GOOD GRIEF

A pet dies. Then what?

“When we open our hearts to animals,” Bartels observes, “death is the inevitable price.” At the age of 5, she grieved for her first pet: a fish. A bird died when she was 9; a friend’s hamster, in her care, unexpectedly succumbed; another fish died when she was in college; and she’s mourned many other animals, too, including several dogs. In her appealing debut book, the author examines the process of grief that follows the loss of a pet, recounting her own experiences; talking with veterinarians, ministers, archaeologists, and many pet owners; reading pet owners’ memoirs; and looking at ways that other cultures deal with animals’ deaths. She also recounts her visits to pet cemeteries, some of which allow humans and pets to be buried together. Japan has established hundreds of pet cemeteries, many operated by Buddhist temples. At Dog Mountain, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, founded by an artist known for his woodblock prints of his black Lab, a small chapel welcomes pet owners who come to “reflect on and memorialize and remember their pet” with photographs and written tributes. Although Bartels acknowledges that pet ownership falls largely to White Americans with disposable income, she discovered that attachment to pets has a long history. For example, an Egyptologist specializing in animal mummies told her that some mummified animals surely were beloved pets. Grieving pet owners have resorted to taxidermy and even cloning to keep some physical evidence of their pet’s existence. At a cost of $50,000, though, cloning is a choice most people can’t afford. Bartels warmly describes her connections to all of her pets, even her first fish. Pets, she writes, “bolster your emotional state,” accept your hugs and kisses, listen to your most intimate confidences, and provide “companionship, completely without judgment.” Because sadness over an animal’s death is rarely shared, the author hopes her book will help grieving pet owners find solace.

A warm homage to a special bond.