Do we have an instinctive aversion to dead animals?

I’m so, so sorry. Losing a pet is really, really hard, especially in a situation like this.

I don’t think it’s instinct. I think you were in shock, and the fact that you were holding your baby after she was gone was just too much right then. Think about it – you’ve never held her in that situation before – why wouldn’t it be weird?

The way you reacted is normal. Hang in there – I’m sending cat-lady love your way.

Oh no! That’s terrible. I don’t think we necessarily have an aversion to dead animals. In your circumstance, perhaps it’s because you simply don’t want to accept that a living animal that was dear to you is no longer moving. So sorry..

Thank you guys…thank you Alana…

@Dutchess_III I changed my name to Simone, actually. Like, in real life, too! :)

My condolences.

I’ve had to handle several of my dead pets. There was no aversion involved.

Oh wow! Well Simone! Guess I better update my Christmas card list, hm. :)

@psychocandy Good.

I am so sorry Dutchess!!!! Some people have more issues with dead animals and dead people than others. I don’t have problems with it myself and sat with and touched, held, hugged and kissed both my dead parents and my dead cats but if we have an instinctual aversion to dead animals it would have to be ones we hadn’t killed ourselves because human being have been meat eaters and hunters for a very long, long time and any aversion to dead animals wouldn’t allowed our species to survive very long.

@Dutchess_III I’m so sorry. :( I wouldn’t call it an instinct, but perhaps a part of you just didn’t want to see her in the condition she was in, because you loved her. Traumatic injuries aren’t pretty, and I’m sure you wanted to remember the beautiful friend she was to you.

Oh my, first I’m really sorry, it’s no secret I have seen deaths door more than I wish, and I really am so sorry 
Loss can affect us in almost anyway, I think the fact that you picked your cat up shows how close you were and the bond as well as I believe you did not think the trash can was very honorable. Soldiers will not usually leave their dead comrades for the sme reason… I think your like a soldier 
I hope you will be alright.
A few great quotes to live by:

G. K. Chesterton
The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.

Barbara DeAngelis
You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Edgar Allan Poe
We loved with a love that was more than love.

Again I’m really sorry bout your loss.

I am so sorry for your loss.

Oh, I’m so sorry! I think we’re all made different in what we can and can’t do. My 2 old, old, cats got buried in some item of my clothes, too.

I’m sorry you lost her Dutchess. I think the aversion is in dealing with the loss, not in dealing with her. Keep some things around to remember her.

Thank you you guys….I’ve dealt with pets dying…my 15 year old Snuffer dog died in my arms and..to this day I think I hear her collar jingling…but that was 15 years ago. I had two cats. One is a 14 year old cat (that I got when Snuffers died) who’s been around the block with me. If it had been her I would have flat called in sick to work for a week. But I only had Emo, the one who was hit, for a couple of years. But she was a good cat (most of the time….) I hope, maybe, I was able to give her some comfort, holding her and stroking her tummy, even if I couldn’t look at her… but..I think she was already gone. It’s just a sad, sad thing. Thanks you guys.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/Dutchcat1/Dogs%20and%20Cats/PA310051.jpg

@DutchessIII
BIG HUGS!!

@Dutchess_III – What a cutie. I love the faceplant picture. I hope you’re doing all right. I’m sure she knew you were giving her one last hug and appreciated it.

Thanks @Seelix ~ I have a funny (to me anyway) Youtube video of her that I’m going to show.

Thanks @Meego ♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ To all~ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I’m sorry to hear about your loss. Hopefully you’re in a better place now.

I think we as humans have an instinctive aversion to anything dead because we are capable of self-reflexive thinking. Seeing live things disembodied brings us back to our very own image, our mortality, and the parts we’re made up of. It’s an uneasy fact of life, a reality, and we don’t like to be reminded of it that much.

Though blood and body parts are hard for anybody to look at, the uneasiness with mortality depends on culture. A lot of cultures out there see death as a normal part of life.

@longtresses…Thanks…it might have been the circumstances. I mean, I’ve held dying animals in my arms…but not after they’ve been run over and are all bloody and…it was horrible, although her death was, I’m sure, instantaneous.