Our days with a pet in our home began the very first few months after we got married. I can safely say the subject of pets in our marriage had never come up in any of our previous before marriage discussions. Growing up in a home that did not encourage indoor pets, to me it was a given that we would have no dogs or cats in our home. But then, I forgot to realize how much I would miss my farm kitties when we began our marriage by living in “town.” Town pets almost always become indoor pets and family members. One day I noticed a cat peering in at me from the top of a really deep window well. And I couldn’t resist! A bowl of bread and milk and I had a returning friend. One day, street kitty was allowed to come in and visit! And he received a name—Mr. Sir! Finally Mr. Sir came so often to visit, that he seemed to belong to us! It wasn’t until much later that we discovered he actually belonged to the lady in the apartment above us! Mr. Sir moved with us to Michigan and Colorado and New Mexico and gave us so many moments of love and laughter. We were so sad when one day he did not come home after some outdoor time in New Mexico. We have had many cats and a couple of dogs since then. Most were adopted as pets for our kids and they all have so many great memories of each cat and dog. Each one was loved and greatly missed when they were no longer around. Death for loved pets is never easy.
As we have grown older and home alone now, having our kitties in our home have is good and they have become important family members. We want them home and safe every night. We buy food that we know they like. Of course, they tell us what they like by turning up their noses at brands and flavors that they don’t like!! And we don’t want them to starve!! So we buy what they will eat! And we buy treats! Let me introduce you to them. We have Marco who is very black and quite a large kitty and loves his outdoor time. He received his name when he came to live with us and explored every inch of our home and went to places that no other of our cats had ever explored-as in Marco Polo! He joins us nightly at bedtime. He starts out on the bed so that he can have a good ear rub. Then he chooses different places to spend the night varying them as his mood changes. Two different up high sleeping cubby holes, a window, and three different floor areas. We have to be careful during middle of the night trips so he doesn’t get rudely awakened with a foot! And every morning, he comes back to the bed to get his early morning ear rub! Apparently his life revolves around ear rubs-but Never a belly rub. He has been with us since he was a kitten. Then, we have Miss Kitty. We adopted her and have fallen in love with her sweet ways. She is our cuddle kitty but wants the cuddles her way! Don’t force her into your way. You must cuddle her way! She is a tabby tiger and has a unique pattern of markings. She is kind of an upside-down squirmy kitty and lures you into rubbing her belly—but NO, don’t do that! She loves her people and often puts her head against you to show you how much love she has for you! She has one of the loudest purrs and never seems to stop purring. The last few months we have noticed that she was losing weight. A trip to her doctor let us know that she had a life-threatening condition that would need medication the rest of her life! If you know cats, you know that you can’t force a cat to do what a cat chooses not to do! And taking medicine pills is not on a normal cat want to do list! To say the least, it is challenging! I used to sit on the floor, put a cat between my legs, clamp the kitty tight, hold the skin on the back of its neck and let my husband take care of the head and mouth! That method no longer works for us!
You can understand how we were not looking forward to pills for the rest of Miss Kitty’s life! But we did work out how to do it—half a pill, crushed, mixed into “fish for cats” food and a spoonful twice a day. That was working great! And then it wasn’t! One night this week, she didn’t come for supper. And we couldn’t remember when we had last seen her. We were pretty sure she wasn’t outdoors, but we hadn’t seen her indoors either. And she needs her medicine! We called and called indoors and out and looked in every place we thought she could be. She has become Garry’s special kitty to take care of, and he hated having to go to bed not knowing where she was. We know that often dogs and cats will just choose to disappear when they reach the end of life. That has happened for us in the past. So, we were concerned! We do have small places that a cat could hide in, and we might not know for a long time. We went to bed with prayers!
The next morning, no Miss Kitty-either indoors or out. Finally, I spotted her lying on a rug. She had arrived from-somewhere, without fanfare-which I think we deserved after our worry and scare! As I write this, we still haven’t been able to figure out her new schedule. We were so worried that we would never see her again or have her part of our home. We are thanking God and asking him to take care of her for us.
