March 9, 2010
Dealing with a dead pet
Normally I have zero hesitation denying my second grader’s claims that he has a deep need for “personal pet ownership”, but last week he caught me in a moment of weakness.
Tru’s pathetic plea came JUST on the heels of his 8th birthday. A birthday his distraught dad sorta half missed due to a huge work project, and for which he was still trying to make good. I believe Tru knew his timing to be genius, for our parental guilt was as obvious as the “revelation” that John Edwards is a narcissist.
Please note that we have an adorable dog Roxy who’s about 2 years old, so we’re not totally anti-housepet. It’s just the caged variety I could do without. Cause as we all know, after 6.5 days when the little critter’s novelty wears thin, I’ll be appointed chief cage cleaner and will hold that position for the next 2-4 years.
But we were wimps, guilt-ridden wimps.
So we bought the boy a dwarf hamster and the food and treats and bedding, and the fancy plastic “fun cage” complete with tubes and wheels and a jacuzzi.
A hundred bucks later and Tru had his new furry best friend, Gizmo the wonder pet.
And the boy was happy.
Until yesterday.
We ended up with a little more substantial of a hamster this time…a bit bigger than the last one and hopefully a tad heartier as well.
So now it’s your turn.I want your dead pet stories people.
How did ya’ll deal with the demise of one or more of your beloved varmint? Give it up.
Please?
Much to my dismay (I know I’m terrible), we haven’t had to deal with the pet death issue yet. Our damn rainbow Beta is still hanging on for dear life & can apparently live w/out food for days on end, & the demon dog lives each day to drive me up a freaking wall. I personally think pretending it didn’t happen is wrong — I think you’ve gotta fess up when a pet kicks the bucket & go through the whole motions of whatever the kid thinks is necessary/appropriate.
And may I just say that I gotta hand it to you for picking that dead hamster up w/your bare hands?! I got the willies just watching you do it! And you do realize that thing will be dug up & eaten by some creature before the day’s end, don’t you? Way to go for being a caring mama though!
Hey when I was uncertain if my little doggie was going to make it through the night last week and I had to break the news to the kids that the dog they loved more than anything in the world was suffering from some sort of brain trauma and was spending the night in the hospital and no one could say if he was going to make it, I ABSOLUTELY promised a new dog (after spring break, of course) if he croaked. I even went so far as to see what was ‘available’ on pet finders so I wouldn’t be caught off guard.
Now the hamster thing, I don’t know, I have a thing about hamsters, guinea pigs and cats, I just don’t like them. bless your heart. the burial killed me and I hope to God Roxy doesn’t dig him up and eat him, that would stink. (pun intended).
My boys had two Betta fish. Of course the job of feeding them keeping the lil bowl clean fell on me. Well I would take them and keep them in separate containers while I cleaned their living quarters. I don’t know what I was thinking but when putting water in the container I guess it was too cold. When I looked the fish’s head was snapped back and it’s neck was broken….it gives me the chills still. That really freaked me out. I think I was more sad than the boys about the death of their pets. They were like okay but they wanted them to be replaced. We did but I would refuse to clean their bowl, I was trumatized. lol Anyway my husband cleaned their bowl and they died again. So now the bowl is in the kitchen and I use it as a small garbage collecter while I cook. The boys are fine. They were not harmed by the death of their pet.
Our wonderful dog of 14 years (well, 5 years for me…I inherited the little princess!) Casey passed away about 2 years ago.
I THANK GOD it happened when the boys were spending the night at nana and papa’s. We came home and let’s just say we were with her in her final minutes of life and we were so greatful for that and she had us there to hold her and comfort her.
Gav was a mere 3 1/2 years old and Noah was 1 1/2 years old. We weren’t really sure what to say so we decided to wait until they came home and just “go with it” That’s kind of our parenting with certain things….and this was one of them.
Gav noticed right away and asked us where Casey was and we simply told him that Casey was very very very old and lived a long and happy life playing w/ him and his brother and that she was in heaven.
He said “OK” and went off running into another room.
We kinda just sat there and in awe of how “easy” it was.
Moving forward, we do have a picture of Casey prominently placed in our living room and both boys have asked from time to time about her and we just talk to them in a way that is age appropriate and answer thier questions w/out embellishing anything and it seems to satisfy whatever they want to know at that particular time.
We have decided this isn’t a good time for us to get another pet. They never begged for one and that might have made a difference but honestly, I don’t know if my heart is ready again…but I am sure it will be someday
So sorry about Gizmo! Really hope this one works out!
Oooo- what a sad day! So sorry about that. You were a very brave & respectful Mama to bury Gizmo on your own.
I can’t even talk about the death of my good dog, Henry, and there’s no replacing him. I knew him longer, and liked him better, than most people I know. Hasn’t been a year yet.
So we’re petless now and I, at least, plan to stay that way for some time.
Sorry to hear about Gizmo
WE have had our fair share of pet deaths in our family..and right now, we have one dog, Ella, a puggle; one bird, Miley, a pineapple sun conure; one rabbit, named Sophie, one fish (A betta–the other one just died last week) and two frogs…Ava and Greta.
So many sad stories. I remember lot of fish dying and lots of hamsters dying. The worst ever would have to have been when we had mice. Of course, the pet store swore they were both male, but lo and beyold, baby mice suddenly appeared. Kinda of like when Jeff Goldblum describes how life will find a way in Jurassic Park. Well, little fact that we didn’t know at the time…first born of mice, mom’s tend to eat. Is this where the term, Eat your young comes from? Maybe..
We would hear the screaming of the babies at night like the rabbit being put in the boiling water in that movie with Michael Douglas and what’s her name–oh, yes, Fatal Attraction. And the next morning–another carcass (did I spell that right or just write that my car has an ass?)..anyways, we did have one survive–Mom only ate a leg–his/her name–TRIPOD…that thing made me proud of it’s survival instincts.
Oh, and little tidbit…some mom mice are crazy like in the “real people” world. She continued to reproduce (even after the dad was taken back to the store) and continued to eat her babies–it was gross. We had our own little nightly horror movie here at the residence!
Poor Gizmo! Such a sad day also for Tru. That is tough. I could relate SO WELL to this story because several months ago, we also purchased a dwarf hamster for my daughter who is 10. We bought the entire palooza (yes, 100 buck later!) and enjoyed that little guy for a few months. (Except for at night when he was the most active!) He did end up just like Gizmo one morning. Lots of tears from our daughter. Dad handled the situation real well, just as you did and took care of the burial. We let her write a “letter” to Kitchi to help her sort out some feelings. We decided not to get another dwarf hamster and donated its cage to a charity store. I think we’ll just stick with our yorki for now.
Loved your video account of this. You’re so real. I love it!