Pet Tribute Info

Losing a  beloved pet and companion is hard on everyone, but it takes a special toll on our elderly friends and family members.  The most consistent experience at their stage of life is loss.
By now most have lost parents, spouses, siblings, children or close friends to death.  They have less physical strength, stamina and mobility and with retirement even their identity with a prior occupaton is lost.  If they are living on a fixed income, even their former standard of living is gone, and so it their opportunities for socialization in the workplace.

Being deprived of so much, it is not surprising that older folks develop such a deep, meaningful attachment to their pets.  Such relationships are significant and enduring and meet a whole range of physical and emotional needs for them.  Pets can help the elderly feel more productive, useful and needed.  The pet helps them to engage in a more active life-style as they depend on them for food, water, exercise and medical care.  4-legged loved ones also give companionship and a feeling of closeness, thereby helping the elderly feel more secure, protected, supported and no longer alone.  They can also motivate a person to take better care of themselves out of a sense of responsibility for the pet.  They help them to feel touched both physically and emotionally, have someone to talk to and communicate with, and pets also love unconditionally – they don’t care what you look like, how much money you make, or where  you live.

Until we realize the significance of an animal in an elderly person’s life, we cannot begin to appreciate the magnitude of loss and the intensity of their grief.  Their pet may be the only family an older person has, and when the pet dies, there is no family left.  There is no longer the sense of of being needed, no companionship, no one to talk to, no one to sleep with, no one to make them feel important.  The house becomes to empty, too quiet, too lonely.  There is no stimulus to keep them going, no structure or meaning to daily routines.

Friends and family members can help by being patient, by listening, by just being there so they can talk honestly and openly about their loss.  You may also consider helping them place their lost loved one in a Pet Urn where they can keep their lost pet close by – on an end table or on the fireplace mantle.