Is it Normal to Grieve After the Loss of a Pet?

Reader’s Question

I am grieving the loss of my dog whom I put down about 2 months ago. I cannot live without an animal in my life. A dog is too much for my husband to care for while I work, and I’m thinking of adopting a cat. My question is why am I so in need of an animal in my life? Am I normal?

Our Consulting Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

It’s often not that we have a strong need for an animal in our life…it’s that we have a need for the love and affection they provide in our life. Pets do a wonderful job of providing love and affection. It’s totally normal to form a strong, emotionally healthy bond with your dog or cat. Having a pet is very therapeutic and supportive and for the most part, they enrich the lives of their owners. This same strong emotional bond also produces the grieving reaction with their loss. All of this is normal.

Each type of pet has it’s good and bad points. In my experience, dogs seem to provide the most affection but require the most attention. Cats require less attention but don’t provide as much affection — perhaps due to their independence. I recently had a discussion of animal intelligence with a client who claimed cats were smarter than dogs. Her proof — “You’ll never see ten cats line up to pull a sled’.

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