SARAH BOWEN - CREATURELY REFLECTIONS

(REV) SARAH BOWEN directs the Animal Chaplaincy Training Program at Compassion Consortium. Enroll at animalchaplaintraining. com.

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Aging with Cats and Dogs

“BUT MY DOG WILL NEVER DIE!” she tells me. I take a deep breath. “Wouldn’t it be great if there was no death?” I say gently. I censor myself before I add: I don’t know where we’d put everyone, though. Death is necessary to allow more birth to happen. Instead I offer, “Would you like me to help you plan for the best worst day?”

Let’s face it: Human/animal relationships are never long enough for our liking. And animal loss hurts. About 20 percent of people choose not to get another pet because of a prior pet loss experience. We are often undersupported when it comes to animal grief, and that has a lasting impact.

The final days of a pet’s life can be messy. Moreover, surprises happen as we age, and we wonder what will happen to Fido or Fluffy when we die. One of our readers recently asked Rabbi Rami about this, observing, “My dog will outlive me. I have no one with whom to leave her when I die, and I can’t imagine putting her in the pound. I’m thinking of having her put to sleep and burying her with me. What do you think?”

He answered her in his column in the Nov/Dec issue, asking a related question of his own, “What if your dog were to die before you? Would you have yourself put to sleep and buried with her?” Rami reflected that when we live with an animal, it is our job to give that being “the best life possible whether or not you are part of it.” Our editor, Ben Nussbaum, asked me if I’d be willing to weigh in, too. I quickly agreed.