I do not understand what they say about love

since I was a child, I lived caring for animals of various species, as I was not very sociable with people. I grew up loving animals, caring for them, and crying whenever one of them died or was adopted because it was mostly street. one day, I bought a chicken and felt her best friend because she trusted me, she let me carry her anywhere, but it died after a year and a few months because of some virus. so I was very sad and I spent several days crying a lot. people who knew me said I should not suffer so much, that this is not normal because it was a chicken, was not a person. today I'm afraid to have another pet. I am determined to make more human friends. I do not know if what they say is true: I do not know the right way to love animals. but I like animals very much and I feel a little empty without them. I also do not want to suffer as I suffered through the death of my chicken again. I do not know what to think (and do not know what to feel).

I love my pets just as much as I love my friends and family members.

In fact..... my childhood cat (whom I had to put down when she was 13 - I was 21)... was the hardest thing I've done. I still dream about her (I'm turning 30 in a few months) and wake up sad and crying. Keep in mind, I didn't shed a tear over either of my grandma's nor my aunt. Yet I still cry about my cat.

The hardest part about having pets is knowing that you will definitely outlive them. They'll never abandon you and you won't drift apart - you'll always be together, which means that you will still be in their life when they die.

Get yourself a Russian Tortoise. With enough care and a bit of luck it will outlive you and they are fun pets. Supposedly the oldest one in captivity was like 80+ years old.

I have an attachment disorder and I'm in therapy for it, but it's about people. I always have loved animals more than people, and poured my love on horses mainly. I've owned and trained horses since I was 11 yrs old. And I love and adore cats and kittens. Well, dogs, too. And Ring Tail Lemurs.

Anyway, I discovered that the great painful part of loving animals is that you have an Inner Child who can't reach you any way but to speak to you through the animals in your life. When you fully realize this and start giving to your Inner Child, the pain over animals becomes more manageable. Your Inner child has had to hide down in your subconscious and you have had to push her away because of very painful hurts in the past. She has found that you give love and attention to animals: so, she presents herself through them to feel some of the love.
With therapy, or even on your own, you can remind yourself of this when you feel the agony over an animal. After awhile the truth catches on. Not that you would love your actual animals any less, but that the edge is taken off as you understand where the extraordinary sensitivity is coming from. It sure did work for me.

I wouldn't think that a Russian tortoise would actually DO a heck of a lot. Plus, it'd probably clean you out of vodka/hard liquor on a regular basis.