Losing A Pet Is Just As Painful As Losing A Relative Or A Close Friend
Who hasn’t fallen in love with a pet in their childhood? Everyone I’ve known in my life was absolutely head over heels in love with their pets – be it dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, parrots, fish, and whatnot. Of course, a lot of people have reptiles and spiders as pets, but I’ve always known people who’ve had more common kinds of pets – call it fear, if you may! If you ask anyone with a pet what their worst fear is, they’ll definitely tell you that losing them is something they never look forward to. And that’s true, we all fear losing our beloved pets.
What most people, especially ones without pets, don’t understand is that losing a pet is just as painful as losing a relative or friend, and sometimes it’s much more painful than losing a human. Here are some interesting facts, you probably didn’t know. According to HarrisWilliams, 99% of pet owners consider their pets as part of their family, 93% would risk their lives for their pets and 76% would gladly spend any amount of money to keep their pet healthy. Based on recent statistics by Steve Dale, about 57% of people around the world own pets. So you see, pets have become an important part of our lives, and for good reasons too.
Not only do pets keep you healthy, they also keep you company – for as long as they live, unlike humans. Owning a pet comes with tons of benefits too. For starters, less heart problems, more activity, less depression, more fun, less anxiety, better sleep – a perfect balance to lead a healthy life. On the other hand, owning a pet means that one day you’ll be forced to say goodbye to your beloved furball because let’s face it, they will likely cross the rainbow bridge before you settle down in your life. So if a pet owner had one wish to make it would be to make their pets eternal, but unfortunately that’s not the world we live in.
Losing a pet can be a traumatic experience, and not everyone has the heart to overcome or move on from the loss. Imagine growing up with your pet and then suddenly not seeing them ever again? Just the thought of it makes me want to bawl, but that’s the saddest part of sharing your life with a furball – one day they will not be there to play fetch, or to purr your worries away. As much as we’d like to not think about the day we say goodbye to our pets, we must learn to accept and prepare ourselves beforehand so that when they’ve crossed the rainbow bridge, we’re able to move on with their precious memories. Easier said than done, I hear you.
There are a few people, presumably those without pets, who think that the loss of a pet isn’t difficult to overcome. They believe that the pain and suffering isn’t as much as how you feel when you lose a relative or a close friend. They’re wrong. Research at the University of New Mexico concluded that people who lose their pets go through a different kind of pain – a sort of pain that is not felt when they lose a human – a kind of pain that is difficult to face. Although pet owners do recover after losing their pets, they strongly hold on to the memories they had to the point that when asked, they would be able to detail out each and every moment they shared with their beloved pets.
Have you ever been forced to say goodbye to your pets? How did you feel? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to share this
