Pets are People, Too

I recently had a beautiful case. Our patient lived alone with her dog. And she had a best friend. When she presented to the hospital, she was tired and wanted to let go. She had been trying to maintain her health which had been worsening. We admitted her to the inpatient unit for comfort measures. On the day on which we admitted her, her friend was bringing the dog in to the veterinarian to put the dog down for illness. I put the regimen in place for her, and remember thinking that she was still presenting as having days to live. I thought to myself that we had seen enough cases of patients allowing themselves to let go when a loved one died, that in this case the loved one was a beloved dog, but that also in this case, she wasn’t declaring herself just yet.

However in the afternoon, after the dog’s collar had been put around her wrist as a powerful bracelet of remembrance, she took a turn for the worst. Normally, the regimens I put in place are carefully escalated upwards to match the steady nuanced progression of transitioning. But in this case, an outlier, she needed a radical increase in her regimen due to sudden decompensation. A new regimen was put in place, scaled up, and she passed peacefully within a number of hours – a short while apart from her beloved pet.

I find this situation beyond beautiful. It is possible to love animals, to love our pets, with their meaningful souls, as much as another human being. For many of us, it is not only the only thing we have, but what we choose to have. Animals can be incredibly spiritual beings, and dogs and humans can have an especially poignant connection. This patient clearly loved her pet, and exhibited tremendous grief at his having to be put down. On the day she decided to die, she was spiritually waiting for the closure of losing her pet, and when the bracelet, a symbol of their bond, was wrapped tenderly on her wrist, she was ready to let go and join him. I am sure they are connected in the spiritual realm which lies just beyond our senses, as any two connected souls would be.

Our pets are people, too.