Is it silly to cry over a deceased pet that's been in your family for a long time?

No way. Why would it be? I cried like a baby when my kitty died. :(

Hell I just dropped my 2 off at the kennel for 4 days and I practically bawled over leaving them. When I lose one of my dogs, it is like losing a family member!

My uncle used to have a dog that I loved so much, I cried for a long time and I remain desperately sad for a month when I heard that our doggie was killed by another. That was a shocking accident to hear about.

I was really attached to my dog as a kid, when He was put to sleep because we couldn’t afford the vet bills I cried for a week…Still miss him…… In adulthood I’ve shed many a tear for pets that have past, mine & other peoples.. I know I’m a big softie :-/ of course many people cry over their pets, if not outwardly then inwardly…….

Yes and No. No, it is not silly if you miss the company of the animal. But, yes is is silly, if you consider that everything that has ever lived has and will die. Trillions of organisms/animals/plants have died and will die. The scope of the world and how many deaths there are can humble your sad feelings. Your pet is just one of those animals.

NO never I mourned when a coyote killed my cat a few years back it took a while to get over her death because a pet truly becomes part of your family at least I know mine do. They comfort you when your sad they are there for you when you are happy, who else is there for all the good and the bad times and is never too busy to spend time with you.

No.

Human emotions should never be considered as silly whatever was the reason because normally these emotions are independent and produced unconsciously, whether some people have the ability to control it or not

No, I’m still mourning.

We are likely to have to say goodbye to our 15-year-old Manchester Terrier (“Digger”) this week. We’re already crying about it. It’s sad, like losing a good friend, or a family member. Not silly at all.

No way! It is not silly at all. Why would it be?

It’s not silly. My wife and I gave one of our cats to a home that could give him the attention he needs (we have a newborn baby, and our attention is on him. Our cat is a high-maintenance kind of guy). We wept bitter tears, it was like losing a family member.

It is silly. I mean I get to see all my pets in heaven. Must suck to be atheist? Knowing I’ll see them in heaven means I get to just acknowledge and be thankful for the time spent on earth with my animal.

Not silly at all, very normal.

Did you love them? Would you cry over the loss of a loved one? Easy answer. It’s perfectly ok to cry over the loss of a pet. I did.

Is it silly to love?

I agree with most of the above- it’s not at all silly to cry over the loss of a loved one, regardless of their species.

I’m curious about what the basis was for a personal attack in this thread. :-o

We just put our border collie to sleep. We believe the vet gave him medication that made him unable to function anymore. He was slowly dieing and could not breathe.

He looked up at me with his amber eyes and begged me for relief from his pain. A tear came into my eye as I painfully took him to another vet. Mikey slowly drifted away in my arms and became limp.

Did John, the big macho cop cry? You bet I did and the loss of Mikey is still aching in my heart.

My wife and I still cry together and want our Mikey back.

Of course not! It shows you have healthy human emotions.
It’s the ones that don’t have emotions that are the dangerous ones.
Never trust anyone that can’t laugh, or cry.

@john65pennington

Awww…bless MIkeys little heart.

Of course it’s not & for those who believe it is, who the fuck put you in charge of emotions eh?
I also am puzzled as to why a personal attack found it’s way onto this thread. I mean ?????

Absolutely not… It would be silly not to.

Definitely not. I even cried over my pet rats when they died.

Not at all.

No…I have shed a tear over all my pets deaths.

My daughter just informed me that Milo is now a senior cat, must be put on a diet of “senior cat food” and watched for kidney issues.

Simply that has me practically weeping and planning a memorial service.

Why would you not grieve?

I mourn the loss of an old mature tree in my woods.

Definitely not silly. Animals have personalities and one can form bonds with them similar to human friendships. I would be distraught for weeks if (can’t bring myself to say when) my kitties died.

Of course not!

Pets are every bit as much a part of the family as it’s human members. Heck, our first “fur child” passed away almost a decade ago any my wife still says goodnight to her every evening.

I don’t think it’s silly, but it does remind me that our attachment to certain animals is to a large extent arbitrary. To be sure, there are reasons dogs and cats were domesticated as pets and pigs became food, but pigs are no less intelligent and their lives are worth no less than that of a cat, and yet we don’t mourn for our bacon. This despite the fact that the pigs who produced it (if they came from a factory farm) lived lives of unimaginable suffering and died horribly.

No.

@Brian1946 so am I.

No, you answered it in your own question stating they are “part of your family”!

Of course not. Losing a living thing that has been close to you for years and years is a very sad and somewhat traumatic event. It’s a very normal thing to cry over a dead pet.

I expect my wife to cry over me! : D

@Hobbes

I’m sure if most people kept a pig as a pet their emotions would be the same.
One can have empathy for all the cruelties of the world, but, obviously, the ones that hit close to home evoke a “hands on” experience.

I have mourned many farm animal pets, chickens, geese, that I have kept.

While it’s true we should all have compassion for the animals cultivated through cruelty based industry, we also cannot become codependent to the ills of the world.

It’s enough for me to know that my geese enjoy a wonderful life and that their body parts won’t be mashed into a jar and spread on a cracker. Caring for one thing at a time IS part of the collective caring. :-)

@Coloma

You’re right of course. I was just pointing out the way our affection attaches us to the beings close to us, not because they’re more deserving of it, but because they’re a direct part of our lives.

It would be “silly” not to.

More accurately, it would be suppressing your natural grief (unless you have no feelings for animals, which is probably just more-completely-deadening), which is unhealthy.

I would be more concerned if people did not demonstrate emotion when a pet that has been with a family for years died.

@gailcalled my mind’s eye, I picture Milo as a young cat. He has a youthful persona on fluther.

I caught myself having a bittersweet memory of my kitty “Marley” this morning. This time last year he was fat and frisky, a dynamic bundle of energy.
I can still see him, all poofed up, doing that great sideways, arched back, cat bouncing thing as he romped around the yard on a fall afternoon, racing up the trees. I can’t believe it has already been 4 months on the 7th since he has been gone. :-(

@Bellatrix: Milo and I still believe that he is in his prime. (I came home from PT today to find two dead baby mice waiting for me on the hall floor.)

It is my daughter, who is 3500 miles away and knows nothing, who made a unilateral decision.

I will let the vet decide, in mid-November.

It is absolutely not silly. The kitty that is my avatar has been gone for several years. My husband and I cried when we had to have her put to sleep, and sometimes I still miss her terribly. And sometimes I cry. There is nothing wrong in mourning a friend.

It is not silly at all! i still cry over my dead dog:(