Recently we received word that two other beloved family pets were so sick that they were beyond being able to go on with life. It is so sad when a family gets that message. Taking a pet to a doctor knowing that it will be the last time you can hold and love that pet is so hard. It is sadness all around. Grieving the loss of a pet is a profound and valid sorrow that God deeply notices and meets with gentle comfort. One time, we were so sad about losing our pet that I bought the book Will My Pet Be in Heaven? I like to think that God cares about His little creatures even more than we do! Maybe He will restore our precious pets to us that have been so important to our lives. “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O LORD.” Psalm 36:6. There’s no verse that says pets will be in heaven. It’s quite unlikely they will be, but I do think they serve a great purpose. Solomon writes in Ecc. 3:21, “Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth?”
When an animal you love leaves your life, the silence in the house is deafening. You look at the empty spot by the door, the unused leash, or the quiet food bowl, and a heavy ache settles in your chest. Sometimes, people who have never shared their hearts with a creature will minimize the pain, saying, “It was just a pet.” But God does not say that. The Lord is the Creator of all life, and in Genesis, He looked at the animals He made and called them good. He designed our pets to be gifts that teach us about selfless devotion, pure joy, and unconditional love. Their affectionate greetings and quiet, steady presence are reflections of the kindness and goodness of the God who made them. When that special bond is broken by death or loss, grief is a natural reflection of the love we gave. We do not need to hide our tears or rush our healing.
The Bible reminds that God is close to the brokenhearted and that He keeps all living creatures in His care. Bring Him the empty spaces in our hearts today. Let Him hold our sorrow with the same gentle tenderness our pets once brought into our days. “God of all creation, thank you for the life of my pet and the joy they brought to my days. The house feels quiet when a pet is ill or even gone, and my heart hurts because the animal hurts or is missing . Please hold my grief with gentleness, and comfort me with your steady presence. Amen.”
To be honest, grief after the death of a dog or cat or another pet is real, it’s hard and it hurts. Whether your pet was furry, finny, or feathery; losing them to death is just plain sad. Pet grief stinks! Current events seem to keep going from weird to weirder and bad to “badder.” Our pets have become even more important to us than usual. Their furry faces and switching or wagging tails have become a little piece of happiness in an otherwise wacky world that seems out of control. Losing them seems just a little bit harder these days. It can feel sort of like you have a cat or dog-shaped hole in your heart and soul. After a thorough exam by a Vet, we have prayed for wisdom when our pets get sick. Finally, we have had to make the excruciatingly difficult decision to have our pet put to sleep. We don’t want them to suffer. Afterwards, I felt awful and like I had somehow let our pet down, even though my pet had put all its trust in me. Those first few days and week following death were so very sad! But sadness doesn’t make us regret having adopted our pets. I realized that I had been giving the pet the best life it could have had. John 14: 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Pets demonstrate God’s unconditional love. No matter what kind of day you’ve had, your dog/cat/chicken…. welcomes you, maybe with a wagging tail and happy eyes. These faithful pets remind us that we are loved.
Cry if you need to when you are sad! God made tears as a release of many stress-related chemicals. Tears heal and Jesus understands. Luke 1:37 says it best when Jesus faced the loss of his dear friend Lazarus, “Jesus wept!” Isaiah 53:4(a)…He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. God is not too busy to care about the smallest things that concern us, including the death of our pets. His Word says in Matthew 10: 29, “What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.” God knows and cares when our pets die, and he loves us. Psalm 30:5(b)…weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
What is the pet’s purpose in our life? There are different ways to answer that question, but there’s only one response for me. A pet is a gift from God. Then a pet is from God, and maybe that means God has given the pet, so that we would worship the Giver. Put plainly, pets are designed to point us to the Lord––as other things of creation are. Everything you love about your pet––in interpreting his or her actions, every positive and redeeming quality: being affectionate, comforting, caring, devoted, funny, outgoing… all of these things should remind us of the goodness of God. Yes, pets are affected by the sin’s fall as all things are, but God gives good gifts to His children, and for some, that includes a pet. I also think most of the best actions of our pets are
shadows of the care and love of our unfailing God. Animals aren’t nearly as valuable as people, but God is their maker and has touched many lives through them. We are called to care for them as stewards of the earth: “The righteous care for the needs of their animals” (Proverbs 12:10). If we could get over the loss in a couple of days, it would only be because we didn’t love them much. But we do. And when we believe that God loves them more than we do—we realize it’s fully right that they have been important to us. That allows us to grieve unapologetically.
As much as I love Miss Kitty and Marco, God love me so much more!