Understanding Grief: The Pain of Pet Loss

Emergency veterinarians understand that the grief from pet loss is profound and valid, reflecting the deep bond shared with animals.

### Understanding the Depth of Grief in Pet Loss
* 🐾 "Thank you, Dr. Hoggan. You have been wonderful. But I never want to see you again," reflects the **bittersweet nature** of my role as an emergency veterinarian, where I often confront the **harsh realities of pet loss**.
* 😢 The emotional turmoil experienced by pet owners is profound, as they grapple with grief that is not only **valid but also a medically recognized condition** characterized by symptoms like **crying and confusion**.
* 💔 Unlike human loss, pet loss grief is often dismissed by society, despite the **deep emotional bonds formed with pets** that can bring **immense joy and, consequently, heartache** when they are gone.
* 🐕 The unconditional love pets provide creates a unique connection, making their loss feel **heavier**, especially when owners are left to make difficult euthanasia decisions without any **verbal closure** from their pets.
* 💔 There are several comorbidities that complicate this grief, such as **losing a pet due to an accident** or having a rescue pet that **depended on the owner for love and stability**.
* 🌈 The grief is intensified when a pet serves as a **living link to a loved one lost**, or when they are more than just a pet, embodying a **profound bond that transcends typical relationships**.
* 💖 Ultimately, the pain of pet loss is real, and as I told a grieving owner, our pets fill our homes with **love and laughter**, leading us to believe that they surely **find a place in heaven**.
* 🌟 "Why would God's house be any different?" encapsulates the belief that the **love shared with our pets continues beyond their physical presence**.

Transcriber: Mandy Vincent
Reviewer: Miranda Almeida “Thank you, Dr. Hoggan.
You have been wonderful. But I never want to see you again.” Is, oddly, the most common
compliment that I receive.

I am an emergency veterinarian. That means I see terrible things. Seizures in animals,
pets that have been in house fires and lots and lots of trauma. When I have to tell people the hard
truths about their pet’s condition and the poor prognosis
that accompanies it,

they become visibly different. Their face contorts,
their previously steady voice cracks and their eyes well. Despite their stoicism, a tear escapes
to roll down their cheek. Invariably, when someone
breaks down in front of me, they apologize.

You don’t have to apologize to me. This is what I have dedicated my life to. I more than understand
the feelings inside that lead to this outside. The pain of pet loss is real because the emotions you shared
with your pet were real.

The grief associated
with pet loss is valid because you didn’t lose a thing. You lost a someone,
someone close and someone special to you. In case you hadn't realized it yet,
I am going to warn you now. This is a sad subject.

You may cry and
you may even ugly cry. But I promise I will help you
understand why this is so hard. And understanding is
the first step to feeling better. The first thing that you need to know is that grief is a bona fide
medical condition

with documented symptoms. The American Psychological
Association lists them. They are crying, insomnia, 
fatigue, confusion, and a feeling of profound sadness. That means that the pain you feel and the dysfunction you suffer
after you've lost a pet isn't just valid.

It is normal. Do you know what else is normal
when you lose a pet suddenly or when you have to make
a euthanasia decision? Reliving every minute and every
decision that led to that point. Do you know why you do that?

You do that because emotional pain hurts
just like physical pain. And we are hardwired
to recognize pain as a teacher. Our body has reflexes
that will pull our hand off a hot stove. We have pulled ourselves to safety
even before we know the burn has occurred.

Unfortunately, no such instant rescue
mechanism exists for emotional pain. That means we need to study
the events that led to the pain, to try to learn something from it
and avoid it in the future. I am sure this is a highly
adaptive mechanism

that helped my ancestors survive but unfortunately now,
reliving those decisions just feels like punishment. When I talk to people about pet loss and I explain to them it is
different than losing a human, they believe me because they feel it
but they don't know why it is different.

It is different for multiple reasons. The first reason is that
our society tends to diminish the validity of the pain of pet loss. They act like it is almost histrionic. Histrionic is a word
that means theatrical, like you're just grieving for attention.

