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lizardlady · Dec 09, 2015 at 08:49 PM

Quote:

You might say a pet cannot be replaced, but I disagree. Yes, it hurts to lose of loved pet, but they can be replaced with a new loving companion animal. That cannot happen with a child.

Losing a loved one, whether human or animal, hurts and neither can be replaced. My husband died 15 years ago. I could remarry, but the new husband would not "replace" the one who died. Same holds true for pets who die. When a pet dies, I might get another pet, but the new one does not "replace" the one that died.

Folks, loss is loss. I'm one of those single adults with pets and no kids. I didn't have kids by choice, but that's a whole different topic. I would not compare my love of my pets to the love some people have for their children. Let's face it. There are people out there who never should have had kids. Again, that's a whole different topic.

While I've never had a child die, I've experienced plenty of grief. When I was in high school my extended family going as far as first cousin numbered 105. Today I am the only one still living. I think that gives me some cred to talk about grief. It hurts when we lose someone or some thing we love. Can we please not minimize the pain a person is feeling by saying it was "only" a pet? I'll be honest. I had a closer relationship with some of my animals than I did with some of my relatives. The deaths of those critters hurt more than the death of those people.