Grieving over a pet

Gabriela Gomez-Romero, Staff Writer

Grieving over an animal can be hard for some people because you get so attached. It feels like you just lost your best friend or even someone who was a part of your family. Every day, thousands of people lose animals due to old age, sickness, or maybe an accident that had happened. Just like humans, animals pass away on a daily basis which causes us to grieve in pain knowing we lost something we truly loved and cared about. Over 100 million animals pass away a year: 253 thousand due to car accidents, 100 million due to hunters, and many due to animal cruelty around the world. There are many groups in the world that help people get through a loss of a pet or help with people grieving such as, Best Friends Animal Society, Lap of Love, or you could always ask anyone for tips on how to cope with pet loss. Some tips that could help you grieve during a pet loss could be setting aside time to release the emotions that you have been keeping in. Another one could be making sure to continue your basic needs such as eating properly, taking care of your hygiene, and leaving time aside for yourself during the day but also maintaining relationships with your living pets. Seeking support can also help a lot; you can find many groups locally that help you get through the time period of grieving over the loss of an animal. They may do activities with you or just sit down and talk to you about how hard it was losing a pet you loved a lot. Maintaining a healthy relationship with your other animals could help you lose focus on the loss and regain your happiness. Doing all these tips can help you through the loss of a pet.