Advice on how to cope with losing a pet
Hi everyone,
I wonder if anyone might be able to help me with some advice on how best to cope with losing a beloved pet? I have a pet memorial website (ImmortalPets.com) and I wish to make sure I give people that come to my site the best advice I can.
I think the best way of doing this is to ask people how they manage to cope with dealing with pet loss themselves, so if you can let me know any advice you may have, it would be of great help to the people who visit my site and are in distress.
Thank you very much!
Thank you for your kind comment on the website and for your reply :)
I totally agree with you - it seems that most pet lovers do indeed regard losing a pet just like they had lost a human member of their family. Personally I found it comforting to know that I was not alone in feeling such strong emotions for my pet, so it is good to see you brought up that same subject.
It might be helpful for me to stress on the site that people are indeed not alone in feeling that their pet is as much a part of the family as a human family member, and as such they should feel no shame in mourning as they would for a human.
Thank you again for your input!
SHADYLADY SISTER:
I lost my rabbit and i havent got over his death. there is not a day that goes by i done think about him. I think you can never get over a pet because every day somthing happens that reminds me of my little buzz. I have never got over the loss of him. And i fell angry at my self because i only got one picture of him in the space of a week. here it is.
R.I.P BUZZ
I am so sorry to hear about Buzz :cry: He looks like such a lovely rabbit.
I too feel exactly the same way about my cat Bracken. Indeed, that was why I made my website in the first place - because I couldn't just "move on" like everyone was expecting me to, and I wanted to have a place to remember her online.
I think it is very important that we don't forget, and that we do all we can to support each other in the difficult times!
I don't think we ever forget them, I did a homecheck recently and they had lost their gorgeous Lab at Xmas to cancer, she said that it left a huge Doggie shape hole in her heart. Totally understand where she was coming from
It is so sad to hear the stories of people losing pets and the pain they go through, but at the same time I do feel it is important that we talk about these things, so that we feel we are not alone.
Thank you SO much for your replies!
my gerbil Retro died at four months, and i only got about 5 pics of him. i always put off changing the battery in the camera and i really regret it. i also regert falling asleep about two in the morning when i should have been holding him. i put him in a box as soon as he died so he didnt get wet with my tears... i havent got over him really because Bruce hasnt been the same since the loss of his brother. its hard at first, but i feel the best way to get over a pet is to remember the good times and have a real good cry... for a day... or two... or 102!!!! :cry: :cry: :cry:
i agree it is like losing a member of your family. when my cat Tibby died unexpectedly at 18 months old I was devastated, crying non stop for 2 weeks and I was a mess at work. some people were understanding whereas others like family members said "it was just a cat". She wasnt just a cat to me, she was my friend. it really annoyed me that people could make such comments, they should have respect for your feelings regardless of how important they think a cat (or whatever animal) is.
great website, lovely to see you have set something like this up, wish I had known about it (and indeed this site) when we lost Tibby as it was hard to find someone who understood.
RIP Tibby I miss u xxx
off to have wipe my eyes now, its still hard
you can never understand things until they happen to you... it just the way life is... :cry: if you dont mind me asking, when did little tibby leave for rainbow bridge? :(
November 2005 so its quite a while back. She was great company whilst I was off work with a broken leg that refused to heal (I was out of work for over a year) and she was always on my lap, one of those cats that likes to talk to you.
In march 2006 we got another rescue cat, Lola and in some way she has a similar personality to Tibby. Getting another animal is a good thing to do when you are ready although it never replaces them.
I agree. A new pet never replaces a previous one (and you would be mad to try to make them), but it does fill the hole that the other one left.
I have always found that it is what does most to move thought of the old pet from aching loss and gaping hole to happy memories.
How long you leave it is totally personal, and dependent on circumstances - but when you are ready, it is what helps most.
im sorry about tibby, he sounded like a real character. im sure he's happy.
i felt a little different when my retro left us. i normally beg my mum to get a new pet, when i see them i want them. i always want more, but i still find a huge place in my heart for the two i have! its just the way i am... (its a good jobs she's in charge, the house would be totally over populated!) :lol: but when retro died, i was totally different. i didnt want a new gerbil. he was all i thought about at school, and i had to keep telling myself that bruce needed a friend. i had to get another one. when the lady in the petshop told us it wasnt worth getting another one, i was almost glad. i looked at the gerbils, and i saw one i really liked, he had the same spirit and energy as retro did. but... i didnt want him. i dont know what was wrong with me, i just didnt want another one. it didnt seem right. it was a really wierd experience... :( has anyone else ever felt the same?
Wow this is a really nice post. Our pet becomes a family member for us. So it is indeed very hard and stressful, its like loosing an family member. Even i had gone through the same. I got ann amazing pet memorial made for my dog so it feels like he is always there with me.
RIP bless you x
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Great website!!
Its a tough question, I think people deal with the loss of a pet in many differnt ways.
I would say, that in most cases its like losing a member of your family, its the same grief, but of course whereas many people comiserate and send condolences and understanding when you loose a loved one, when you loose a pet people can be less understanding.
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