On Death And Dying Essay

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The emotional impact on humans of losing a pet.
For many pet lovers, losing a pet is like the loss of a loved one. The feeling can be so profound and tragic to the point where some people can’t stop grieving the death of their favorite pet. This is usually because of the strong bond between pets and their owners. Because pets like dogs and cats live for an averagely short number of years, owners watch them grow from when they are pups till they die, and can’t do anything about their deaths. This feeling of helplessness at the fate of their companion animal can be devastating for a lot of people. Even though pet owners grieve in different ways when they lose their pets, a common denominator is the excruciatingly painful feeling of sadness that …show more content…

For many centuries, philosophers and psychologists have been studying the emotional effects of losing a companion animal on their human owners. A groundbreaking work on this subject is Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' On Death and Dying. In the book, Elizabeth outlined the five stages of grief people feel at the loss of a loved one. They include denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. It is important to know that the people grief in different ways and the sequence might vary from person to person.
Denial
Denial is a natural part of the grieving process as the bereaved is unable to come to terms with their loss. But it is crucial that people don’t deny they are in grief because expressing your feelings is the best way to get over the event quickly.
Anger
Pet owners become angry over the loss of their companion animals, as they are enraged about their inability to save their pets. They may think of things they could have done to avert the loss, especially if the loss was due to an accident or theft.
Bargaining
As part of the grieving process, pet owners may keep asking questions like what if they did so and so, if only they could spend more time with my dog and so on. These issues can envelop the pet owner with a lot of sadness.

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