How To Handle A Grieving Dog

Yes, dogs do go through a grieving process when one of their animal companions or human companions passes away.  It is important to allow your pet to grieve and not chastise him while he's going through it.  He may not want to eat, or he may take a piece of clothing and stash it away in his crate or favorite place.  Let him have it for now.  Comfort him and soothe him during this period of morning.  You're most likely going through your own difficult period and your pet also senses this.  It's a time to be together and comfort each other.  Though it may take many forms, grieving allows all of us a period of transition which can be very difficult.  So allow yourself and your pets to go through this difficult period of life.

One morning I woke up and there seemed to be trouble afoot, and it wasn't me who caused it.  What a relief!  But, it seemed that there was something wrong with Cinders.  You may recall, she is the grumpy mini Schnauzer who is always giving me a bad time.

Cinders had passed her 14th birthday, so she was getting very old in dog years - 98 years old in human years.  She always slept at the foot of the bed near Jodi, and this particular morning, she couldn't seem to get up.  And she wasn't able to hold herself until we all went outside.  This was a big warning signal, as Cinders was always very persnickety and perfect in her bathroom manners in the house.

Star, my 2nd mother, a German Shepherd, and protector also seemed to know that something was wrong.  She walked over to Cinders and began to lick her and try to clean her up.  I didn't know what to think about any of this.

Smokey and Jodi called the vet and she said to bring Cinders in right away, so off they went.  Even Coco cat knew something was wrong and kept going over to Star and winding herself around her legs.  Then she was up in the window watching and waiting for Smokey, Jodi, and Cinders to come home.  Coco cat could tell when Smokey and Jodi were coming back way before we dogs even heard them.

When they all returned home, Cinders had been given some medicine and was wearing a small T-shirt to help keep her extra warm.  It was very obvious to me that she wasn't feeling well at all, so I just gave her a little lick on the head and left her alone.  Sometimes, I can be overly playful and maybe a tad obnoxious.  I'm still a puppy and just love to play.

A day or so went by, and it seemed that Cinders wasn't getting any better and she was passing blood.  I knew that wasn't good, so I began to worry.  I could see that both Smokey and Jodi were very concerned in the way they talked and handled Cinders.  Dogs can sense fear and worry.

They called the vet again and went back to her office.  It seemed that Cinder's auto-immune system wasn't working properly and the only thing left they could do was to try a blood transfusion, but the vet said there was only a 50/50 chance that it would work.

So Jodi and Smokey came home without Cinders that afternoon as they decided to try the blood transfusion.  At first the vet thought it was working and called us to say Cinders was doing better that evening.  But at 4:00 am the next morning, Jodi got a call that it didn't take and that Cinders had passed peacefully away.  I'm sure that she went to dogie heaven because Jodi and Smokey really loved her.  And as I think about it, Cinders really was a very good and smart girl.

I thought about all of the stories that Jodi and Smokey were talking about Cinders when she used to go out in their fishing boat with them, and how excited she would get when they got a fish on the line.  Yes, it seemsed that Cinders had been a very special dog indeed!

When Smokey left Cinders to get the blood transfusion, he came home with the T-shirt that Cinders had been wearing and put it in the laundry to be washed.  But faithful Star kept going into the laundry basket and taking it out.  She was carrying it around everywhere.  The entire household was very sad, and so was I.  I could feel the sadness all around me and Jodi kept crying all the time. 

Jodi let Star keep Cinder's T-shirt as the vet told us that Star was really morning the loss of her longtime companion.  You see, Star thought of Cinders as her mother since Cinders was the older dog and had raised Star - kind of the boss in charge of all of us except for Coco cat who bosses everyone!

It was definitely a sad time in my life, but both Jodi and Smokey constantly comforted us with lots of soft words and cuddles.  I didn't realize it at first, but I really missed Cinders.  I grew even closer to Smokey and Star.  Of course Jodi too, but Smokey was my very special human.  I had experienced the loss of a family companion and would remember this feeling forever.  I was sad, very, very sad.

 

Remembering Cinders with me and Star...

 

 

 

Animals don't always understand death, but they do grieve - so let them and be there for each other.