Animals Experience Grief
Animals experience grief too! My first experience with animals grieving happened after the death of my husband, Donald. Our family had two dogs at that time. Harley, a three-year-old Gordon Setter and Daisy a five-year-old Beagle. Daisy was a rescue dog, and we adopted her when she was a year old. Harley was eight weeks old when he arrived at our house. They both loved Donald, and he loved them.
Donald was out of town on a hunting trip with his best friend, Gerry, and our son when he died unexpectedly of a heart attack. They both had the opportunity to say goodbye to Donald. My daughter and I and Harley and Daisy did not. During this time of shock and confusion, it never occurred to me that the dogs were upset and grieving waiting for Donald to come home. Until…
The Garage Door Went Up
A few days after the funeral I was in my kitchen when I heard the garage door go up. I knew it was my son. Both dogs ran into the kitchen at a high rate of speed and fell over each other but managed to stop short of the back door. Then they both began to howl at the same time. The sounds coming out of them were almost too painful to endure. I had never heard any animal howl like this in my life.
When my son walked through the door, both dogs collapsed to the floor and whimpered. At that moment I realized that they were looking for Donald. They were both so very sad. My son and I sat down on the floor and held them and explained what happened to Donald to both of them. Both dogs were very sad and not active for about a week. Harley experienced a decreased appetite for about two few weeks.
In Scientific America, Barbara King, author of When Animals Mourn shares…
“Joan Gonsalva watched a female bottlenose dolphin in obvious distress. Over and over again the dolphin pushed her newborn calf… It was as if she wanted to nudge her body into motion—but to no avail. The baby was dead. Floating under direct sunlight on a hot day, it’s body quickly began to decay; occasionally the mother removed pieces of dead skin and loose tissue from the corpse.” She goes on to state that over the next few days the dolphin was not eating normally and was still fussing over the calf.
What Do They Need?
Let’s not forget to give our animals the extra attention that they need when they are experiencing times of grief and stress. Just like us, they need to be fed healthy food and to drink extra water and they need extra walks and snuggle time. The good news is that we can walk, talk and heal together with them. Additionally, we can share what we are feeling with them because they do listen to us with unconditional love and acceptance.
It’s time. Get Your Copy of Grieving Forward: Death Happened, Now What?
