When my gorgeous girl cat of 18 years died, I grieved more than for my father.

Indeed. I lost my mom and a few months later one of my cats. I cried much more when I lost him. For me, the hurt is more because I keep thinking did he knew he was loved ? Did he knew how much he meant to me ? Did he knew that he was more like a child to me than a cat ? Did I love him enough ? With a human being, you can say what you needed to say and they would understand. With an animal, you can't be sure.

After having to have our gorgeous cat put to sleep, the tears were gushing down my face and as my wife got in the car she let out the most wounded howl of anguish I've ever heard. Two years down the line, I'm in tears writing about it.

I feel this in my soul.

What about the redoubling of that pain when some insensitive @ss says, "Why so sad? It was just an animal."

8 years later and I still miss my boy, 10 for my one eyed kitty and 18 for my princess. I mourn more for pets than I do for people.

No, that's easy to understand.

My resident demon-cat Alexander died at the vet's while I was away for a long weekend. He had developed kidney disease, and was being treated. I brought his corpuscattus home and buried him next to my patio. It was a hot day and sweat was streaming off my face, but I also realized that I was crying my heart out, too. I cried for my cat, not for my aunt, who I did also love, but didn't need to cry for.

I understand completely.

"Grief is just love that has no place to go."

Be a year next week since I lost my cat and still haven’t got over it. Neither has my dog… can’t mention my cats name in front of him still or he looks around and whines

The family pet is the only member of my family that I've never had an argument with or fallen out with.

Lady Miss Pie

Lady Miss Pie

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Losing a pet is PROFOUNDLY painful

My puppers of 16 years recently passed around November of last year. I still cry about the loss of my baby boy and to put the icing on the cake i didn't want to go to work but i can't afford to miss a day. My mom and dad looked after him and around 3am they called and told me he passed. I was on break and took an extra 10mins to compose myself and go back to work. The client wanted me gone for being over break time by 10mins. I am a security officer contractor there are 2 officers in the post each shift so there was someone there to cover that 10 extra mins. I told my boss, hell even text him right when i found out at 3am which he wasn't awake but when he came in he knew. Him and i were close so we knew e what was going on with each other and the client called him on his day odd the day his mother in law passed and told him to deal with it. He worked so hard to have me change sites and not get fired. It made that moment so much more traumatic. I miss my baby boy so damn hard.

pets are just love!

A neighbour cat who decided a couple years ago to come and live with us 99% of the time, was put to sleep today. He was in heart and respiratory failure. He was only three years old. I am absolutely heart broken, especially since our other cat died in Jan. The house is just so quiet 😫

I'm glad I have an immortal dog who is going to live forever.

I have to agree with this.

I recently had to get my 15 year old beautiful dog, Maisie, put to sleep. Unfortunately it came a week after my partner lost his Mum. He said he couldn't support me in my grief as he was too wrapped up in his. He wouldn't even be with me when she died. All my tears have been on my own and I just can't come to terms with her being gone. It's awful to not be able to grieve for her openly in front of my partner. I miss her so much. 😞

I cried more when my budgie died than when my great grandma died. And I felt so guilty for it for months.

It's because an animal can't grasp what is happening to them and you have more remorse because of it. I'm there. I had to told the vet two weeks ago to put my beloved cat down because of a tumor.

I still get hit every once in a while about pets I've lost over the years. I have 7 currently, with my 4 dogs all over 10 so I know it's coming around to that time again, and I'm just trying to enjoy every moment I have whether it's months or years. And when they're gone, I'll do it all over again cause the joy is worth the pain

I'm pretty sure that if you lose a human child, you can understand what losing a pet feels like.

There are two dogs I have been grieving for for 14 years. My relatives I am over it.

My cat just turned 11… I know she’s still got a few good years left in her, but God I’m so scared

They are part of the family, when they die you lose a family member

I understand. I've been there too.

I grieved for my 13 yr old dog more than I did for my parents. Miss him every day

Pets love with all of their little hearts and souls. That's why we are more impacted by their deaths. A humans love comes with with conditions. How you behave, what you do for them.

I fully understand. I had a Boxer who crossed the 🌈 bridge 8 years ago and the pain and grief from that loss was so intense. I still haven't been able to get another dog.

I work as a vet nurse. People often apologize for crying. We always say there's nothing to apologize for. We've all been there.

I still have dreams about pets I've lost. When I wake up and realize all over again that they're gone, it makes me cry a little.

when my girl was let go, I could physically feel her absence at home. she was my soul mate. I don't really believe in an afterlife, but I'm hopeful I could see her again

My big male coydog died in December. I have a chronic health issue that gets worse under stress. I got so sad I nearly died. Over my dog. Not even embarrassed.

It''s because dogs (and I guess cats too) deserve so much more than a dozen or so years of life. They're far better creatures than we humans are, and they're full of unconditional love, so it just seems so unfair that they have such short lives.

I might be wrong, but I feel like this is because losing a pet is more like losing a child. Parents, grandparents, even siblings have a certain distance to the relationship, even when you are a close family. But losing a pet is like losing a toddler.

I can explain it. You’re weird !

And still most people who have never experienced it think that it's just "being sad". Nope. I wish I would have felt anything like being sad when I was clinically depressed... at least it would have been something else than this emptiness... I was more brokkoli than human.

When I first met my wife I was seriously alarmed at the pain she went through every month. Never realised it could be so crippling. I almost called an ambulance on one occasion.

This is sometimes referred to as "ADHD paralysis" which may not be a perfect term but is easier for neurotypicals to understand.

Yeah, one of the worst part of depression is that you don't even feel love for your most loved ones anymore. You know you love them, but you don't feel anything but emptiness.

Oh eww, I know that feeling. Or you stand up and it happens, it’s so ick 😣

And it can be loud to you while no one else hears it. I don't want to be triggered by lip-smacking and it is certainly far beyond a little annoyance. Not something I can 'just ignore.'

I've been under a couple times and it is not like sleeping at all. When sleeping you have a sense of time, with anesthesia you go out and then you come back in what feels like it could be a blink even though it was hours - absolutely no sense of time.

Oh hello other me! I think the weirdest part of this type of pain is how insidious it can be. When the back pain and breathing problems are chronic like mine, you start to acclimate to the pain. But there really is no acclimating to not breathing enough. It just steals your brain from you.

I don't have or want children, but the pure joy in a young child's laughter is something else.

Horrible, traumatic losses are like this. There are times I wish there was some sort of physical sign you would get so that others could understand how bad things are, but I guess that is evolution keeping our enemies from knowing how vulnerable we are at the moment.

The amalgamation of hurt, rage, and betrayal is overwhelming.

I'm just a bathroom and car singer, but I do love the feeling of it

Oh heavens at 17? That must have been extremely devastating! I‘ve lost my first child shortly before her due date and I think I will forever be gratefull, that she died like that and has not lived to be any age within her childhood or teen years. That would have broken me.

And the other way round with loss of a child. No parent should outlive their child