Grieving Pets
Coping with the death of your pet is simply horrendous.
When a person you love dies, it's natural to feel sorrow, express grief, and expect friends and family to provide understanding and comfort.
But with pets, you don't always get that understanding when they pass away. Some people still don't understand how animals can become part of the family foundation or have an important position in people's lives; unfortunately, a few may not understand why we are grieving over "just a pet."
We all know how much pets mean to most people. People often celebrate their pets' birthdays (we do!), confide in their animals and carry pictures of them in their wallets. So when we lose our beloved pets, it's not unusual to feel overwhelmed by the intensity of our loss.
Pets provide companionship, acceptance, emotional support, and unconditional love. If you understand and accept this bond between humans and pets, you'll understand the kind of emotional loss we go through.
It’s never easy to mourn, and I don’t think there is a wrong or right way to cope with it. I also don’t think it brings them any closer to us at that very moment. The truth is, it’s a hard moment.
Is there any way to make it less painful?
The grief process depends on each person; we all grieve differently. Lasting days for one person and a couple of years for another.
Some pet owners may try bargaining with a higher power... yeah, let’s admit it, we all do that. Some even feel anger, which may be directed at anyone involved with the pet, including family, friends, and primarily veterinarians. Pet owners may also feel guilt about what they did or did not do. When I lost my first dog, I felt absolutely distraught, and it took me a long time to get over it.
After these feelings subside, we experience true sadness or grief, but acceptance soon occurs when we accept the reality of our loss and remember their animal companion with decreasing sadness.
We have two surviving pets: Prince and Yoki.
We lost our little Mason first (Chihuahua). And how we lost him was very traumatic for me. My Mason was mauled by a bigger dog; he died instantly. Until this day, I feel hopeless and guilty for having been at the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought the groomers were a safe place to take our pets to be groomed, but the truth is that some businesses have NO safeguards for that situation.
We started grooming our pets at home; we have all the kits and feel our beloved pets are much safer this way.
Our Prince is getting old, and he’s not quite the same Prince. He’s much more fragile and slower. Unfortunately, some dogs have genetically bad genes. Once they reach a more senior stage, they start with all the conditions of old age. Not even our beloved pets get away with old age or some human conditions. This is painful, but knowing that his illness was expected was somewhat different, but nonetheless still painful. somehow
We had a scare the other day when we thought Prince would die. Still, with so much hope, the vet insisted we say goodbye to our Prince in case he doesn’t make it to the morning. He lay there staring at my mother inside his kennel; fragile and silent Prince still stood up to be held by my mum. The gulp in my throat was unbearable while trying to have a strong front. Our hearts broke then and there. But surprisingly, Prince made it to the next morning and to this current day!! He’s a tough cookie he is! Still having to live on medication, we are still hopeful he will survive longer.
We have two surviving pets left, our Little girl Yoki (Yorkshire terrier) and Prince the Pomeranian,
We don’t know how to tell the kids or how to go about it if one day we lost another. The loss of a pet will be the kid’s first experience with death. (I say this for my son). Children often look for blame or feel guilt and frightened that others they love may be taken from them; this apparently is very common.
Trying to protect my child’s emotions will be me steering in uncharted waters. I think expressing our own grief may reassure the kids that sadness is ok and may help them work through their feelings too.
Usually, before pets pass away, they often express some behaviour in which they refuse to eat or drink or even stop moving; at least, this is what we have experienced in the past and some at present. Give surviving pets lots of TLC and try to maintain a regular routine Is good for them and for you. During these times, surviving pets are also grieving, so acknowledge it and pay close attention to their behaviour. You must be thinking, what? Dogs grieve? Yes, they do.
Be compassionate as they are with us,