Our family always had a lot of dogs—every member of our family just love them—so it’s pretty obvious that we’ve already lost some pets over the years. Most of them passed away due to old age, so losing them hadn’t been so difficult. The passing was imminent. Somehow, I had a feeling they would be leaving us soon—I had time to prepare myself for the coming loss.

Losing Sheero was different, very different. Aside from the fact that she was my absolute favorite, her passing came as a surprise. She was getting well (we had even expected to take her home after a few more days at the vet), but suddenly had a heart attack that lead to a coma which she didn’t survive. I think how she passed away was a huge factor on why it was doubly hard for me—I just didn’t expect it. I never had the chance to prepare myself for the loss.

I’ve been coping with my loss, though I still feel a bit of sadness every now and then. But the first few days of losing Sheero was unbearable—I never thought I’d stop crying. As I have said in my blog, another factor that made the pain worse was because there wasn’t anybody else to share my pain with except for my family. True, we’ve gotten a lot of condolences from friends and acquaintances—heck, even Sheero’s “fans” emailed us their condolences. But the thing is, I still had this thought at the back of my mind that they really didn’t understand my pain.

When a person you know or loved passed away, it’s “easier” to share that pain with somebody else—almost everyone you know could probably relate to you. But when it’s a pet you’ve lost, it’s different. Not everyone loves pets as you do. Not everyone would understand why you’re so devastated over the passing of an animal. For some people, pets are just pets—they’re just animals locked up in a cage outside. Not everyone would understand how a loving bond can develop between a human and a dog.

Knowing that some people thinks that you’re crazy for getting depressed over the passing of a pet makes the grief harder to bear. It’s like feeling that you’re alone in your pain. For me, this probably why it’s sometimes harder to get over the loss of a pet.

Luckily, there are actually some pet loss support groups on the Internet. I’ve stumbled upon the Pet Loss Grief Support website during the first few days of my loss. Chatting with fellow bereaved pet owners made me feel a whole lot better—it was like I wasn’t alone in my pain. It also helped visiting local forums dedicated to owners who’ve lost their pets like the one on Philippine Pet Finder.

I think the main thing I’ve learned all about this is that bereaved pet owners don’t have to handle their pain alone—there are people who do care and understand what you’re going through

This entry was posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 at 6:49 pm and is filed under Dog Ownership, Pet Loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.