Pets. We make them part of our families. We care for them and pay for their food and care. But one day we must say good-bye to them. It is part of life – dying.
Even if that pet has been sick and you knew for a long time that it’s days were numbered, there is something about coming face to face with a dying pet that makes you pause and consider the significance of life.
Funny how pets teach us things about ourselves. They show us how to love unconditionally and how to be happy about the simplest things in life. They show us affection even when we don’t show it in return. Pets are often the first thing children learn to care deeply about other than themselves.
As the life span of pets are quite shorter than ours, we get to see and learn about the stages of life in a bubble. They allow us, if we look carefully, to also see how our human lives and theirs are similar.
When you watch a dying animal take its last breath you are sad not only for the loss of it, but a part of you is reminded that your life too will one day pass. I don’t believe pets know about death or have the ability to contemplate it the way humans do, but it does seem they know how to enjoy the days they are given without too much complaint. That seems to me an important lesson.