Do pets grieve? The question hits home after loss of Rufus.

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There are two famous examples of pets grieving--one is Seaman, the dog belonging to Merriweather Lewis (of Lewis and Clark expedition fame) and the other is Hachiko, a dog belonging to a Japanese owner. You can google both names for books written about the dogs.
 
Absolutely. We lost my old dog Molly in September, and the younger one did nothing but lay on the couch where she used to sleep and act miserable for a week. It was very obvious she was grieving the loss of her friend.
 
They do grieve. My three old dogs are so sad since Rudy went outside and never came back. They have hardly eaten since 04/29 of this year. They are constantly looking for him and if his name is spoken they get excited.

I believe that our animal companions are an extension of ourselves. They do understand love and loss, tragedy and grief.
 
My brothers dog still checks the car for my beloved Rufus whenever we visit-she spends at least an hour leading us back to the car as if to say, "OK, where is he???" They were such close, close buddies even though Rufus passed in February last year.
 
I don't think any of us who are observers of behavior by profession, and dog lovers by nature, could ever question whether dogs feel and express loss.

They grieve over the loss of a bonded companion pet ( which may be a hamster, cat, turtle or other dog- companion is companion), as well as their humans.

I volunteer with a breed rescue group. The breed is known for its extreme bonding to both people and other animals. On Petfinder.com, there are many bonded pairs of dogs for adoption, some dog/ cat bonded pairs, and I was told of a rabbit/ dog bonded pair.
Bonded pair means that the two are as close as a mother dog/ puppy and are extremely distressed when separated for even short periods of time.

We also take in dogs whose owners have died. Some of them never stop looking out the window, or listening at the door.

I remember reading about " Greyfriars Bobby" when I was a little girl. Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh, Scotland, after reportedly spending fourteen years guarding his owner's grave, until his own death on 14 January 1872.

Here's the Wikipedia entry about him. It is extremely touching and I have always believed that G.B. did spend most of his time at his master's grave.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby
 
i completely agree that they do! at least dogs anyway...

friends of ours lost one of their dogs recently and the other one was a mess...until they got her a puppy to mommy over. she sprang back to life.

they named the pup ouzo because he was the "best cure" :)
 
I think so. When the dog I'd had the longest died in 2001, the younger one knew something was wrong. He howled for at least two weeks every night and started sleeping in her dog house. He never slept in his own dog house ever again.
 
Oh, I know absolutely pets grieve. I saw it with my own dogs after one died.

I also remember seeing a pack of stray dogs on a rural road. One of them had been hit by a car & killed, and the others, 4 of them, were all lying nearby with the saddest looks on their faces.

Another time, I lost one of my two Aussie Shepherds to cancer, and the remaining one went into a depression afterwards. She just couldn't get over it, and we were so attached to the dog we lost, it took some time before we could settle on getting another. But it was getting another dog that finally brought our girl Aussie up from her depths of despair.
 
When our beloved Boxer Bo died, my little terrier mix made these noises that sounded like crying for several weeks...it was so sad. :(

She also dragged his collar around with her for several days and took to sleeping in his bed.

Yes, I believe that animals grieve.

ETA: I think that I once read somewhere that there is scientific evidence that elephants grieve.
 
EmMomma said:
When our beloved Boxer Bo died, my little terrier mix made these noises that sounded like crying for several weeks...it was so sad. :(

She also dragged his collar around with her for several days and took to sleeping in his bed.

Yes, I believe that animals grieve.

ETA: I think that I once read somewhere that there is scientific evidence that elephants grieve.
Click to expand...

Yes, elephants do grieve. It's so touching and heart wrenching at the same time.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5RiHTSXK2A"]YouTube - Elephants grieving - BBC wildlife[/nomedia]
 
southcitymom said:
My experience has been that yes, absolutely, they do.
Click to expand...

Of course, they grieve. Whether they experience grief exactly as we do is hard to measure, but since no two humans grieve in exactly the same way, what does it matter?
 
I took in a terrier once who had lived all of his five years with an older sister named Petunia. He came home with me and was a sweetie, but he would not eat. He never made a sound.