You know, it’s funny. Nobody questions our pets' ability to make us happy. I would say the 14 million cat videos on the Internet cement that data. (Laughter) If our pets can make us so happy that we laugh out loud,

then losing them can absolutely have the opposite effect and break our heart. The second reason that pet loss grief is different is because the relationship is different. When our pets look at us, they do not judge. They don’t see our flaws.

They look at us and they say with their eyes, “You are perfect, and I love you.” That is the warmest and most fulfilling connection to have. And that is what makes it so incredibly hard when those eyes go away.

I have had many people tell me like it was a terrible secret that they were confessing, “I cried more when my pet died than when my mom died.” That isn’t a terrible secret. If somebody criticized you or told you what a disappointment you were,

of course you’re not going to miss them as much. (Laughter) As someone who tells you every day with their actions, “I love you. And I’m so glad that you are mine.” Even if you had an incredible mom.

Her ability to speak makes all the difference. (Laughter) She could tell you that she was tired. That she didn’t feel good. That she had lived her life and she was ready to go. While it’s hard to hear at the time,

It means that when you lose her, she’s finally at peace. So you get some peace. Our pets don’t have the ability to tell us that. So that means often when it’s their time to go, that’s our decision.

That is a heavy responsibility to carry. The societal diminishment of pet loss grief, the unconditional love that makes the human-animal bond and our pet’s inability to speak, all make pet loss grief different from losing a human. And if that is enough explanation for you and you feel better,

then I am so glad. But I suspect it isn’t because what makes pet loss grief hardest are the factors that made your relationship so special. Those factors are actual comorbidities to the grief. Comorbidity is a medical term

that means something that makes a bad situation even worse. I’m sure that there are actually hundreds of comorbidities but there are five that I see most commonly. The first comorbidity is if you lost your pet

or had to make a euthanasia decision due to a preventable accident, like the lady that left a tube of topical chemotherapy cream down on her nightstand. It never occurred to her the puppy would get up there and chew up the tube.

Chemotherapy is designed to kill fast-growing cells. 100% of a puppy is fast-growing cells. There was nothing that I could do. In that situation, it is natural to turn blame inward and beat yourself up. But, you know, logically you can’t account for every single scenario.

And pets have a free will
that can’t be accounted for. My own dog proved it
when he defiantly urinated on my favorite reading chair 
right in front of me. (Laughter) Of course you feel responsible, but you need to know that animals
are so much better at forgiveness

than humans. The only person holding
a grudge against you is you. I promise your pet is not. The second comorbidity is
if the pet you lost was a rescue, not the riotous puppy
but the adult you found at the shelter

whose sad eyes looked hollow. A broken soul that learns
to love and trust again because you opened up your heart. And if you lost your pet because
you had to make a euthanasia decision and give them a soft goodbye, yes, that hurts.

Sorry. You know that you made that decision
because you were saving them from the imminent pain, fear
and suffering that lay ahead. Your first rescue brought them joy. Your final rescue gave them peace. The third comorbidity is not
if you rescued your pet,

but if they rescued you. If they got you through a crisis
with their calm presence, reminding you that you are loved
and you have someone to live for. I can tell you in my own life,
when I reached out for a hand,

I found a paw. In your lifetime together,
your pet was devoted to you and they proved it with their actions
when you needed it the most. But they left your side
when they had no other choice, when they had to go eat or
they had to go to the bathroom.

When you let them go, you made that decision
because you had no other choice. They understand no other choice situations and they understand
the choice that you made. The fourth comorbidity is if
you lost a pet that was a living link

to someone you loved and lost before and now losing that pet feels
like losing them all over again. Yes, that hurts. But you have treasured your shared pet. So you did twice the loving and you can feel proud that
you honored that person’s memory

with regular offerings of food, water
and affection to a furry temple of love. Of course, you are going to grieve
because you did a good job loving both that person
and your shared pet. But you need to keep going now
because someone else needs your love.

