Has anyone heard of the phenomenon that people greive more over the death of a pet than the death of close person?
I’ve met a couple of people who have told me they were more sad over the loss of their dogs then the loss of grandmothers or grandfathers.
Any explanations? I can think of a few. One being that pets, particularly dogs are more helpless and more appreciative and their is something about that that makes it sadder when they die then a person who is stronger and independent and more indifferent towards us.
For us when we have had one of our four legged family members pass on it is the grief of a parent. Our cats and dogs are kids to us. We protect love, teach and enjoy them as any parent would a kid.
The grief of a parent that loses a human child is far worse than what we animal parents suffer. We know we will most likely outlive those kids but, a human child is much more precious and is expected to outlive us and carry on our families. When you lose a human child it is like killing your entire family. You lose the future, hopes, dreams and will. You lose so much more than that though.
To lose a kid is the worst grief.
When we lose our pseudo kids it is a harsh parental grief but, it is tempered by the knowledge that we normally outlive them.
I was just surprised when I found out that it was worse than losing a person. People say human life is the most precious, but it doesn’t seem to be the case from an emotional perspective. People get really torn up when they lose their pets and I think that argues against human life above all.
When I was 8 i was outside playing with my dog and one of the crazy criminals who lived near me in my shitty neighborhood shot my dog right in front if me. I was pretty upset about it. But then last year I lost two friends that I’d known all my life and I was definitley more sad about that.
It’s definitely different from person to person. I am very fond of my cat Sidney and will be upset when he’s away, but I wouldn’t compare it to grieving the death of a relative or friend.