From New York to California and North Dakota down to Texas, pets are found all across the United States. In fact, American pet ownership has risen steadily over the past 40 years, and today, 84.9 million American homes include a pet—that’s 67% of households.
There are many proven or perceived benefits of pet ownership, from protection to companionship, but as any pet parent knows, pet ownership also comes with one very big negative: every single pet in those 84.9 million homes will one day pass away.
It’s a sad fact that no one likes to think about, because the loss is not insignificant. Losing a pet is often said to be just as hard (and sometimes harder) than losing a human family member. While some people may find this difficult to believe, it is far more than just words.
In fact, in a May 2021 survey conducted by Veterinarians.org of 400 U.S. adults, 68% of respondents reported that the loss of their companion animal was, in some cases, harder to deal with than the loss of a family member or friend, while an additional 17% claimed the loss was equal to that of a family member or friend.
Additionally,90% of survey respondents reported that the loss of their pet was one of the hardest and/or most profound losses they’ve ever dealt with in life.
Recent research has proven that, due to the nature of pets and our proximity to them, losing a pet really does cause genuine and significant grief, and a person’s support system can play a big role in recovering from the loss.
From the empty food dish to the solo neighborhood walks and the house that’s now far too quiet, those who have experienced losing a special pet know all too well the significance of the loss.
Non-pet owners or those who have never lost a pet they were especially close to often have a hard time understanding how it can really be that difficult, but in recent years, multiple studies have proven that pet loss can have deep emotional and psychological effects.
Neurotic Symptoms
A 2014 study in Japan, for example, set out to discover how the death of a pet could affect a pet owner, and made some interesting observations.
The study was performed with questionnaires, which were distributed at four private and commercial animal cremation service centers in Japan. In addition to collecting demographic information and the circumstances of the pet’s death, the 400 questionnaires that were distributed also included a 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28) and the social readjustment rating scale (SRRS).
Of the 82 returned questionnaires that were available for analysis, 46 responses showed the presence of neurotic symptoms.In other words, neurotic symptoms were apparent in almost half of pet owners shortly after their pet’s death.
A few other interesting observations were made as well. For example, female pet owners exhibited more somatic dysfunction than male owners, and younger owners reacted more severely than older owners. Finally, the death of indoor pets caused deeper depression than did the death of outdoor or visiting pets.