Customer Reviews

Healing the Pain of Pet Loss

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a man, it is hard to express emotions of pain. This book helped me understand my grief as perfectly acceptable and that there are other males who have faced this same kind of social misunderstanding and that it is normal and meaningful to mourn the loss of one of my best friends - my dog, Ranger. So many of us don't know until we lose our animal friends just how important they were in our lives. I will always be grateful to the friend who gave me this book as a gift - it helped me so much.

This book consists of letters written by people who have lost a cherished animal, describing their feelings and the events surrounding the loss. Many of the letters comment on the inability of others to understand why they are so upset by the loss of a pet. "It's just a cat... or dog..." We live in a society which can scarcely allow people to grieve the loss of a beloved human, let alone a beloved animal -- indeed, mourners are expected to recover by the time the funeral is over. For the person grieving the loss of a cherished animal friend, there is no space to grieve and seldom adequate support from friends and families. Only someone who has been through it could possibly understand the extent of the loss, and many in our society never get that attached to an animal so they don't know how deeply the loss hurts. That is why the author compiled this collection of letters, because she could not find a book which helped or support from friends. She was right -- it is a helpful to hear the stories of others who loved their pets intensely, and to know that others have felt what we are feeling. The community of fellow-grievers in these letters provide a support group to help the reader deal with their own loss. In addition, there is a list of resources (including on-line resources and telephone support lines) in the appendix. This book would make a wonderful present from a caring friend for someone who is grieving intensely the loss of a pet. I highly recommend it and am grateful that this book was written.

Most people around me seem to be more polite than understanding when I talk about losing my dog, Lincoln. It doesn't matter anymore after reading this book. They don't understand the depth of our relationship, but the writers in this book do. I wish I had someone in person who knew, but going back to this book every once in a while gets me through. This book will be my rock as long as I need it.

Learning about loss by reading these letters was so helpful to me. I was really able to feel the feelings the pet owners had and really related to them -- far more so than if it had been a psychologist writing the book. I highly recommend this tender and valuable book to anyone who is hurting after losing an animal friend. I would have liked to write my story because I know it would help others... Thank you Ms. Smith, you don't even know how you helped me through this awful time since I lost Peanut...God Bless you

Finally I don't feel so weird about my feelings toward my rabbit. People made fun of me, but now I know I am ok and I will be able to get through this. Thank you.

Everyone I knew thought I was nuts to be so upset about losing my dog, but I loved her so much. I didn't know what to do or how to deal with my pain. This book has letters from people just like me -- I couldn't believe it -- who felt just as bad as me, but who learned how to deal with the pain. This book saved me & I am so grateful.

This book was so helpful to me. The stories and letters in it really made me feel like others knew how much I was hurting. I no longer felt alone after reading this book.

A good and helpful book. It helped me through a terrible time. I still miss my baby, but this book let me know my feelings are real and they count.

I appreciate the other reviews I read and am glad these people found this book to their needs - but I did not. I just don't see how hearing about someone else's losses helps me - I am already bogged down in my own pain. Anyway - that's all I wanted to say.

...as a responsible pet owner, I find it very difficult to empathize with those letter-writers whose pets died accidentally (left outside and hit by car while owner went inside and continued getting ready to go to work) or (missing/lost) the three-month-old kitten who never returned (owner and kitten moved into a strange house one day, and the very next day the owner put the kitten outside to "explore" while owner went to work all day). Both owners expressed their grief, but both losses could have been prevented if the owners had acted responsibly. Of course, both stories just broke my heart as I am an animal lover and caretaker of 4 pets. But animals like cats and dogs are often like children -- you can't just let them wander about on their own. They look to you, their owner, to look out for them because they can't. I expected a book of letters from responsible pet owners who really knew how to take care of their pets.