You need to love yourself
like you loved both of them. The person who needs your love now is you. The fifth comorbidity
is perhaps the hardest and that is when you lose a pet
that is more than a pet. I learned about this early in my career
when I did the hardest euthanasia

that I have ever done. It was for a man who was
mildly intellectually disabled and he had a very sick little dog
that he had named Girl. She was in end-stage liver failure. There was nothing I could do,
no matter how much I wanted to save her.

I could not and I told him that. And he answered me in a voice choked
with desperate anger. He said, “You don’t understand.
I’m special. The girl that I love the most
is this girl and she loves me, too.

“I need her.” I did understand and I didn’t know what else to say, and he didn’t either. So he decided to test me. He became very quiet
and he said, almost in a whisper, “I’m not supposed to tell anybody this, 

but I have a credit card
and I will give it to you and I will keep it a secret,
if you will just fix Girl.” That moment hurt. That moment still hurts. When I said no to his credit card, he understood and he told her goodbye.

But he took off her collar
and he put it on his wrist as a bracelet. And he worked for some months. He came back to the hospital
a few times just to show me he was still wearing it. Are you going to question
his sense of loss?

Are you going to tell him
that all the love he gave her and she gave him wasn’t real? Are you going to suggest
that he should just get over it or he should just replace her
like she was some broken toy? Of course not.

So don’t say those things to anybody else, but especially not to yourself. The pain of pet loss is real and the grief from pet loss is valid. After Girl’s dad held her a final time, he asked me if our pets go to heaven.

I will tell you that theology was not
a course taught in veterinary school. But my answer to him didn’t come
from my head or my training. It came from my heart. I told him, “Of course they do. Our pets share our homes not
because they pay the mortgage

but because they fill it floor to ceiling
with love and laughter. Their joy gives us something
to look forward to every single day. Why would God's house be any different?" (Applause)

Pet loss grief; the pain explained  | Sarah Hoggan DVM | TEDxTemecula

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TEDx Talks

Introduction and the emotional impact of pet loss on owners

The speaker, an emergency veterinarian, describes the common reaction of pet owners to bad news about their pets.

She details the visible emotional distress experienced by pet owners when informed of their pet's poor prognosis.

Owners often apologize for their emotional breakdown.

The speaker emphasizes the validity of pet loss grief, highlighting that it's the loss of a loved one.

She prepares the audience for an emotional discussion about pet loss and grief.

Grief as a medical condition and the process of reliving painful memories

Grief is presented as a medical condition with documented symptoms like crying, insomnia, and fatigue.

The speaker validates the pain and dysfunction following pet loss as normal.

Reliving past moments leading to the pet's death is explained as a natural response to emotional pain.

The speaker draws a parallel between physical and emotional pain, highlighting the lack of an instant rescue mechanism for emotional pain.

Reliving past decisions is presented as an adaptive mechanism for learning and avoiding future pain, but it often feels like punishment.

Reasons why pet loss grief differs from human loss

Societal diminishment of pet loss grief is identified as a factor making it different from human loss.

The speaker uses the example of cat videos to illustrate pets' ability to bring joy and the subsequent impact of their loss.

The unconditional love and lack of judgment from pets are highlighted as key differences in the relationship.

The speaker addresses the common experience of grieving more for a pet than a human, attributing it to the unconditional love and constant support pets provide.

The inability of pets to communicate their readiness to die adds to the complexity of pet loss grief.

Preventable accidents leading to pet loss are identified as a comorbidity, emphasizing self-blame and the need for self-forgiveness.

Losing a rescue pet is highlighted as another comorbidity, focusing on the bond formed with a previously neglected animal.

Pets who rescued their owners are presented as a comorbidity, emphasizing the profound impact of their presence during difficult times.

Losing a pet that was a living link to a deceased loved one is discussed as a comorbidity, highlighting the amplified grief.

Losing a pet that was more than just a pet, such as a source of profound companionship for someone with intellectual disabilities, is presented as the hardest comorbidity.

Conclusion and reflection on the afterlife of pets

The speaker shares a personal anecdote about a man's profound grief over the loss of his dog, emphasizing the validity of his feelings.

The speaker reflects on whether pets go to heaven, offering a heartfelt response based on the love and joy they bring into people's lives.