Helping Elderly to Grieve Over Their Departed Dog

Elderly people who are grieving over their departed dog may be hit particularly hard by their loss. Indeed, losing a dog may be devastating for many reasons.

Many times they are isolated from friends and family, so the dog used to be at the center of their social interactions. An elderly person’s schedule may have revolved around the dog in that their own wake up times, bed times, exercise, and eating schedule. These activities may have corresponded with the dog’s needs. As such, when the dog dies there is a huge void in their daily life. The structure is gone. Even the meaning of day-to-day life can evaporate when a dog dies and there is no one left to care for. Now the house is truly empty, and too quiet.

You see, raising children and going to work often make people feel useful and needed. However, when a person is retired and the children have moved away, and perhaps even a spouse and several friends have died, caring for a dog can help the person feel needed again.

When the dog dies, the feeling of needed is gone too. The loss may be extremely hard if the dog had been a link to someone else who died before, such as a spouse. The loss of unconditional love and companionship can be devastating, especially if this was the senior citizen’s sole source of unconditional love and perhaps even true friendship.

If the senior citizen is on a fixed income and unable to afford an expensive medical procedure for their pet, they may have an overwhelming sense of guilt. You need to show support and understanding at this time. If you can, help out financially. It is not necessary all fund be contributed by you. You may seek others to chip in a little. Who knows, others might want to lend some emotional support to that elderly.

As with any friend, give this elderly person a safe environment to express emotions, and help out where needed. Assure them that whatever they’re feeling is okay, and show them that you care about them.

An elderly person who loses a dog may also want to talk about other friends and family who have died, or perhaps talk about their own mortality (especially if they’re in ill health). The death of their dog may renew their unresolved sorrow over losing other loved ones, such as a spouse.

Your job is to listen and support them. Many times I find spoken words are neither as important nor necessary as your presence.