The Pain Of Losing Your Pet

We all know what it is like to go through a period of grief. When a family member dies or a loved one leaves you, it takes time to accept it. But what if your pet leaves you? The pain of losing your pet is a topic that people don’t talk about much.

People who have never experienced the love of an animal do not understand what that means either, and so they think it is an exaggeration to grieve. Unfortunately, this often means that the suffering person also has to deal with their unaccepted pain. Cats, dogs, rabbits, turtles … they are not just animals. When you adopt them, they become part of the family.

A pain that is seldom recognized

If you’ve ever experienced the pain of losing a pet, you may have run into people who say things like, “It was just an animal, just get a new one.”

Or are you even the one who thinks like that? Unfortunately, this “comforting phrase” does little to help the person who has lost their most loyal friend. Imagine going to a funeral and saying the same thing about a baby that just died. So it doesn’t make sense to say, “Don’t worry, you can get a new one.”

Many people still underestimate the emotional consequences of losing a pet. In fact, there are many people who don’t even feel bad or even empathize when a friend experiences this type of loss. The topic is rarely discussed because it is irrelevant to them.

Cry over the loss

When you’re going through the loss of a loved one, a funeral can help ease the pain a bit. Because it brings you together with the people you need right now. With the support of your family, the act of burying or cremating that person in an honorable manner allows for a dignified farewell that can bring you some well-being.

These rituals create an atmosphere in which the pain can be expressed and shared. But are there funerals for pets?

How Many People Would Attend a Pet’s Funeral? Today, many people still underestimate the pain of losing their dear animal friend.

There are crematoriums and cemeteries for animals, but saying goodbye to your hairy friend in public is in no way like what we do with humans. But that also gives you a certain freedom: There is no protocol that dictates how you should say goodbye to your dog, your cat, your turtle.

Feelings of guilt and pain from losing a pet

Not saying goodbye to your pet properly can prolong the process of grief.  This is especially true if you feel guilty about her death. Maybe your pet has had health issues and you feel bad for not taking better care of them or paying more attention to them. These are just examples of thoughts that might cross your mind.

But the main reason people feel guilty for the death of their pets is because of euthanasia. It is controversial in human medicine, but one of the options that is very often chosen to alleviate animal suffering. Nobody needs to feel guilty for putting an end to the pain of their loved one and giving them a dignified death. On the contrary: This decision requires courage and much more love than prolonging the suffering because you don’t want to say goodbye yourself just yet.

In every way, support is essential in order to come to terms with the grief. Allowing the person to express their suffering in words will help them validate themselves and manage the pain. So it doesn’t stay like a small stone in your shoe that digs into the skin piece by piece.

Never deny your pain over the death of a pet. The only possible result of this would be persistent, increasing pain.

A new pet?

If you are in the early stages of grief, you may not be ready for a new pet. It is normal for you to feel like you are betraying the memory of whoever left when you allow another animal to take its place. It’s not good for the new pet either.

People who have suffered such a great loss need affection. You need time to talk, be silent, be angry with the world, and ask questions. But what they need most is a helping hand as they move from one period of grief to the next. So long to integrate the experience into their lives and can consciously decide whether to make a new pet a new home. Nobody can take that of the deceased friend.