When our housetrained pet Dutch rabbit became ill we took her to the University of Pennsylvania Small Animal Clinic. Weighing only five pounds, they couldn’t take much blood at a time for testing. She became so ill, we had to give up and euthanize her.
The next day at work, I cried so much they sent me home. Puzzled. Because it was a rabbit, after all. What was the big deal?
But Nasturtium had personality. She ran to greet us when we came home. She spent hours on our lap, gritting her teeth in contentment, eyes closed, as we stroked her silky ears. And she literally was living on love for weeks as her liver was destroyed by hepatitis.
Since then, we have lost two dachshunds and four Shiba Inus.
I still miss our last two Shibas. They spent their early years as puppy mill breeders. Kamikaze was so comical and brash, and shy Suki loved a good roll on her back. As they aged, they became dependent on each other. Suki helped blind Kamikaze find the water bowl and the way to the door. They cuddled together at night next to my bed.
I can’t bring myself to adopt another animal. I can’t face another death. With my childhood friend Pepper, the dog who taught me about the love of a pet, I have lost seven friends over my seven decades.
Sara Bader wrote The Book of Pet Love & Loss because she knew she needed this book. So do many of us who have experienced the special love of a companion animal and the grief of their loss.
Bader collected quotations and wrote stories about famous people and their pets, collected in chapters that address the seasons of our pet relationships: love and companionship, watching our friends decline, loss, and grief. She shares the stories of people and their pets, like Helen Keller and Fred Rogers, Anne Patchett and John Steinbeck.
I learned the Amy Sedaris had a pet rabbit! And that Anton Chekhov had dachshunds running through the rooms and digging in the yard. Dean Koontz wrote about the uncomplaining acceptance of suffering in dogs, their graceful acceptance of death that he saw as a role model. The day after Trixie died, he was unable to write a word. May Sarton was so grieved she forgot to pay the vet. Jane Goodall was devastated by her childhood dog’s death; Rusty was a part of her, she wrote.
The time comes to find another pet. It never gets easier, but as Jackson Galaxy wrote, “Well, of course not; I would hope not, anyway. If it did, it would mean that it wasn’t the companion that died, but something inside us along the way.”
Stories comfort us with the knowledge that we are not alone in our experiences. This special book will comfort many.
Thanks to Simon & Shuster for a free book.