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

[elle1919]

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.

Oh my goodness what a sad story. How horrible for you. We had 2 black labs, Lucky the older came first...we rescued him...then OD...our now 3 year old came later. he found us I guess you could say, last October Lucky died of old age and it just broke all of our hearts...my hubby and I have 4 kids....and OD hasn't been the same since. I notice he seems to be moping around the house and he often looks like he is crying! I want to make him feel better but I don't know how. I am a fixer....I try to fix everyone's feelings and it bothers me when I can't. anyway.....I say dogs for shore grieve.....the question is what should we do about it?

 

[MsPooh]

I work at a no-kill shelter, so alot of our dogs are there for a very long time...alot of them are 2 to a pen and get very close..so the policy is they go together if adopted. However, the ones that are next door neighbors are not so lucky, but they bond just as much. We have a little girl right now who went out to exercise with her neighbor everyday...her neighbor was adopted a week ago, and she is missing him so much. She doesn't even want to step out of her pen...she will not eat and paces back and forth. She is getting a new neighbor tomorrow, we matched one with the same personality as the former neighbor...so we will see how it goes. We have 300 at the moment..there's alot of different kinds of grieving going on, on any giving day... and I firmly believe dogs share in alot of our emotions.

 

[LinasK]

My parents experienced it when our one dog a Springer Spaniel died of a stroke, our other dog and her yardmate, best friend was so depressed, my parents ended up putting her to sleep too.

 

[kittenish]

We adopted two boxers, and Roscoe's previous owner (the one we adopted most recently) committed suicide. He was left in the apartment with her for a while before she was found and when we met him he was very depressed. We adopted him anyway. He's much better now.

When I was moving from my old apartment into my boyfriend's house for a couple months while we were looking for a new place, we had to send my other boxer, Layla to stay with my mom. She was fine, because she had lived there before for a while, but Roscoe was so sad. When she came back, he perked right back up.

 

[luvbeaches]

We adopted two 3-year-old cats many years ago. They both had lived in the same home for three years prior to be "dropped off" because the owner couldn't take them to an apartment because the apartment wouldn't allow cats (whatever, then that apartment would be scratched off my list, but I guess that's another story). These two cats were not related in any way, other than living in the same household.

One of the cats died suddenly 10 years later, and the other one would just sit and cry. It was so sad. She'd wander around the house crying. She was looking for her "bud" but he was gone. We ended up getting 3 more cats, and it took her a little time to adapt (they were kittens), but eventually she settled in and seemed content.

It was so sad watching her roam from room to room. So cats do morn the loss of other cats. She lived an additional six years. For three of those years, she was a diabetic and required a shot of insulin twice a day. She's buried under the pine tree with her buddy and I am sure they are both enjoying romping together once again.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I believe 100% dogs and cats grieve.....I've lived it and have seen it.

But I also own ferrets...and when one dies...it's best bud will not even eat. Usually the survivor will have to be force fed after a few days because they will starve themselves to death. They are completely lethargic and often are found wrapped around the corpse of their buddy constantly nudging and licking the face and ears. That's what they do normally do when they want their buddies to wake up and play. It's so sweet and so sad............

I've even rescued ferrets from Craig's List because distraught owners can't get the survivor to eat. Usually after a few force feedings with Numerical paste...and tossing them in with my crew they buddy up to someone else and learn to live again.

I think ANY social animal grieves.