If you've ever had a pet die?

Question

If you've ever had pets that often require specific needs, such as fish in a fish tank, amphibians or reptiles die, have you ever felt like it was your fault that they died? I'm not suggesting to anyone that it's their fault they had a pet die, but I am curious if anyone's ever blamed themselves for the death of their small caged pets.

When I have a fish or other pet die, I often think to myself, "I could have cleaned the water more often," or "I could have fed it a little more," or something to justify why it might have died so suddenly or unexpectedly. I usually think about what that poor fish or other pet was feeling while they weren't getting the care they required.

Does anyone else think like this?

I didn't have a pet die recently or anything, I just came up with a thought and was wondering how other people feel. I don't want condolances or "It's natural to feel that way,"

I want to know how YOU feel when a pet dies.

Answer 1

yes. I had a precious little hairless rat named Pearl. I don't think i could have stopped her death but made it a little more comfortable for her, she deserved better than what i gave her. She first had a stroke and lost function on one side of her body. But she still fought to get up and she always met me at the cage door every mourning. Then one of her teeth poked a hole in her cheek because i hadn't checked them to make sure that they weren't to long. Her cheek swole up got infected and tuned black because the flesh was deteriorating and it smelled horrible. One of her teeth then broke off and she could barely eat so i had to feed her soft food like applesauce and yogurt. She lost so much weight that you could see every bone in her body. I felt so bad i held her about every night crying because i felt so bad for her she must have been in so much pain. she went on like that for two hole weeks. The night she died i had gotten out of bed to hold her i took her upstairs to my mom, i had school the next day and my mom said she would stay up and hold her till she died. I went to bed feeling horrible. the next day my mom woke me up and said that she had passed. i asked her how long after i went to bed, she said about an hour.not a day goes by that i dont regret leaving her there with my mom i should have been there with her when she died i could have waited an hour but i didn't. So thats my tragic little story. I know how you feel.

Answer 2

I have only felt that way with fish in my tank. I've had some issues where my own errors have killed off my fish. For the most part, they die of old age. I had a cat that i got that was 7 years old. We had her for 13 more years. I didn't feel guilty when she passed away, i knew she had a long life. I did feel guilty letting her die alone as cats want to do. She was lying on the bathroom floor struggling to hang on to life. I made her comfortable by putting her on a soft towel and wrapping her up to keep her warm. Then the whole family left the house to let her go in peace. I had her cremated and keep her remains in a little felt bag.

Answer 3

When I brought my first corn snake home, she died the next day. I felt terrible. I felt like it was my fault because I stressed her out too much. More likely she was already ill, but that doesn't really help much.
I feel badly when any animal dies, though. When my cat gets ill, I feel like I should have paid more attention to him. One of my dogs had to be put down because she got a staph infection on her back (I think that was the worst, I felt like I should have been more attentive to the cut she had so that she didn't develop the infection). I think it's just a sign that you care about your animals and that you realize that by taking an animal into you home and domesticating it, you've signed up to be responsible for its livelihood.

Answer 4

My bunny died last October 14 th, while I was holding her in my lap and caressing her front paw. I feel very sad still to this day and guilty for leaving her at the vet overnight on October 12 th. They force fed her and they werent nice about it and she inhaled some food or water or something and ended up dieing from pneomonia instead of the hairball that I had brought her in for. I should have kept her home with me and took care of her. I learned that there wasnt anyone there at the vet hospital over night to keep her calm. I feel guilty, sad and very angry for what happened to my sweet bunny. Her name was "Bunni" and I miss her terribly to the point that I don't know if I will ever recover. People think that I am not being rational about this but she was my pet and died in my lap. At least she was with those of us who loved her very much. They say time heals, I dont know how much time it will take for me to heal. One more thing, pets are a member of your family.

Answer 5

I am a lover pet animals,and generally open animals, I came accross so many times street dogs, who causally come to me were either injurred or ill, I usually give medicine, but in some cases, their illness is beyond treatment, I usaully give oran medicine, they live with me 3-4 months and start improving. But suddenly after a gap of 4-6 months , they started showing symptoms of grave illness, I tried my best, these animals also know my affection through their eyes,then they lose their life and dead. Everytime I feel very sad.

Answer 6

yes i have felt that way. it happened when my kitty cat of fourteen years died. i felt like if i had saved the money to take her to the vet much earlier, maybe she would have lived. i watched her suffer and tried everything on the market to make her well, nothing worked, she would'nt eat for two weeks(i had to force feed her with a little animal feeder) and she would'nt drink water either. finally i got the money together and took her to the vet, he said it was too late, she had cancer. i never heared of a cat having cancer, but he said the humane thing to do would be to put her to sleep. through tears in my eyes i agreed(she was suffering terribly). there has'nt been a day that that i dont think if i had did this or maybe that, she might be still here, but i take solace in knowing shes in a better place and shes not suffering anymore. you'll be ok.

Answer 7

Ahhh, regret...I feel it for most every decision I make.

I've had pets dies, and I know for a fact that I've contributed to some of their demises (such as my poor beta fish, who was left in a cold classroom when I forgot to leave the heater on during the winter and froze to death). This is guilt, and I am addicted to it...sometimes.

Answer 8

Yes, especially when raising these orphaned wild rats. We had one run up our arm (not unusual, as we were socializing them), but then he took a flying leap and disappeared under my desk. We found him flattened a few moments later in a book from a shelf that was next to the desk. =(

It was a lot of work to get him that far and I I know I shouldn't get discouraged. He would've been euthanized if I hadn't taken them at all. We bottle fed them every three hours, even through the night.

Answer 9

I lost my dog last year. He had congestive heart failure. I caught it to late. I got him on lasix and enacard, but he crashed the next day while I was walking him. I did everything I could to bring him back. I did 30 minutes of cpr and epi and atropine strokes. I still feel like I should have caught it sooner, but you can't blame yourself. I know that if I had ever thought anything was wrong I would have acted on it. Hind sight is always 20/20

Answer 10

Yes...I do. You know, when you have pets it's like having children. They are totally dependent on you for everything. So if they have problems there's a good possiblity that it's related to something you did or didn't do. I just try to do my best for my pets and let the rest fall where it may. I think that's all you can realistically do.