Will They Know?
Clients frequently ask if pets grieve for lost owners or companions. Emotions in pets are difficult to research, just as they are in humans. Observation of behaviors, however, have led to some reasonably certain assumptions that pets do, in fact, feel emotion. Grief is one of the feelings we believe dogs experience.
The article I’m linking to is a neat initial exploration of animal grieving and emotion.
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Yes, absolutely, pets grieve. My dog and cat had been together for many years when the dog died. It took several days for the kitty to stop looking for her buddy. And she never formed the bond with the next dog in the family that she had with her first “sibling”…more’s the pity.