Just as they say a parent should never outlive their children, I think a pet should never outlive their human companion.

Please note, I did not say owner, I don’t feel that we ever really own our furry (and some not so furry) companions. We kind of belong to each other and let’s be honest, how often do you ask someone “did you pick your (insert animal here) or did they pick you? These are members of our family and if they weren’t, there wouldn’t be such a huge market for clothing for them, and lets face it, it’s mostly for dogs, but there is something out there for everyone.

I even found out that what my parents were using for the cat box used to be our baby bath, kind of odd, but repurposed is very in these days and why not, it was used for their babies, why not their furry ones?

Back to my point, our lets should not outlive us. They say that animals are very in tune with what’s around us but in reality, we don’t know if they fully understand what’s happening. There are so many stories of pets traveling hundreds if not thousands of miles to find their families. How about the dogs who’s human was killed or died naturally and they sit in the same spot they were left in or they stand watch over a grave or don’t move from that spot where their human was killed.

Animals are very sensitive, possibly more than most people give them credit for. I know there were times I thought I saw my cat, who I had put down several years ago, go by my line of sight or that one of my other cats chases her. They see things we can’t possibly and boy, are they a good judge of character, you can’t disagree with me on that one.

What made me think of this tonight, I was watching The Guardian, with Simon Baker. It was out in 2001 and there was an episode where a judge was walking his dog and kept jumping on Simon Baker’s character, Nick. Nick, not being a dog person was visibly uncomfortable, towards the end of the episode, there was the dog on its own, turns out the judge had had a heart attack and was sitting by its own home. Nick took the dog to the hospital to see the judge and Bart, the chocolate lab, sat by the judge’s side until he passed (I’m not giving anything away here) and then Nick was left to find a home for Bart. I’m going to let you guess what happened with Bart.

The thing about Bart, is that he stood on the same spot, waiting for his person to come home and after Nick found him a home, as he was walking home, he saw Bart, sitting in front of his house. Where do you think Nick took him next? (That was the end of the episode)

Our animals are sensitive, they have feelings and they know when you’re not well, upset, they can sense our moods and try to make things better. As much as mine drive me batty sometimes, I can’t imagine life without them and as many as I have lost, I know it will happen again, but my hope is that’s it happens to me, never to them. As parents, we want to take away our children’s pain, doesn’t matter if they’re two legged or four, their our babies.

Our furry family members are just that, family. Please be sure to have a plan in case anything happens to you and remember, pet them, hug them, love on them. Give them a good scratch behind the ears for me!