Loss of a Pet

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So, this past week my dog, which my family has owned for the last 14 years, passed away. I can't manage to bring myself to properly cry over it like a normal person would in losing a friend, yet I'm virtually inconsolable. I've had (human) friends pass away before, yet I've never been this sad over losing someone I love. I think it's odd that an animal holds such a special place in my heart, but she really was my oldest and most loyal friend. I've read that autistic people often form closer attachments with animals than with human friends, and I've certainly learned this to be true in my own case. It makes me wonder why anyone would have a pet in the first place. You develop genuine love and affection for them, yet you almost invariably outlive them and grieve their passing. Any similar experiences?

Also, does anyone else have an issue with not being able to cry? I've cried out of anger or frustration plenty of times, yet never out of grief. I've lost family and friends (both human and animal), yet I can't bring myself to cry, despite the fact that I grieve over it. Does anyone else have this problem, and does it bother you as much as it does me?

It takes quite a bit for me to cry. Anger is the more likely emotion, if any.

I don't cry either. Even if something really hurts me, I can't express it with crying.

I lost my cat just before Christmas; I'd had him for 20 years and he'd seen me through a lot. I still miss him.

On February 8th, I had to euthanize both of my pet lop-earred bunnies. They were 8 and 8.5 years old and I had them both since they were little baby bunnies.

I have not been able to cry but I am very sad...heartbroken really, about their deaths.

I don't cry from sadness...or anything really. I go for long periods of time without feeling much of anything really. It is sort of like living in black and white.

When I was 11 my 10year old cat got hit by a car, and after almost a month of painstaking streatment from surgery to acupuncture he was put to sleep. Go figure, I had him from a kitten, well in my house, and we grew up together. I shut myself away for weeks, and I'm still not really over his death.

I do cry, I cry too much if anything. I try to control myself, but as soon as I'm alone then I loose it. What gets me is guilt, for instance my grandmother passed away last year and I didn't cry, I felt sad, but it was nothing like loosing my cat. I feel guilt for not feeling as strongly about humans as I do about animals.

I cry from rage, despair, and frustration, but not grief. Grief, I talk about. Or work off.

And it's easy to understand how you can be more attached to an animal than to a person (well, to animals other than people).

My in-laws have a spoiled, ill-tempered dachshund. I have hated that dog for years. I have prayed for the day that dog would break its back and have to be put down.

Well, the dog broke its back. When the vet said the dog was a good candidate for surgery but he'd understand if we put the dog down because surgery would be too expensive, guess who volunteered to put up the funds she had set aside for pursuing special interests and argued in favor of trying to save the dog?? Guess who's got sore knees from crawling on the floor helping the dog learn to walk again??

Guess who's decided that, if the dog isn't back up on its feet when she goes home at the end of April, she'll take the dog with her and continue working on rehab??

Guess who goes wild cheering for the dog every time he makes another bit of progress??

None of this is to say that I now like the dog. I don't. I think the dog had a much better temperament on Fentanyl and Tramadol, and I make frequent jokes about going back to my old psychiatrist and taking a stab at Doggie Risperdal.

I still don't like the dog.

But I do care about the dog. Quite a lot, actually.

Because the dog beats the living snot out of some people I know. At least if the dog bites, it is out of fear or pain, and not for pleasure.

Much sympathy for your loss. It will not ever stop hurting altogether, but it will be OK.

Not me, I'm a babbler..er, when I cry. I cry and babble.
Whenever I though my cat's life was in danger after recently moved I'd hold her and cry, because I was feeling really alone and she was all I had.
I show my emotions to animal more than humans.

I've always just ended up with animals. I hardly go out and buy them or pick them up from the pound. But I would because I love to be around them, especially dogs. Dogs are just so much fun, keep me fit and offer great emotional support.

As soon as I found out my dad passed away I cried for hours. Crying comes easy to me. Expressing anger to people actually doesn't.

I have cats and have cried for the loss of all pets in life I cry very hard and am a basket case for the next day but at the same time i only show saddness or laughter but few other emotions are hard to show, i have been told i dont show the proper emotional responses in other things, and am known for being stonefaced. But death of pet is like family death, my pets are my family. And my therepist say pets keep negative thoughts at bay and cat purrs are thereputic

I cried when our first family dog, Taffy passed away. I couldn't understand how family members could pass away without me crying. When our first dog passed away, I cried.

My grandfather passed away last November. I guess it wouldn't count as much because I wasn't close to him, but I didn't cry over it. I guess it'd kind of be terrible to say I was more so relieved.

Anyway, I've only cried over three pets out of a whole bunch. I suppose I've found the act of crying a bit pointless, as it does absolutely nothing for me. Not that I don't ever feel sad about any deaths, but it's a bit easier to just move on without going through unnecessary drama.

I bawl like a baby every time I lose a pet.

Poor Manuel.

I am so, so sorry, OP.

I lost my cat in 2008 because she died of old age. I asked my dad one day how she was doing and he said she was dead. I felt upset he never told me she passed away and he said she was just a cat and he said he didn't think it was a big deal. I felt a little sad she died but I knew she was nearing the end of her life because of bad shape she was in. I figured she wouldn't live much longer. I think my mom did tell me my cat died and I forgot about it. She died just before my 23rd birthday. I didn't grieve over her of course.

I never cried when my grandfather died. He was old, he wasn't himself anymore due to Alzheimer's so he was already gone when he was alive. He couldn't even take care of himself either and couldn't have conversations anymore.

I am so sorry to here that OP