After a week, I called his former family and told them the issue. They asked me to bring him back to them (the back story is that Petunia was 12 and sickly and they planned to travel after her passing but wanted Thor to have a good home)

I took Thor home and the minute he saw Petunia, he barked and Petunia waddled over to him. It turns out Petunia also wouldn't eat or wag her tail.

So yep, these poor little guys grieved until reunited. This was several years ago and I still feel bad for little Thor, knowing he would have been heartbroken when his sister finally did pass on. I hope they lived together for many more years.
 
SeekingJana said:
I don't think any of us who are observers of behavior by profession, and dog lovers by nature, could ever question whether dogs feel and express loss.

They grieve over the loss of a bonded companion pet ( which may be a hamster, cat, turtle or other dog- companion is companion), as well as their humans.

I volunteer with a breed rescue group. The breed is known for its extreme bonding to both people and other animals. On Petfinder.com, there are many bonded pairs of dogs for adoption, some dog/ cat bonded pairs, and I was told of a rabbit/ dog bonded pair.
Bonded pair means that the two are as close as a mother dog/ puppy and are extremely distressed when separated for even short periods of time.

We also take in dogs whose owners have died. Some of them never stop looking out the window, or listening at the door.

I remember reading about " Greyfriars Bobby" when I was a little girl. Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh, Scotland, after reportedly spending fourteen years guarding his owner's grave, until his own death on 14 January 1872.

Here's the Wikipedia entry about him. It is extremely touching and I have always believed that G.B. did spend most of his time at his master's grave.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby
Click to expand...

What an interesting post, SeekingJana. Your comments that I made bold are those I can personally relate to. When my husband died one of our cats just moped around, sleeping on my husband's side of the bed and napping in his favorite chair. This went on for several years. When it was time to euthanize this cat - the other 2 cats when into deep mourning for over a year.

Thank you for the information about Greyfriar's Bobby - such a touching story of love and loyalty.

I did not know about the petfinders bonded pairs. Thanks for all of the great info.:blowkiss:
 
Of course they grieve. They are extensions of their owners. One exception may be my Sheba the cat. When the king cat died in the house, Sheba was happy as king cat use to take her food all the time and Sheba was always living in the kings shadow. With the King gone, Sheba is now able to get her food, express her personality, and be who she wants to be.

I am sure she grieves but she also has attained her freedom so she is happy to be alone and own the house.

Always
Gozgals
 
Yes, animals do grieve. My 3-year old male dog gots his teeth caught in my year-old female dog's collar during rough play and accidently strangled her. I brought her body to the vet who wanted to autopsy just to be sure this is what happened (I don't think they had ever come across a case of canine accidental strangulation.) At home, the male dog just ran around the property looking for her and waiting for her to come home (it was heartbreaking). My late husband and I finally took him and our oldest dog at the vet to see and smell the puppy's body. The male dog refused to go near the body at first, then finally did. When we got home, he seemed depressed for weeks. We finally had to get another puppy and eventually they bonded and he returned to his old self.

When my husband died, his sons and I brought the dogs back from the kennel for an evening and brought them to see his body so they understood that he had died. It took a couple of months for the older two to return to somewhat "normal" behavior. My oldest dog (who followed my husband from room to room) still misses him a year later.
 
capoly said:
Do pets grieve? The question hits home after loss of Rufus

http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/pettalk/2009-05-12-grieving-pets_N.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno

Read 'mzfitz' comment also.:cry::hug:
Click to expand...

Of course pets grieve! My great uncle was shipped off to war when he was 18, and his dog spent the next four years sitting by the window, waiting for his master to return. They had trouble making the dog eat! He missed his master and wanted him back! I remember a Paul Harvey "Rest of the Story" from way back about a dog that sat on his master's grave for weeks.

I've got a doggy right now that my son rescued----son can't have pets where he lives, so the dog lives with me. He is perfectly fine, MOST of the time. We had a Yorkie and a cat when this pup was rescued, and he really bonded with them. (My Yorkie was alpha dog, and this dog, A PITBULL, was her little servant!) When the Yorkie and cat had to be put to sleep, Ninja wandered around this house like he was completely lost---he had trouble sleeping, because he'd always curled up with the Yorkie and cat. Even now, when my son comes to visit, I know that dog is going to curl up and whimper for at least an hour. And it has been 7 years since my son moved out!
 
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