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When The Family Pet Dies-hardest On The Elderly
By hearn2
For the older people in our society the death of their pet, is by all measure, as bad as any death of a loved one. Believe me I know this first hand.


I can't say why it is, but it seems the older one gets the harder it becomes when we lose our pets.

Take my parents for example. They were married 60 years. For all those 60 years there were dogs and cats in their home. They also had a stray turtle along the way as well as goldfish. Which may, I say was not easy with 5 cats in the house who all had their claws. But I can assure you it was close at times but there was no injury or death to the turtles or fish.

It started with one stray dog and one stray cat in the 1940's and it never stopped until 2008, with the death of my Dad. All these animals were loved very much and were part of our family.

Over the years, naturally many had died, mostly from old age. The oldest cat they had was 23 years old. Each death was very sad and my parents always missed each and every one. But maybe because they worked, and the kids were home the healing process seemed to be so much quicker.

In their 60's and retired, another stray dog appeared at the door on a cold winter morning. My father was a WW II veteran who volunteered three times a week at VA Hospital. On leaving the house at dawn on a frigid winter morning, laying by the back steps was a dog. A big kinda mean dog.

The big kinda mean dog became Lucy their beloved and protector. They think she was a junk yard dog who was kept chained outside. Lucy was brought in and introduced to the 4 cats they had at the time. It was not love at first
sight. But they were all stray animals, so they were not dumb and they were
not

going to screw up a good thing.

Lucy only lived for 12 years. She got cancer first in her back leg, which was removed. She did okay for another year. When they had to put Lucy to sleep, I did not think they were ever going to recover. This was not the first dog that had to be euthanized, but it was so hard on them.

I know this may be hard to believe, but it is true. On a beautiful summer afternoon, my Mom was getting the mail and on the steps by the side door was a medium sized fur ball. Same thing, fur ball was brought in the house and became Jack.

Jack was part Golden Retriever. Jack had 3 cats to get to know. Where Lucy was not friendly at all, Jack never meant any living object that should not be licked and loved. One of the cats was named Freddie. Freddie was an spca baby. The first for my parents. Jack carried Freddie around in his mouth for
most of his life.

My mom was in her 80's when Jack died. Its a terrible thing to say, but she was in the beginning stage of Dementia. So she was protected in a way. But I think that even made it harder for my father because he did not have her to share his grief with.

My father went on to live in a senior complex, which took animals. So he had his 2 cats with him till the end. What I found so wonderful was in my search for a senior apartment that so many of them now welcome pets.

Yes it is very hard when an elderly person losses their pet. But life without pets for a senior I think is worse. Animals can bring such joy to the every day life of a older person. They should never be deprived of that joy. But it is important for family members to help them through the healing process after the death of their pet.
For the millions of pet owners and pet lovers around the world, we now have access to various programs and web sites that can help us with so many difficult situations that arise in our everyday life concerning our pets. To find out more about how to help seniors through this loss please visit my blog at hearn2-petcare.blogspot.com/

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