February 13, 2008

When a Child Loses a Pet

Not a happy topic, but unfortunately one most of us have dealt with in our lives. It is hard enough to deal with our own or another's grief, but explaining a death of a pet to a child may be stretching our capabilities.

A book that deals sensitively with this subject is When a Pet Dies by Fred Rogers, aka Mr Rogers, yes of Mr Rogers' Neighborhood. Whether you thought he was an angel or a hopeless dweeb, he did know how to deal with feelings. This books can help children understand their feelings and realize the pain of loss will lessen over time.

A moving, and apparently true (according to Snopes) tale on the subject via News for cats and dogs from Itchmo

The kindness of a stranger is simply an amazing and touching moment.
Here is an email that Debbie, an Itchmo reader, sent us about the story of a child's letter to God about her dog, Abbey, who had passed away and what happened after she sent the letter:

Our 14-year-old-dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4-year-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could, so she dictated these words:

For the rest of the post: News for cats and dogs from Itchmo.]

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