, a magnificent German shepherd who met with an untimely death. The owners were an un-named couple with two small children, and the case was reported by Animal League Welfare Australia (AWLA). The family plodded on with their daily life, each one plagued with their own personal grief, still in shock over the “cruel and so unexpected” death.
“For more than a week, an erratic autumn wind blew ancient tufts of discarded fur out of Max’s kennel and sent them rolling like tumbleweed through our open back door. The house felt empty and silent; the back yard looked unnecessary and unkempt; murky rainwater and grit formed sludge at the bottom of Max’s food bowl.”
The children’s reaction to the event was the most heartrending, with one of them asking their parents,” “Why did Max die, daddy?’’ …“Are we going to die too, mummy?’’

Red

Joe Yonan, a food and travel editor for Washington Post, writes about grieving for his seven year old Doberman, Red. The dog was diagnosed with pneumonia, and had been prescribed a course of antibiotics by the vet who felt that the animal would respond. On that fateful day, Joe gave Red a dose of medicine and left for work at 1.00 pm. He returned home at night to find his dog gone. It was a shock that Joe has not really recovered from, even to this day.
Joe states that although he is no stranger to death, after having suffered the death of his father and sister, but in this case he says, “…much to my distress, the death of my dog seems even harder. I haven’t felt grief quite like this since, well, the death of my previous dog five years ago.”

Guilt Factor

These two case studies bring to the light the fact that, people who grieve for a pet often grieve more than for a human being. In a study, the journal Society and Animals stated that the death of a pet can be ““just as devastating as the loss of a human… far more intense, or just about the same.”
This leads to the issue of guilt about grieving more for an animal than for a pet, but this is natural, say therapists, and there is nothing to feel guilty about.
Sandra Barker, director, Centre for  Human-Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University sums this all up best by saying that unlike human beings who have endless conflicts and complications in relationships, the relationship between a pet and their owner is pure and simple, “they’re just happy you’re there…(which) can make it especially hard to lose them.”