The Heart That Is Loved Never Forgets by Kaetheryn Walker

Author:Kaetheryn Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pets/Death and Dying
ISBN: 9781620550267
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Published: 2012-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Animals Grieve for the Loss of Their Friends, Too

Many people wonder if animals grieve when they have experienced the loss of another animal within the family. Most animals who live together within the social group of a family share a deep bond of reciprocal friendship, sometimes borne out of the fact that they are littermates, but always in some kind of relationship to one another. We simply have no way of knowing if animals, like humans, go through the stages of grief and healing, although psychics who communicate telepathically with animals assert that they do indeed undergo the same process.1 After the death of one animal companion, we may find ourselves noticing changed behavior in the animals that remain in our families, and in these changed behaviors, we may notice a similarity to our own process of grieving.

Animals who have experienced a loss in a family group may exhibit behaviors that resemble grief in a variety of ways.2 Some may search endlessly for the absent family member or seek out additional attention from their human companions. Others may exhibit changes in their eating or sleeping habits, mope around, or simply act depressed.

During this stressful time for our surviving animal companions, we can be attentive to their extra needs when they exhibit changes in their normal behavior. Just as good self-care is vital as we humans move through the stages of loss or grief, so too, our other animal companions are greatly comforted by extra attention, exercise, plenty of rest, a nutritious diet, and balanced amounts of peace and quiet and structured activity.

Other supportive measures that we may find helpful are the homeopathic remedies normally associated with symptoms of stress, anger, loss, and depression.3 It is important, however, when choosing a homeopathic remedy to alleviate emotional and mental symptoms, that we are very objective and specific about the emotional state of the individual exhibiting symptoms. Some homeopaths believe that symptoms, whether physical, mental, emotional, or psychic, are not true representations of the essence of an individual being. They believe, rather, that symptoms are survival-based adaptive responses to stress. Further, many homeopaths consider these adaptations unique to each individual. In accordance with this homeopathic principle, no two individuals will react to stressors in the same way, and neither will manifest exactly the same symptoms. This may be because we all have unique life experiences from which we learn different ways of coping with stress. Just as there are many shades of anger and many ways to display them, there are also a number of ways in which an individual may respond to, or display symptoms of, loss or bereavement. For each unique expression of an emotional state, there is a corresponding homeopathic remedy.4

When choosing a homeopathic remedy for any imbalance or disharmony, one looks at symptoms, either physical or emotional or both. Physical and emotional symptoms may be either objective or subjective. Objective symptoms are those that may be deduced simply by observation, such as “shivering in cold air” or “lameness upon rising.

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