Do you believe pets grieve?

[Blondie]

Our neighbors across the street and one house over have 3 dogs, one of them is part border collie. "Sarah" is always getting loose, jumping the fence etc. and patrolling the street. Her and Shiloh used to play together when she'd jump our fence to get in our backyard! They were perfect play partners.

Today is the first time I've seen her loose since before Shiloh died in December.

I was out in the yard with Holly and I called her over. Ofcourse she approached the fence, her and Holly sniffed at each other through the chainlink, Sarah's ears went back and she got an absolutely pathetic look on her face. She never attemped to get in the yard like she always did before. Most of the time I just opened the gate and I let her in. Shiloh and Sarah would run around and play for a while then she'd go back to the gate for me to let her out. She's a sweet dog.

Today, she left, tail down and went back to her front lawn and started to howl! I don't know if it's because she realizes Holly is not her old pal Shiloh or not, but somehow, I think it is.

How sad is that?

 

[Fitswimmer]

Yes, I do. I had two cats, an older female and a male kitten. When the male was about 2, the older female got seriously ill and I had to put her down. My boy would walk around the house looking for her, and then sit looking at me like he was asking me where she was. He would cry for her too, it was so sad!
So, I went to the shelter, and now he has 2 sisters! (they were litter-mates so I couldn't take one and leave the other!)

 

[Blondie]

Aw, poor thing! How long did he seem to grieve?

 

[piglet too]

With out a doubt, pets can grieve. When my dog Jenny had to be put down, our other dog Babe would not eat, did not want to go for walks, nothing. Then she started to get into the garbage, something she had never done before. My parents decided to get another dog. It helped, but Babe took a long time to get back to her normal self.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

We were on a trip when our Sheltie died unexpectedly. (Our poor neighbors, who were taking care of our two dogs!) When we walked in the house, our other dog greeted us by wailing!!! I've never heard a dog do that and I never want to hear it again. He was obviously at least as traumatized as we were.

 

[MzDiz]

When Patches' sister, Singe, died a couple years ago, she most certainly grieved. For a solid week, Patches carried around one of my daughter's slippers, crying and mewing, walking from room to room. It did nothing good for me at the time, since I was sick with grief over losing Singe.
Uhg, getting teary eyed just thinking about it.

 

[PhotobearSam]

I do.

One of my DIS friends Wenabre had to put her dog down and had the vet come to her house to do it. She has done this twice before I think. She said it helped to let the other pets in the house to see and feel the loss. That way they greived less.

I plan on doing that when the time comes with my cats as my 2 oldests are brother and sister from the same litter. I don't want to just take one away one day and to them it's POOF their gone.

My parents best friends used to have a dog and when it dies, our dog had a hard time understanding that Maggie was not coming over with them anymore.

I actually think that cats and dogs have some sort of soul and I do beleive they LOVE and it's not just instinct.

I off to hug one of my cats now...

 

[Fitswimmer]

Aw, poor thing! How long did he seem to grieve?

Well, he struggled until the girls arrived. I didn't wait too long, only about two weeks before I adopted them. It was the best thing for him and for me.

 

[barbeml]

Absolutely, I know they do. Have experienced it with many pets.

 

[#1 Pocahontas]

These stories are so sad

I do believe that pets grieve. I think they feel many emotions. My very loving cat ignores me when I come home after a vacation, as if to let me know he is mad I left.

My grandparents had a pair of grate danes. One male, and one female. I don't know exactly how old they were but when they reached old age the female passed away. The male was soon to follow. I truly think he died of a broken heart.

 

[Rachie0507]

When I had my 13 yo cat put down two years ago, our dog grieved but our other cat did not The cats had been together all their lives too. The dog was unsettled for a couple weeks. Anytime my mother came to the house the dog would get really upset--my mother had picked the cat up and taken him for the appointment because I couldn't handle it. It was really sad

My childhood dog grieved when my Grandmother died. She was very spoiled by my grandmother--who would usually bring leftover scraps for her. The dog sat in the front window every morning for about a month, whimpering. My grandmother always came over for coffee in the morning. It seemed so strange to us that she would notice...and we felt bad that there was no way for her to understand what had happened.

 

[jaimee1024]

Yes. My dog Shane has never been the same since his "brother" Bogie died three years ago. They had been together since they were puppies.

 

[Hercules10]

Without a doubt...I'd relay my story but I don't feel like downing another bottle of tequila. I'll just say my male dog missed his older little sister a lot.

 

[huckster]

sure do we lost our beloved Kara 14 year old sib huskey our golden ret , was sad for a long while she would lay by her bed, she would lay in her fav spot in the living room and lick the carpet i think trying to get Kara's smell.. she would lay by her grave in the back yard , but know its been a year and a little over a month she dies feb 12 last year. she is doing better but i think she still wonders from time to time

 

[eclectics]

Wow. Such sad stories. I'll add my tearjerker. When I was growing up we had a cat who developed an odd attachment to my dad, who never cared for cats. Well, it took her months but she finally won him over, grudgingly, and they became best friends. My dad died very suddenly and the cat would stand in front of the front door every night waiting for him to come home. Each night she would wait patiently but he never came, and she would finally give up and walk away crying. She would do this every night. She didn't give up for the longest time, and she was never quite the same again. Believe me, they feel grief just as much as we do.

 

[doxdogy]

I honestly do believe they grieve. Our Katie died October 2005 and Anni died in April 2006. Her and Katie had been together for 14 years. I honestly believe she died of a broken heart.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Definitely they grieve. Lauri had a Samoyed named Misty and an Irish Wolfhound named Murphy before we met. They were best friends. Misty died of cancer at 7 yrs old and Murphy went into a deep depression. This 120 pound Irish Wolfhound dropped down to 89 pounds during her mourning period.

 

[ilovepcot]

Absolutely pets grieve! One of the saddest things in the world to see. And it seems you're helpless to help them. Just awful.

 

[Sherri]

I believe they greive for the people they lost and animal friends they lost. Thats what hurts so much about thinking of animals in shelters, they greive, they hurt, they feel what we feel.

 

[jesszac610]

Yes! Our cat Belle witnessed the accident involving her best playmate Jasmine, 3years ago. Belle and Jas were inseperable and she still walks around the house looking for her, Belle hasn't been right since.