People around you

People around me don't understand. They think it was just a dog

Your grief is real. Researchers call grief that others do not recognize "disenfranchised grief." Pet loss is often like this. Some people first talk to those who will listen.

For: The first week, The first month　1 owner asked about this

A real example

In the UK, one owner's dog died. People told her, "He's just a dog and you'll get another one." She said people didn't get it. In a Blue Cross survey of 2,000 UK owners, nearly half felt they suffered in silence.

News, Vet Times, 4 Mar 2024Read the original

What others said

「My dog died and I was so sad, but people around me brushed it off, and that hurt me too.」

Shared online (reworded)　Asia-Pacific, Oct 2026

What people do in different places

Choose carefully who you tellCanada | about one-third of older adults in a survey did this

Call a free pet loss support lineUK | Blue Cross: confidential, open every day

You don't need to compare your grief with others'Japan | psychologist: every loss deserves respect

Sources

Omega (Hughes & Harkin): Continuing bonds after a pet's death, a systematic reviewResearch, Omega: Journal of Death and Dying (PubMed Central), 7 Sep 2022

Human-Animal Interactions (Brown et al.): Older adults, pet death and disenfranchised griefResearch, Human-Animal Interactions (DOAJ)

Vet Times: Nearly half of pet owners suffer in silence after losing petNews, Vet Times, 4 Mar 2024

Japanese Psychological Association (Sayoko Hamano): Pet loss and parting with companion animalsResearch, 公益社団法人日本心理学会

Cruse Bereavement Support: Dealing with the death of a petOrganisation, Cruse Bereavement Support, 11 Feb 2021

1 post from an owner online: reworded and anonymised, showing only the platform, region and month. We keep the original link privately.

Updated 25 Oct 2026. This page updates daily from owners’ posts.

A real example

What others said

What people do in different places

Sources

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