A Pet is a Home When They are Here, So Why Not Give Them One When They Are Gone?
Author: Hunter Evans
Having a pet can be the greatest joy in a person’s life. They are truly your best friends. They bring a kind of joy that sometimes people can’t bring. A hug from a dog or a cat can be the one thing that soothes a person. While they are here, they are irreplacable, but unfortunately, their lives are all too short.
Angus was a big, beautiful black lab with a heart that was way bigger than his own 100-plus pound body. He was there from the day I was born. We actually shared a birthday – October 4th. The day I was born, he turned five. I was a newborn and didn’t know him, but he sure knew me. I became his best friend that day, and he became mine.
For the first nine years of my life, Angus was there, every second of the day. Every day when I left for school and when I came home, he was sitting there waiting for a hug and a kiss. If I was having a bad day, whether I was bored in school or the kids were mean to me, he was always there. Angus was simply my help, he took away the stress. I could run around with him in the yard or just lay with him on the floor. It didn’t matter, because I simply wanted to be with him.
The last year of Angus’s life was just brutal, not only for him, but for the rest of our family. Angus developed a 3-inch cancerous tumor on his paw, and it left him miserable. The 100-pound black lab that only wanted to run around and play with his siblings, had lost any sort of will to live. He didn’t have the energy anymore. He wouldn’t eat his dog food, so my parents had to cook him beef and rice for every single meal, and even then he wouldn’t eat it. He lost so much weight and quickly became frail.
What helped? Almost nothing. He had a hard time walking on the paw because of the tumor. The only thing that truly brought him comfort was my babt sister. She was just one year old at the time, and she would constantly be cuddling him, giving him the little moments that he longed for but simply struggled to find.
Finally, on January 30, 2018, I said goodbye to Angus before school, not knowing that it would be the last time I would get to see my best friend. I came home from school that day expecting to see my dog waiting for me, but instead, I saw my mom on the couch, crying. I knew exactly at that moment that he was gone. It wasn’t for the day, the night, or a week or two, but forever.
I cried all day and night, and truly every day for the next few weeks. Angus was gone, and I couldn’t really wrap my head around it especially only being nine years old at the time. It truly took me years to get over the grief of my birthday, which I enjoyed sharing with him. On my eleventh birthday, I just sobbed the entire night missing my buddy. My mom and my dad were always there for me, which really brought me so much comfort. I knew they were struggling with the loss of Angus, too.
My parents knew when he died that he was to be cremated. His ashes were put into a black marble urn and placed on our mantle. For many years, and still sometimes now, I would stand in front of that urn and talk to Angus. That brought me a lot of comfort.
A pet is a home for so many, so losing them can be incredibly painful. But you still have a chance to honor them and give them a home. Many choose to cremate their pets and put them into a box, but oftentimes, those boxes get lost over time. That’s why I recommend doing something like an urn, which can be a gentle reminder about your pet. Or even consider a tree planting kit from Treebute. These are both ways to honor your pet for the love they gave you all those years.
Losing a pet can be extremely difficult, but remember the good days and love you shared with your pet. Don’t let your grief overshadow your memories. Always know you are not alone, and there will always be people there to help you get through this.